The Military Balance is the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual assessment of the military capabilities and defense economics of 170 countries worldwide. It is a useful resource for those involved in security policy making, analysis and research.

The book is a region-by-region analysis of the major military and economic developments affecting defence and security policies, and the trade in weapons and other military equipment. Comprehensive tables detail major military training activities, UN and non-UN deployments, and give data on key equipment holdings and defence expenditure trends over a ten year period.

New for 2012:
This new edition contains a number of regional policy and defence economics essays including ‘Arab Militaries and the Arab Awakening’; ‘The War in Afghanistan’ as well as an analysis of the top ten defence-budgeting states.

The up-to-date regional data entries also include extended details on armies’ combat support capabilities, assessments of countries’ cyber capacities and - to help readers’ understanding of the organization and inventory data contained within the country entries - summaries of individual states’ military capabilities. More in-depth tables and graphics have been added: an introductory section detailing aspects of comparative defence activity has been updated to track current defense developments and anticipate future trends; maps depicting the wars in Libya and Afghanistan; conflict in Cote d’Ivoire; the military response to the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami; and security issues in the Arctic have also been included.

Key Features:
• Region-by-region analysis: developments affecting defence and security policies, and the trade in weapons and other military equipment
• Comprehensive tables: key data on weapons and defence economics, such as comparisons of international defence expenditure and military manpower
• Analysis: significant military and economic developments
• An updated Chart of Conflict for 2012
• Wallchart: detailed world map that shows current areas of conflict, with explanatory tables.