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Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes. By PATRICK PORTER. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. 256 pp. $25.00 (cloth).
Military Orientalism is a study of Western views of warfare as conducted by Eastern peoples and military institutions and Western fascination with (and often repulsion by) the seemingly bizarre and exotic military methods of "others." Patrick Porter challenges the current popular view that culture underpins war in the postmodern age. To achieve a more nuanced understanding of the impact of culture on war, he analyzes the assumptions and myths through which Western leaders have viewed Eastern military institutions and methods of conflict. Well written and incisive, this book will appeal to military historians, defense intellectuals, students of international affairs, and others interested in the impact of culture on warfare over the ages.
Porter argues that in times of strategic crisis, Western powers turn to anthropology, sociology, and area studies to explain military-strategic failures against Eastern enemies and to provide knowledge on how to overcome the challenges they pose to the existing order. A number of military and defense intellectuals, for instance, point to American ignorance of culture as the primary reason behind the surprise of 9/11 and the strategic failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Study of culture and the application of lessons learned in this regard are widely considered a necessary counterweight to the technology-driven conceptions of war propounded by the revolution in military affairs proponents in the 1990s and early 2000s. This trend is perhaps best exemplified by the U.S. military's integration of anthropology and social science in newly formed "human terrain teams" that assist commanders in understanding the intricacies of local cultures and societies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the view of a number of defense...