The Indiapakistan Military Standoff

Spanning countries and centuries, a "how-not-to" guide to leadership that reveals the most maladroit military commanders in history—now in paperback.

Anyone who read Fiasco, Thomas E. Ricks's superb, bestselling account of the Iraq War through 2005… has likely noticed that many of the heroes of that devastating book… have since been put in charge. As good (and influential) as Fiasco was, The Gamble may be even better, telling the remarkable story of how a few people inside and outside the Pentagon pushed the new strategy through against opposition across the political spectrum and throughout the military top brass, and then, even more remarkably, how soldiers put the difficult plan into action on the ground and managed to sharply reduce the chaotic violence in Iraq.

This edited collection examines the changing character of military professionalism and the role of ethics in the 21st-century military. The authors, who range from uniformed military to academics to non-uniformed professionals on the battlefield, delve into whether the concepts of Samuel Huntington, Morris Janowitz, and Sir John Hackett still apply, how training and continuing education play a role in defining a profession, and if a universal code of ethics is required for the military as a profession. Redefining the Modern Military puts a significant emphasis on individual agency for military professionalism as opposed to broad organizational or cultural change.