Publisher's Synopsis
The end of the East-West conflict has promoted the adjustment of military doctrines and structure of armed forces to the post-Cold War World. Defence budgets and armed forces are being cut, military garrisons and military bases are being closed down, arms production is shrinking, the power of miliary-industrial complexes has been remarkably reduced, information technology is displacing heavy industry as the source of national power, social and economic consequences of these transformations are painful. Even though this entails a substantial potential peace dividend, to cash it in is complicated and there is little experience to draw on. Conversion is on the agenda almost everywhere. Theoretical analysis of conversion, methodology of peace dividend assessment, case studies from Europe (both East and West), America and Asia are discussed in this book.
