ABSTRACT
In the USA, which now dominated what was referred to as a unipolar world, that is a world organised round one power, the military discussion was largely in terms of what was described as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). Indeed, the RMA was symptomatic of a set of cultural and political assumptions that tell us more about the aspirations of the 1990s than they do about any objective assessment of military capabilities. Moreover, it was particularly crucial to Americans that the RMA was an American-led military revolution as it apparently underlined American proficiency and, indeed, became almost a way to validate it. Superiority in forms of military technology and military-industrial complexes is more important in sea and air environments, where its effect is fundamental; but precisely the same forms of superiority in technology and industry have a far smaller impact so far as land power goes.
