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Technology and warfare - JPM656

Title:	Technology and warfare
Guaranteed by:	Department of Security Studies (23-KBS)
Faculty:	Faculty of Social Sciences
Actual:	from 2016 to 2016
Semester:	both
E-Credits:	6
Hours per week, examination:	1/1, Ex [HT]
Capacity:	winter:25 / 25 (20) summer:unknown / unknown (20)
Min. number of students:	unlimited
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Teaching methods:	full-time
Additional information:	https://dl1.cuni.cz/enrol/index.php?id=4195
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester

Guarantor:	Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Kučera, Ph.D.
Teacher(s):	Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Kučera, Ph.D.
Class:	Courses for incoming students

Examination dates Schedule Noticeboard

Syllabus

Last update: Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Kučera, Ph.D. (13.09.2019)

Introduction: Theory of technological progress, revolutions in military affairs (RMA)

Objectives:

· To define concepts: technology neutrality thesis, technological determinism, and revolution in military affairs

· To identify and describe historical RMAs

Recommended literature:

· Coker, Christopher. The Future of War : The Re-Enchantment of War in the Twenty-First Century. Malden, Mass; Oxford: Blackwell Pub, 2004.

· Murray, Williamson. “Thinking about Revolutions in Military Affairs.” Joint Forces Quarterly, Summer 1997.

· Raudzens, George. ‘War-Winning Weapons: The Measurement of Technological Determinism in Military History’. The Journal of Military History 54, no. 4 (1 October 1990): 403–34. doi:10.2307/1986064.

· Waddington, David I. ‘A Field Guide to Heidegger: Understanding “The Question Concerning Technology”’. Educational Philosophy & Theory 37, no. 4 (August 2005): 567–83. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2005.00141.x

Military Technology and Political System

Objectives

· To apply the concept of technological determinism in historical examples

· To explain how military technology affects political structures

Oxford-style debate

· European supranational space force

Recommended literature:

· Boot, Max. War Made New: Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World. New York, N.Y.: Gotham Books, 2007.

· Kirkpatrick, David. ‘The Affordability of Defence Equipment’. The RUSI Journal 142, no. 3 (June 1997): 58–80. doi:10.1080/03071849708446151.

· Murray, Williamson. “Thinking about Revolutions in Military Affairs.” Joint Forces Quarterly, Summer 1997.

· Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990. Cambridge, Mass., USA: B. Blackwell, 1990.

· War and Civilization - Episode 3: Horse Warriors (History Documentary) - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlgRaEVviK8.

· War and Civilization - Episode 4: Gunpowder (History Documentary) - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5etFkiMHIK0.

· Winner, Langdon. ‘Do Artifacts Have Politics?’ Daedalus, 1980, 121–136.

Military Technology and Strategy

Objectives:

· To analyse and assess reflections of technological progress in military doctrines and strategies

Oxford-style debate:

· US Air Force - independent versus supporting branch?

Recommended literature:

· Byman, Daniel L., and Matthew C. Waxman. ‘Kosovo and the Great Air Power Debate’. International Security 24, no. 4 (Spring 2000): 5–38.

· Howard, Michael. ‘Men against Fire: Expectations of War in 1914’. International Security 9, no. 1 (1984): 41–57.

· Shimshoni, Jonathan. ‘Technology, Military Advantage, and World War I: A Case for Military Entrepreneurship’. International Security 15, no. 3 (1990): 187–215

· Stigler, Andrew L. ‘A Clear Victory for Air Power: NATO’s Empty Threat to Invade Kosovo’. International Security 27, no. 3 (2003): 124–57.

· Van Evera, Stephen. ‘Offense, Defense, and the Causes of War’. International Security 22, no. 4 (April 1998): 5–43. doi:10.1162/isec.22.4.5.

· War and Civilization - Episode 6: Blood and Iron (History Documentary) - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGP4g4OecJs.

· War and Civilization - Episode 7: War Machines (History Documentary) - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1_1pRoK-0.

Network-Centric Warfare and the Future of Warfare

Objectives:

· To describe the recent thoughts on military technology and military transformation

· To identify the main components of the current military transformation

· To assess the role of military technology in the current thoughts on the transformation of warfare

Oxford-style debate:

· Was the Gulf War a prove of the RMA?

Recommended literature

Biddle, Stephen. ‘The Past as Prologue: Assessing Theories of Future Warfare’. Security Studies 8, no. 1 (1 September 1998): 1–74. doi:10.1080/09636419808429365.
Cebrowski, Arthur K., and John J. Garstka. ‘Network-Centric Warfare: Its Origin and Future’. In US Naval Institute Proceedings, 124:28–35, 1998.

§ Coker, Christopher. The Future of War : The Re-Enchantment of War in the Twenty-First Century / Christopher Coker. Malden, Mass; Oxford: Blackwell Pub, 2004.

Gartzke, Erik. ‘The Myth of Cyberwar’. International Security 38, no. 2 (Fall 2013): 41–73.
Niva, Steve. ‘Disappearing Violence: JSOC and the Pentagon’s New Cartography of Networked Warfare’. Security Dialogue 44, no. 3 (1 June 2013): 185–202. doi:10.1177/0967010613485869.

§ Sloan, Elinor. ‘Robotics at War’. Survival (00396338) 57, no. 5 (October 2015): 107–20. doi:10.1080/00396338.2015.1090133.

Controlling technological progress: Tyranny of the Red Queen versus culture and institutions

Objectives:

· To define and apply the concept of technological imperative

· To explain the relationship between military-technological progress and human agency

Oxford-style debate:

· Withholding technology (see Blanken and Lapore 2011) - should the USA consider slowing down or withholding its space warfare programme?

Recommended literature:

· Edgerton, David. ‘Liberal Militarism and the British State’. New Left Review 185 (1991): 138–169.

· Fritsch, Stefan. ‘Technology and Global Affairs’. International Studies Perspectives 12, no. 1 (February 2011): 27–45. doi:10.1111/j.1528-3585.2010.00417.x.

· Kirkpatrick, David L. I. ‘Trends in the Costs of Weapon Systems and the Consequences’. Defence and Peace Economics 15, no. 3 (1 June 2004): 259–73. doi:10.1080/1024269032000123203.

· MacKenzie, Donald. ‘Technology and the Arms Race’. International Security 14, no. 1 (1 July 1989): 161–75. doi:10.2307/2538768.

· Reppy, Judith. ‘The Technological Imperative in Strategic Thought’. Journal of Peace Research 27, no. 1 (1 February 1990): 101–6.

· Suchman, Mark C., and Dana P. Eyre. “Military Procurement as Rational Myth: Notes on the Social Construction of Weapons Proliferation.” Sociological Forum 7, no. 1 (March 1, 1992): 137–61.

Stigmatisation, taboos and outlawing of weapons

Objectives:

· To identify methods of regulation of military technology

· To propose a strategy of military technological regulations

Oxford-style debate:

· Prohibition of lethal autonomous weapon systems

Recommended literature:

· Jensen, Eric Talbot. ‘Emerging Technologies and LOAC Signaling’. Int’l L. Stud. Ser. US Naval War Col. 91 (2015): 621.

· P. W., Singer. ‘A World of Killer Apps’. Nature, no. 7365 (2011): 399. doi:10.1038/477399a.

· Price, Richard. ‘A Genealogy of the Chemical Weapons Taboo’. International Organization 49, no. 1 (1 January 1995): 73–103.

· Sloan, Elinor. ‘Robotics at War’. Survival (00396338) 57, no. 5 (October 2015): 107–20. doi:10.1080/00396338.2015.1090133.

· Tannenwald, Nina. “Stigmatizing the Bomb: Origins of the Nuclear Taboo.” International Security 29, no. 4 (Spring 2005): 5–49. doi:10.1162/0162288054299428.