Awards

• "Winner of A 2009 Choice Magazine ""Outstanding Academic Title."
• Winner of A 2009 Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title.
• Winner of A 2009 Choice Magazine ""Outstanding Academic Title.

Overview

Few would contest that the U.S. occupation of Iraq is a clear example of just how fraught a military occupation can become. In Occupational Hazards, David M. Edelstein elucidates the occasional successes of military occupations and their more frequent failures. Edelstein has identified twenty-six cases since 1815 in which an outside power seized control of a territory where the occupying party had no long-term claim on sovereignty. In a book that has implications for present-day policy, he draws evidence from such historical cases as well as from four current occupations-Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq-where the outcome is not yet known. Occupation is difficult, in Edelstein's view, because ambitious goals require considerable time and resources, yet both the occupied population and the occupying power want occupation to end quickly and inexpensively; in drawn-out occupations, impatience grows and resources dwindle. This combination sabotages the occupying power's ability to accomplish two tasks: convince an occupied population to suppress its nationalist desires and sustain its own commitment to the occupation. Structural conditions and strategic choices play crucial roles in the success or failure of an occupation. In describing those factors, Edelstein prescribes a course of action for the future.

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9780801476242

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Reviews

<p> Military occupations are inherently risky affairs. According to David Edelstein, only seven of the twenty-six international military occupations conducted since 1815 have succeeded. Occupational Hazards attempts to explain not only this high failure rate for military occupations but also what distinguishes a successful occupation from an unsuccessful one. Given the challenges the United States faces in its recent occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, this broad analysis is a welcome addition to the literature. -Military Review

In Occupational Hazards, David M. Edelstein offers a simple, clear argument about the question of why occupations succeed or not. This theory and policy question is a timely one, and Edelstein has researched it well. Barry R. Posen, Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

<p> Military occupations are inherently risky affairs. According to David Edelstein, only seven of the twenty-six international military occupations conducted since 1815 have succeeded. Occupational Hazards attempts to explain not only this high failure rate for military occupations but also what distinguishes a successful occupation from an unsuccessful one. Given the challenges the United States faces in its recent occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, this broad analysis is a welcome addition to the literature. Military Review

If only we had had this book before the invasion of Iraq! David Edelstein lucidly and compellingly explains why successful military occupations have been so rare in history and what conditions are needed for them to succeed. -Jack Snyder, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University

Author Information

David M. Edelstein is Associate Professor of International Affairs in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Security Studies, and Department of Government at Georgetown University. He is the author of Occupational Hazards, also from Cornell.

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