Abstract
New developments in science and technology very often have a profound impact on society. Especially in our age, in which the systematic use of scientific knowledge for societal objectives has become an organised endeavour, a pervasive influence of science and technology in many areas and aspects of life, has come about. This holds very definitively for the domain of peace and security: scientific developments and related new military technologies induced fundamental changes in military doctrines and in the nature of international relations. The development of ‘deterrence’ and ‘flexible response’ and of a superpower dominated bipolar world1 can rightly be associated with the development of nuclear weapons and other military technology. Recently emerging military technologies tend to give rise to new adaptations in military doctrine and postures, and by consequence also to evoke changes in East-West relations2.
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Notes
See D. Senghaas, Abschreckung und Frieden: Studien zur Kritik organisierter Friedlosigkeit, Europäische Verlaganstalt, Frankfurt am Main, 3rd ed., 1981, for a theoretical analysis of the impact of deterrence on international relations and its relation with the introduction of weapons of mass destruction.
See also Donald R. Cotter, ‘Potential Future Roles for Conventional and Nuclear Forces in Defense of Western Europe’, supporting paper in ESECS: Strengthening Conventional Deterrence in Europe (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983) pp. 209–53.
See e.g. Donald MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman (eds), The Social Shaping of Technology: (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1985) especially part iv, pp. 223–94.
Cf. Hans Günter Brauch and Lutz Unterseher, ‘Getting Rid of Nuclear Weapons: a Review of a Few Proposals for a Conventional Defense of Europe’, Journal of Peace Research, 21 (2), 1984, pp. 193–9.
See also Donald R. Cotter, ‘Potential Future Roles for Conventional and Nuclear Forces in Defense of Western Europe’, supporting paper in ESECS: Strengthening Conventional Deterrence in Europe (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983) pp. 209–53.
See e.g. K. E. Weick: The Social Psychology of Organising (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 2nd ed., 1979).
See also F. B. van der Meer, Organisatie als spel (The game of organising), Twente University of Technology, 1983. Within sociology the approach of Norbert Elias seems potentially very fruitful.
See e.g. Donald MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman (eds), The Social Shaping of Technology: (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1985) especially part iv, pp. 223–94.
Cf. Hans Günter Brauch and Lutz Unterseher, ‘Getting Rid of Nuclear Weapons: a Review of a Few Proposals for a Conventional Defense of Europe’, Journal of Peace Research, 21 (2), 1984, pp. 193–9.
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© 1986 Frank Barnaby and Marlies ter Borg
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Boskma, P., van der Meer, FB. (1986). Trends in Military Technology. In: Barnaby, F., ter Borg, M. (eds) Emerging Technologies and Military Doctrine. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08505-7_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08505-7_2
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