Christopher Coker
Biographic Data
| ID | 288248 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher Coker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher |
| FAMILY NAME | Coker |
| SIGNATURE | COKER C |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0280-813X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 64 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 63 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Rise of the Civilizational State
War in Social Thought
Book Review| April 01 2019 War in Social Thought: Hobbes to the Present by Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knobl Knobl, Wolfgang; Joas, Hans, War in Social Thought: Hobbes to the Present (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 336 pp. Christopher Coker Christopher Coker Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Common Knowledge (2019) 25 (1-3): 446. https://doi.org/10.1215/0961754X-7312537 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebo…
Still 'the human thing'? Technology, human agency and the future of war
Is war beginning to escape human control? Thucydides tells us the war is one of the things that makes us definitively human; but how long will this continue to be the case as our relationship with technology continues to develop? Kenneth Waltz's book Man, the State and War affords one way of answering that question. So too does Nikolaas Tinbergen's framework for understanding human behaviour and Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The main…
United States, Western Europe and Military Intervention Overseas
War in Social Thought
Book Review| August 01 2014 War in Social Thought: Hobbes to the Present Joas, Hans and Knobl, Wolfgang, War in Social Thought: Hobbes to the Present. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 336 pp. Christopher Coker Christopher Coker Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Common Knowledge (2014) 20 (3): 500. https://doi.org/10.1215/0961754X-2732928 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Cit…
Dying to fight
The Collision of Modern and Post-Modern War
The ‘modern’ is not something that the security community has found very important. By contrast, the world of literary criticism has traded in several variants of the term to identify the arts of the time: ‘the modern movement’, ‘the modern tradition’, ‘the modern age’, ‘the modern century’, ‘the modern temper’, ‘modernism’, or just simply ‘the modern’. Political scientists too have been preoccupied for some time with marking out the parameters o…
A Matter of Honour
Ethics and war in the twenty-first century
Peace, War and the Heuristics of Fear
War, memes and memeplexes
Journal Article War, memes and memeplexes Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER 1Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 84, Issue 5, September 2008, Pages 903–914, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2008.00745.x Published: 03 October 2008
The Warrior Ethos
This is the first scholarly book to look at the role of the 'warrior' in modern war, arguing that warriors' actions, and indeed thoughts, are increasingly patrolled and that the modern battlefield is an unforgiving environment in which to discharge their vocation. As war becomes ever more instrumentalized, so its existential dimension is fast being hollowed out. Technology is threatening the agency of the warrior and this volume paints a picture …
A Rapidly Changing Reality
The Nature of the World order and Crisis through the eyes of leading experts in International Relations Q uantity has transformed into quality. Deformations and tensions in the world order, which have matured latently for years, if not decades, have come to light. The nature of changes in the modern world is yet to be comprehended. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to get rid of the Cold War inertial thinking and the temptation to find parallels …
Humane Warfare
One World Divisible
Journal Article One World Divisible: A Global History since 1945, David Reynolds Get access Christopher Coker Christopher Coker London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume 116, Issue 465, February 2001, Pages 282–283, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/116.465.282 Published: 01 February 2001
On Humanising war
One of the definitive features of our post modern times is the attempt by western nations to humanise warfare. It is in keeping with other attempts in fields as varied as architecture and politics to make the experience of modernity more humane. Unfortunately, counter trends are also transforming war as well. It is becoming less existential as an experience. As we begin to factor out the human element altogether we are in danger of forging someth…
Reference Review
Humanising Warfare, or Why Van Creveld May Be Missing the `Big Picture
Outsourcing war
The article contends that the era of postmodern war has arrived and investigates its implications. Limited warfare is now the only way in which a postmodern society can use war as a political instrument. Moreover, the private sector is gaining importance. The commercial ethos is challenging the traditional professional ethos of the armed services. Military power is judged increasingly by more utilitarian standards, and war is outsourced to the pr…
War and the Illiberal Conscience
War and the Liberal Conscience War and Peace A People Without a History War and Nationalism The Will to Power War and the Illiberal Unconscious War, the Liberal Conscience, and the Postmodern Era
War and the Illiberal Conscience
War and the Liberal Conscience War and Peace A People Without a History War and Nationalism The Will to Power War and the Illiberal Unconscious War, the Liberal Conscience, and the Postmodern Era
Twilight of the West
How Wars End
The clash with distant cultures
Journal Article The clash with distant cultures: values, interests, and force in American foreign policy Get access The clash with distant cultures: values, interests, and force in American foreign policy. By Richard J. Payne. Albany, NY: SUNY. 1995. 285pp. Index. $24.50. ISBN 0 7914 2647 5. Christopher Coker Christopher Coker 1London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Schola…
War and modernity
War, memes and memeplexes
Journal Article War, memes and memeplexes Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER 1Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 84, Issue 5, September 2008, Pages 903–914, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2008.00745.x Published: 03 October 2008
The clash with distant cultures
Journal Article The clash with distant cultures: values, interests, and force in American foreign policy Get access The clash with distant cultures: values, interests, and force in American foreign policy. By Richard J. Payne. Albany, NY: SUNY. 1995. 285pp. Index. $24.50. ISBN 0 7914 2647 5. Christopher Coker Christopher Coker 1London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Schola…
Post-modernity and the end of the Cold War
At the end of the Second World War, Arnold Toynbee sat down to complete the last volume of his magnus opus, A Study of History . What was his main conclusion? That the world had just entered the last phase of Western history—the ‘post-modern’ era, an age that would be marked by anxiety and despair. A Study of History has gone the way of all meta-historical studies. Toynbee himself is now less regarded than Oswald Spengler. But if he is remembered…
Experiencing' Southern Africa in the twenty-first century
The world's experience of Southern Africa used to be one of an arena - an arena of endemic conflict. The region had everything: from a compelling political tragedy in South Africa to an endless series of conflicts in Mozambique and Angola. For those whose job it was to monitor the Third World condition, Southern Africa made a particularly fitting postscript to the colonial era. For the Soviet Union, Southern Africa presented a more positive pictu…
Humanising Warfare, or Why Van Creveld May Be Missing the `Big Picture
Outsourcing war
The article contends that the era of postmodern war has arrived and investigates its implications. Limited warfare is now the only way in which a postmodern society can use war as a political instrument. Moreover, the private sector is gaining importance. The commercial ethos is challenging the traditional professional ethos of the armed services. Military power is judged increasingly by more utilitarian standards, and war is outsourced to the pr…
At the Birth of the Fourth Reich? The British Reaction
The United States and South Africa, 1968-1985
Still 'the human thing'? Technology, human agency and the future of war
Is war beginning to escape human control? Thucydides tells us the war is one of the things that makes us definitively human; but how long will this continue to be the case as our relationship with technology continues to develop? Kenneth Waltz's book Man, the State and War affords one way of answering that question. So too does Nikolaas Tinbergen's framework for understanding human behaviour and Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The main…
Reflections on American Foreign Policy Since 1945
Journal Article Reflections on American Foreign Policy Since 1945. By Christopher Coker. (New York: St. Martin's, 1989. x + 179 pp. $35.00.) Get access Wesley M. Bagby Wesley M. Bagby West Virginia University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 77, Issue 4, March 1991, Pages 1410–1411, https://doi.org/10.2307/2078376 Published: 01 March 1991
One World Divisible
Journal Article One World Divisible: A Global History since 1945, David Reynolds Get access Christopher Coker Christopher Coker London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume 116, Issue 465, February 2001, Pages 282–283, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/116.465.282 Published: 01 February 2001
Reference Review
War and the Illiberal Conscience
War and the Liberal Conscience War and Peace A People Without a History War and Nationalism The Will to Power War and the Illiberal Unconscious War, the Liberal Conscience, and the Postmodern Era
How Wars End
Britain and the New World Order
America hlas emerged into the post-Cold War era as a nation needing allies mnore than ever before. Christopher Coker here suggests that a continuation of the special relationship between America and Britain could be seen as a consolation for a couintry that has lost its way, or in Britain's case, 'to legititnize its detachmnentfrom Euirope and to justify its apparent wayward attitude to a future that clearly lies ivith Europe'
The Myth or Reality of the Pacific Century
The Western Alliance and Africa 1949–81
Journal Article THE WESTERN ALLIANCE AND AFRICA 1949–81 Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar African Affairs, Volume 81, Issue 324, July 1982, Pages 319–335, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097429 Published: 01 July 1982
Adventurism and Pragmatism
Journal Article Adventurism and Pragmatism: The Soviet Union, Comecon, and Relations with African States Get access Christopher Coker Christopher Coker Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 57, Issue 4, Autumn 1981, Pages 618–633, https://doi.org/10.2307/2619863 Published: 01 October 1981
Retreat into the Future
When Henry Kissinger became Secretary of State in September 1973 he instructed all American embassy personnel to monitor human rights in the countries in which they were serving. President Jimmy Carter was not responsible for America's interest in human rights, only for the policy of affirmative action. When his Assistant Secretary for Human Rights commenced work she found only two members of the State Department permanently assigned to the task,…
Decolonization in the seventies
The United States and National Liberation in Southern Africa
Journal Article THE UNITED STATES AND NATIONAL LIBERATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER The author is a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and he is presently writing-up a D.Phil, thesis on 'US policy in Southern Africa, 1969–76' at Oxford University. This article is based upon a lecture he gave last year at the University of the Witwatersrand. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Goog…
Retreat into the Future
When Henry Kissinger became Secretary of State in September 1973 he instructed all American embassy personnel to monitor human rights in the countries in which they were serving. President Jimmy Carter was not responsible for America's interest in human rights, only for the policy of affirmative action. When his Assistant Secretary for Human Rights commenced work she found only two members of the State Department permanently assigned to the task,…
Peacekeeping in Southern Africa
Collective Bargaining as an Internal Sanction
Foreign investment in South Africa during the past 20 years has been subject to criticism form several diverse schools of thought, ranging from those who believe it has contributed to country's economic growth without improving the condition of the black workers, to those who maintain that – at best – apartheid has been modernised rather than fundamentally changed. Today the focus of attention has shifted to collective bargaining and trade union …
Adventurism and Pragmatism
Journal Article Adventurism and Pragmatism: The Soviet Union, Comecon, and Relations with African States Get access Christopher Coker Christopher Coker Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 57, Issue 4, Autumn 1981, Pages 618–633, https://doi.org/10.2307/2619863 Published: 01 October 1981
The United States and South Africa
Constructive engagement
The Western Alliance and Africa 1949–81
Journal Article THE WESTERN ALLIANCE AND AFRICA 1949–81 Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar African Affairs, Volume 81, Issue 324, July 1982, Pages 319–335, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097429 Published: 01 July 1982
Neo‐conservatism and Africa
South Africa
(1983). South Africa: A new military role in Southern Africa 1969–82. Survival: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 59-67
Nato, the Warsaw Pact and Africa
Africa, the Western Alliance and the Soviet Challenge, 1961–78
Once they became independent most post-colonial societies were interested in their own stability and economic development. These preoccupations also extended to the sphere of foreign relations, where the new states were reluctant to become involved in squabbles which had nothing to do with themselves. None wished to be tied too closely to the military blocs, especially NATO. If the choice of non-alignment appeared to be anti-Western it was becaus…
The Past as Prologue
In one form or another, defence against Soviet aggression has been the professed objective of Western policy since World War II. At various times the policy has ranged from confrontation to détente, from cold war to peaceful engagement, but whatever the nomenclature or its political content, collective defence has been the keystone of Western strategy. Whatever the West's apparent beliefs and hopes for eventual political reconciliation with the S…
The North Atlantic Alliance and Southern Africa, 1949–74
From the time the nationalist revolt broke out in Angola (1961), Portugal's refusal to transfer power in its African colonies and NATO's apparent reluctance to stand firm on the issue combined to give credence to Soviet claims that the Portuguese were members of an 'aggressively imperialist' alliance.1 Britain's 'collusion' with South Africa helped contribute to the picture. Events in Southern Africa lost NATO the friendship of many African state…
The Peace Movement and Its Impact on Public Opinion
Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher CokerChristopher Coker is a lecturer in international relations at the London School of Economics and is the author of U.S. Military Power in the 1980s (Macmillan. 1983)
Nato, the Warsaw Pact and Africa
European security
The United States and South Africa, 1968-1985
The United States, Western Europe and Military Intervention Overseas
East of Suez Revisited
The retreat of European military power east of Suez has been a persistent theme of international politics since the mid-1970s — captured on film of flags lowering ceremonies in the British colonies, and peacekeeping operations in Aden and Cyprus, until the retreat seemed to have come full circle with the troubles in Ulster after 1969. For the French the break was less dramatic, but still real. In the early 1970s a spate of successful coups which …
Shorter Notices
Journal Article Shorter Notices Get access CHRISTOPHER COKER CHRISTOPHER COKER London School of Economics & Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume CIII, Issue CCCCVII, April 1988, Pages 553–554, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/CIII.CCCCVII.553 Published: 01 April 1988
Pact, pox or proxy
(1988). Pact, pox or proxy: Eastern Europe's security relationship with Southern Africa. Soviet Studies: Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 573-584
The Myth or Reality of the Pacific Century
The United States and South Africa, 1968-1985
Political science (52 works) · Law (35 works) · History (28 works) · Politics (24 works) · Law (23 works) · Computer Science (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · History (16 works) · Coker unit (13 works) · Economics (13 works)