{"id":24264,"date":"2016-01-21T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T19:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=24264"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:33:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T22:33:08","slug":"a-critique-of-forging-australian-land-power-a-primer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/a-critique-of-forging-australian-land-power-a-primer\/","title":{"rendered":"A critique of \u2018Forging Australian Land Power: A Primer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dr Albert Palazzo, the Director Research at Army Headquarters, has just published a thought-provoking short monograph entitled Forging Australian Land Power: A Primer<\/em><\/a>. His stated objective is \u2018to assist those tasked with thinking about the past and present to shape an Australian Army that is more capable into the future\u2019. In essence, it isn\u2019t about waging war as preparing for battle. For defence and foreign policy practitioners and other interested observers, it\u2019s well worth reading.<\/p>\n

His argument flows clearly and logically, making a reasoned argument about the enduring utility of land power in the Australian context in three parts. In Part I, he examines the utility of land power and uses three terms in priority order: \u2018compelling\u2019 (the waging of war), \u2018influencing\u2019 (preventive defence or military diplomacy) and \u2018aiding\u2019 (assisting with recovery from disasters). He uses those three terms as his reference points to describe the Army\u2019s key functions. It\u2019s a handy distillation of the Army\u2019s tasks.<\/p>\n

In Part II he considers the historical pattern of Australia\u2019s defence policy as it pertains to land power, some of which I take issue with below. Then in Part III he goes on to explain the significance of what he sees as the seven enduring truths. Those truths he lists as follows:<\/p>\n