The Uncertain Certainty

Reviews / Votes

At a time when scholars and policy-makers grapple to understand the nature and the impact of the new international order of the post-Cold War era, and as reactions to such dramatic events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the massacres in various parts of Eastern Europe, the Desert Storm campaign, the 9/11 attacks against the U.S., and the fall of the Taliban regieme in Afghanistan range from hysteria to nostalgia, Peter Liotta's book comes as a much-needed and very commendable alternative approach towardsunderstanding the current world disorder, as well as a sobering warning of the even greater disorder that humanity may face if the lessons of history are not critically re-evaluated. Starting with the premise that human events are best understood when they are put in a long historical perspective, Prof. Liotta argues-quite convincingly-that current discussions of security in the Euro-Mediterranean region need to be extended beyond traditional military issues and must include factors that have hiterto been ignored, such as the aspirations (ambitions?) of an enlarged European Union, the self-perception of the U.S. as the leader of a unipolar world, and the role of China in any future world power configuration. Scholars as well as policymakers are well adv -- Bechir Chourou, University of Tunis-Carthage This is an unusual book by an unusual person: a former fighter pilot, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and a resident poet who observed the global turn in Belgrade. The four essays of this book break new ground and provoke re-thinking. They sensitise the reader to new non-military challenge confronting the Mediterranean region during the 21st century. In Boomerang Effect, the author discusses and calls for a convergence of national and human security concepts.In The Geopolitics of the Balkans, he reviews the outcomes of a decade of violence and fragmentation and the possibilites for solutions in the 21st century. He carries the suggestions by Peter Haas further suggesting a hybrid security community acrossthe Mediterranean Sea. And finally in The Uncertain Certainty he proposes a set of environmental stress indicators and reviews their implications for the Mediterranean space. This book is unique in a dual sense: it applies considerations and findings from the enviornmental and human security debartes to a new region tht will be severely affected by global and regional environmental change. In doing so, Liotta conveys different perspectives and concerns from Europe and the riparians of the Mediterra -- Hans Guenter Braunch, Free University of Berlin, Germany In the age of memoranda writers parading as "professors," it is refreshing to see a serious academic work on Mediterranean security written by a scholar who not only knows first hand the implications of insecurity, but has a renaissance interpretation of its multiple causes, including long range environmental transformations and short term transnational irresponsibility. -- Nikolaos A. Stavrou, Editor, Mediterranean Quarterly At a time when scholars and policy-makers grapple to understand the nature and the impact of the new international order of the post-Cold War era, and as reactions to such dramatic events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the massacres in various parts of Eastern Europe, the Desert Storm campaign, the 9/11 attacks against the U.S., and the fall of the Taliban regieme in Afghanistan range from hysteria to nostalgia, Peter Liotta's book comes as a much-needed and very commendable alternative approach towards understanding the current world disorder, as well as a sobering warning of the even greater disorder that humanity may face if the lessons of history are not critically re-evaluated. Starting with the premise that human events are best understood when they are put in a long historical perspective, Prof. Liotta argues-quite convincingly-that current discussions of security in the Euro-Mediterranean region need to be extended beyond traditional military issues and must include factors that have hiterto been ignored, such as the aspirations (ambitions?) of an enlarged European Union, the self-perception of the U.S. as the leader of a unipolar world, and the role of China in any future world power configuration. Scholars as well as policymakers are well advised to read and ponder this timely and thought-provoking book. -- Bechir Chourou, University of Tunis-Carthage This is an unusual book by an unusual person: a former fighter pilot, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and a resident poet who observed the global turn in Belgrade. The four essays of this book break new ground and provoke re-thinking. They sensitise the reader to new non-military challenge confronting the Mediterranean region during the 21st century. In "Boomerang Effect," the author discusses and calls for a convergence of national and human security concepts. In "The Geopolitics of the Balkans," he reviews the outcomes of a decade of violence and fragmentation and the possibilites for solutions in the 21st century. He carries the suggestions by Peter Haas further suggesting a "hybrid security community" across the Mediterranean Sea. And finally in "The Uncertain Certainty" he proposes a set of environmental stress indicators and reviews their implications for the Mediterranean space.

This book is unique in a dual sense: it applies considerations and findings from the enviornmental and human security debartes to a new region tht will be severely affected by global and regional environmental change. In doing so, Liotta conveys different perspectives and concerns from Europe and the riparians of the Mediterranean Sea to the U.S. national secuirty debate. -- Hans Guenter Braunch, Free University of Berlin, Germany