| 来源类型 | Special Feature
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| 规范类型 | 评论
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| Armies of Sand: Exploring Arab Military Effectiveness |
| Kenneth Pollack
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| 发表日期 | 2019-08-28
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| 出版年 | 2019
|
| 语种 | 英语
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| 摘要 | Since the Second World War, Arab armed forces have consistently punched below their weight. They have lost many wars that by all rights they should have won, and in their best performances only ever achieved quite modest accomplishments. Over time, soldiers, scholars, and military experts have offered various explanations for this pattern. Reliance on Soviet military methods, the poor civil-military relations of the Arab world, the underdevelopment of the Arab states, and patterns of behavior derived from the wider Arab culture have all been suggested as the ultimate source of Arab military difficulties. See the Re-think tank video below to view AEI Resident Scholar Kenneth Pollack’s assessment of the driving forces behind persistent Arab military problems.
This problem continues to plague civilian and military strategists alike. The United States needs effective Arab forces to counter Iran’s aggression, address terrorism, and provide security and stability in the destructive wake of ISIS. Yet so far, America’s efforts have not produced meaningfully stronger Arab allies, let alone long term stability and security. If the United States is going to further reduce its combat role in the Middle East and transition from an active participant to a supportive partner, then America’s approach toward training Arab militaries is going to have to yield better results.
The lack of Arab military effectiveness can’t be blamed on a lack of effort or resources on either side of the relationship. The graphic below presents a breakdown of the funds dispersed to Arab countries over the past two decades. Feel free to select a country from the drop down menu and/or move the slider to see over time the amount of resources America has dispersed toward the objective of building better Arab forces. Cumulative totals are shown in bubbles over the respective countries.
Next, you can explore the changing relationship between arms supplier and Arab countries over time. In recent decades, the US has become the preeminent supplier of military arms and equipment to Arab countries overall. A closer look at the breakdown of military equipment by supplier in the inventories of Arab countries shows a pivot from past Soviet and current Russian doctrine toward an effort to embrace the “western way of war.” But it is debatable whether this has yielded the ends that the US has sought in the region.
Last, what is one of the main missing pieces that disconnects Arab armies from modern combat effectiveness? Learn more about the military concept of Auftragstaktik in the Define video below.
If you wish to dive into these concepts in more detail and depth, feel free to read Ken Pollack’s other articles below and be sure to pick up a copy of Armies of Sand today. |
| 标签 | Arab militaries
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| URL | https://www.aei.org/special-features/armies-of-sand-exploring-arab-military-effectiveness/
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| 来源智库 | American Enterprise Institute (United States)
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| 资源类型 | 智库出版物
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| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/210617
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推荐引用方式
GB/T 7714 |
Kenneth Pollack. Armies of Sand: Exploring Arab Military Effectiveness. 2019.
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