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This edited volume addresses the relationship between the essential nature of war and its character at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The focus is on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, situations that occupy a central role in international affairs and that have become highly influential in thinking about war in the widest sense. The intellectual foundation of the volume is Clausewitz’s insight that though war has an enduring nature, its character changes with time, space, social structure and culture. The fact that war’s character varies means that different actors may interpret, experience and, ultimately, wage war differently. The conflict between the ways that war is conceptualised in the prevailing Western and international discourse, and the manner in which it plays out on the ground is a key discussion point for scholars and practitioners in the field of international relations. Contributions combine insights from social theory, philosophy, sociology and strategic studies and ask directly what contemporary war is, and what the implications are for the future.
This book will be of much interest to students of war studies, strategic studies, security studies and IR in general.
Caroline Holmqvist-Jonsäter is currently completing a PhD in the conflation of war and policing in international conflicts at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
Christopher Coker is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is the author of 11 books on war and security issues.
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| $125.00 | Digital |
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Kenneth Rearick
reviewed The Character of War in the 21st Century: Paradoxes, Contradictions, and Continuities on February 05, 2011
The Character of War in the 21st Century
Strategy requires a head of state to match his means against his ends, hoping to obtain a desired outcome. So why is it that when a country is confronted with a problem, the strategy that was pursued seems baffling to the reader? Looking at military history from the viewpoint of economics, Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll come up with some rational answers that a reader may not expect in their work, "Castles, Battles and Bombs."
More of a collection of case studies, the authors give examples of basic problems in economics as they relate to national security. Take castles. The authors offer them up as a study in opportunity costs. A medieval ruler has the means to build them, or build an army, but not both. Which is a more cost-effective way of controlling the countryside? The castles are expensive to build, but once they are up, cost little to maintain and man--as opposed to keeping an army of thousands in the field for the same span of time.
And so the authors trip down their list of illustrations--the principal vs. agent problem (mercenary recruitment), battle (cost-benefit analisys), the cost of information (reconnaissance), the law of diminishing returns (strategic bombing), and economy of force (France's modest nuclear arsenal standing in for a larger army). The authors struggle to make ends meet in some of their end-of-chapter matrices that cross-check economic with military factors. Overlook this--the real meat is in the chapters. While an economic viewpoint of warfare is not the last word in strategic analysis, readers should be cognizant of economics as a major factor among many that define strategic choices. Brauer and Van Tuyll succeed in explaining economics in layman's terms, thus challenging the reader to look at military history from this angle. Choices that may seem puny and baffling make sense (French nuclear forces), while strategies that seemed necessary and urgent are made to look like folly (bombing Germany in WWII).
If the reader comes away from this book with second thoughts, then the authors did their job right.
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