This volume aims at bridging a gap in contemporary scientific military leadership research regarding leadership in challenging situations. Today’s leaders face challenging situations in a complex world, in ‘old’ as well as in ‘new’ missions worldwide. The main purpose of this book is to provide knowledge as well as empirical data on leadership performance and experiences and to discuss a wide variety of leadership issues under extreme and challenging conditions. The approach is inter-disciplinary; therefore this volume comprises articles ranging from meta-level analysis, experiences gained in the field, ideal doctrine versus disappointing malpractice up to the level of international politics.

Harald Haas (Ph.D., University of Vienna) is a political scientist and psychologist; he teaches at the Department for Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, Institute for Psychology, University of Klagenfurt as well as at the National Defence Academy in Vienna. His main focus of research and teaching is on psycho-politics, intercultural affairs, and conflict-management. Franz Kernic (Ph.D., University of Vienna) is a professor of sociology at the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm. Before, he was a visiting professor at Carleton University in Ottawa (2007-2008). He also holds appointments with the Austrian Ministry of Defence, the University of Innsbruck, and the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich. The author has been a visiting professor/scholar and research fellow at various European and American universities and institutions. His research focuses on international security, peace and conflict studies, EU external relations and security policy, and (military) sociology. Andrea Plaschke (Ph.D., University of Klagenfurt) is a psychologist and psychotherapist in Klagenfurt and a lecturer at the Department for Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, Institute for Psychology, University of Klagenfurt. She is also a trainer at the School of Management, Organizational Development and Technology at the same university as well as at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Finally, she is a senior trainer for supervision, coaching, organizational development and mediation.

Contents: Harald Haas/Franz Kernic/Andrea Plaschke: Preface and Introduction: Leadership in Challenging Situations – James Warn/Alan Okros/Michael Cox: The Intellectual Challenges of Complexity in Contemporary Military Missions – Ruth Seifert: The German Bundeswehr and New Military Operations: Gender and the Concept of ‘Innere Führung’ – Jan Willem Honig/Ilmari Käihkö: Challenges of Command: The Rise of the ‘Strategic Colonel’ – Heiko Biehl: Military Cooperation in Multinational Missions – Harald Haas: Intercultural Challenges for European Armed Forces in International Operations – Hitoshi Kawano: Japan Self-Defence Force in Iraq - Commitment to International Peace and Leadership Challenges – Chiara Ruffa: What Kind of Military Leadership for what Kind of Operation? Assessing ‘Mission Command’ in Peace Operations and Counterinsurgencies – Camilla Kylin: Adaptability through Diversity? A Study of the Demands of Irregular Threats and Adaptability – Amira Raviv: Developing Senior Leaders: Challenges, Methodologies, and Dilemmas – Georg Ebner: Military Command and its Challenges in the 21st Century – Jürgen Rose: Multicultural Tensions in International Peace Support Operations: Lessons from the German Bundeswehr – Walter Posch: Provoking an Agreement? The Hormuz Incident revisited – Paul G. Ertl: Ethical Decision-making Processes in Challenging Situations – Marc-André Boisvert: Leadership: An Annotated Bibliography. Inhaltsverzeichnis