SEAPOWER: A GUIDE FOR THE TWENTYFIRST CENTURY/GEOFFREY TILL

• Main Author: Abel Esterhuyse
• Format: Article
• Language: Afrikaans
• Published: Stellenbosch University 2011-08-01
• Series: Scientia Militaria
• Online Access: http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/84

With the publication of Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century<br />Geoffrey Till has set the standard for publications on all things maritime. The<br />updated and expanded new edition of the book is an essential guide for students of<br />naval history and maritime strategy and provides essential reading for those<br />interested in the role of seapower in the twenty-first century. Till notes in the<br />preface to the second edition of the book (p. xv) that he specifically aimed at<br />providing a broader international context for the discussion of the role of navies.<br />The naval policies of China, Japan, India and the United States are used as case<br />studies of general naval developments around the world. In addition, the analysis<br />highlights the “… post-modern preoccupations of today’s navies” (p. xvii) including<br />inter alia the maintenance of good order at sea, coalition operations, and multilateral<br />terrorism. The central hypothesis of the book is rooted in the notion that the sea is<br />central to the prosperity and security of all nations, and even more so since the<br />emergence of an increasingly globalised world trading system. Till argues in<br />Seapower that the fate of nations is closely link to the sea as a source of resources<br />and as a means of transportation, information exchange and strategic domination in<br />all human development.