Bruce D. Porter

War and the Rise of the State

Marvin Dunn

On May 17, 1980, one of the ugliest incidents of racial violence in U.S. history rocked the city of Miami, and sent shock waves across the nation. On that date, an all-white jury acquitted five white police officers of charges of manslaughter in the death of black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. The verdict precipitated a riot by black residents of Liberty City and other Miami neighborhoods. Before order was restored three days later, eighteen people were dead. Eight of the victims were whites who had the misfortune to be driving through the riot area when the verdict was announced, and who were savagely beaten, stoned, stabbed, or burned to death by black rioters- while hundreds more looked passively on. In this vivid, shocking account, the authors trace the long, sordid history of race relations in Miami that preceded and in many ways foreordained the riot. From interviews, public reports, and census data, the authors dissect the riot in compelling, minute-by-minute detail, and examine the aftermath, when the devastated community began to pick up the pieces. -- Publisher description.

Crossing the Bounds

The Miami Riot of 1980

This is a thorough and sophisticated study of one of the most critical current issues in world politics. Bruce Porter examines Soviet policy and behaviour in Third World conflicts in the postwar period, focusing particularly on five examples: the Yemeni civil war, the Nigerian civil war, the Yom Kippur war, the Angolan civil war, and the Ogaden war. Aiming to illuminate various complex tactical and operational aspects of the USSR's policy in local conflicts, the author draws on a wide and eclectic range of sources. He pays close attention to the Soviet role as arms supplier and diplomatic actor in relation to both US policy and the dynamics of the local conflict, and he concludes with a careful consideration of the effectiveness of Soviet policy and of the implications for the United States.

Soviet Arms and Diplomacy in Local Wars 1945-1980

The USSR in Third World Conflicts

States make war, but war also makes states. As Publishers Weekly notes, “Porter, a political scientist at Brigham Young University, demonstrates that wars have been catalysts for increasing the size and power of Western governments since the Renaissance. The state’s monopoly of effective violence has diminished not only individual rights and liberties, but also the ability of local communities and private associates to challenge the centralization of authority. Porter’s originality lies in his thesis that war, breaking down barriers of class, gender, ethnicity, and ideology, also contributes to meritocracy, mobility, and, above all, democratization. Porter also posits the emergence of the “Scientific Warfare State,” a political system in which advanced technology would render obsolete mass participation in war. This provocative study merits wide circulation and serious discussion.”

Bruce D. Porter

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