RAND New Publications: Defense Policy

October 2008

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Topic: Defense Policy

After Saddam Prewar Planning and the Occupation of Iraq By Nora Bensahel et al. Paperback • 312 pages • ISBN: 978-0-8330-4458-7 List Price: $38.00 Discounted Web Price: $34.20 An examination of prewar planning efforts for postwar Iraq serves as a starting point to establish what U.S. policymakers expected the postwar situation to look like and what their plans were for reconstruction. How did these expectations conform to the reality on the ground following the end of major combat operations, during the rebuilding efforts of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to rebuild structures of governance, security, economic policy, and essential services? This assessment considers events up to the June 28, 2004, transfer of authority from the CPA to the Interim Iraqi Government, highlighting key challenges to U.S. postwar planning and areas for improvement.    Dangerous Thresholds Managing Escalation in the 21st Century By Forrest E. Morgan et al. Paperback • 274 pages • ISBN: 978-0-8330-4213-2 List Price: $35.00 Discounted Web Price: $31.50 Escalation is a natural tendency in any form of human competition and is particularly dangerous in contests of deadly force. This examination of escalation dynamics and approaches to escalation management draws on a variety of international historical examples to inform military and political decisionmaking about the mechanisms of deliberate, accidental, and inadvertent escalation.

Analysis of Strategy and Strategies of Analysis By David C. Gompert et al. In a fluid global security environment, assessing the costs, risks, and likely consequences of alternative national defense strategies is as difficult as it is essential. This examination shows that, even in the face of uncertainty, it is possible to assess the costs and other implications of any strategy by examining the capabilities needed by U.S. combatant commands to fulfill what the strategy expects of them. Paperback • 96 pages ISBN: 978-0-8330-4503-4 List Price: $30.50 Discounted Web Price: $27.45    Developing Resource-Informed Strategic Assessments and Recommendations By Paul K. Davis et. al A debate will likely occur in 2009 about U.S. global national-security strategy, this assessment claims, and a methodology is needed to help frame and evaluate resource-informed strategies, addressing both uncertainty and differences of strategic perspective. Contributing to the discussion are three illustrative grand strategies, addressing the major modern problems and long-term strategic considerations. Paperback • 202 pages ISBN: 978-0-8330-4502-7 List Price: $40.00 Discounted Web Price: $36.00

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