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9781498586917

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Collateral damage in our military interventions - especially the killing of children and defenseless adults - could be massively reduced by using non-lethal weapons. A large variety of these exists, and yet our militaries do not like to use them, and there is little interest in the matter in countries supposedly so committed to upholding human rights. In this pioneering study, Dr Ofer Fridman identifies the causes of this in diverse military cultures and a - to my mind shameful - public disinterest in what happens to civilians elsewhere. A must-read for all practitioners and anybody willing to support military interventions. -- Beatrice Heuser, University of Glasgow Ofer Fridman provides a number of insights on the potential for non-lethal weapons to reduce civilian casualties in contemporary warfare, and fills in the complex history of the fate of such weapons in three key countries whose concern for civilians is controversial. These are important issues that specialists and the public alike should be discussing as our military technology continues its breathtaking transformation. -- John Tirman, executive director of the MIT Center for International Studies Enemy Civilian Casualties sadly confirms through meticulous empirical study what many people had suspected: that governments and populations are not truly concerned with civilian casualties in the conflicts fought by their armies. Examining the experiences of the U.S., Russia, and Israel, the author convincingly demonstrates that neither new military technologies nor international political pressures have had more than a nominal impact on significantly reducing civilian deaths. The most important conclusion of this study is that the problem lies not with the military but with civilian political officials and the indifference of their societies. -- Bruce Cronin, The City College of New York

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Ofer Fridman is lecturer in war studies and director of operations at the Kings Centre for Strategic Communications.

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