Rethinking War: The Mouse's New Roar?

or most of history, the oft-cited correlation between the size of one's battalions and the odds of military victory had a firm foundation in reality. In classic terms, larger forces won more battles. When technology began to matter, large industrialized nations proved uniquely capable of mobilizing the resources to develop trump cards such as nuclear arms or spy satellites. The rise of globalization over the last half century has now given analysts cause to question such received wisdom. Today, almost every element of power can be acquired in the global marketplace. Information technologies have given nearly everyone a potential voice in the world arena. And so it seems that the small have caught up with the strong and that size does not matter, at least as it once did. But while in some ways small nations can fend off superpowers more effectively, in others they are more at their mercy. The most obvious paths to power, such as the ability to hold others at risk through weapons of mass destruction, or, speculatively, through information warfare, may turn out to be show rather than substance. Instead, nonsuperpowers can exploit globalization in more subtle ways. By making use of the technologies of the revolution in military affairs, small countries can tilt the odds against an invading army and remove the certainty of success that once made aggression worthwhile. They also