Chapter 12: War Security studies cannot afford to

Transcript:Chapter 12: War Security studies cannot afford to:
Chapter 12: War Security studies cannot afford to ignore war: the reciprocal use of organized violence by adversaries trying to settle a dispute. War has influenced virtually every dimension of human life, including many of humanity’s most enduring cultural reference points, shaped the deep meanings of masculinity and femininity, and set the contours of many laws, institutions, and customs. Debate continues over whether warfare is declining. Pinker (2011) argued the threat of humans suffering a violent death has receded significantly over the last few thousand years. Centeno and Enriquez (2016) contend that the history of warfare points in the opposite direction: it has become more deadly over time as societies developed and became more complex. This chapter analyzes the concept of war, its evolution, and its expansion into domains beyond geographical terrain. The central theme is war’s resilience; it will continue to evolve in line with the societies that wage it. Defining War 1 War can be defined as the art of adversaries using reciprocal organized violence to settle a dispute. It requires the formation of groups, the expression of hostile intent between them, the use of organized military force by one party to impose its will on the adversary, but also, crucially, the adversary’s forceful response. Some analysts parse the master-concept into different types of warfare with distinct characteristics e.g., interstate war, conventional war, civil war, irregular war, guerrilla war, total war, nuclear war, limited war, hybrid war, X generation war, nonstate war, cyber war, space war, algorithmic war. In International Relations and security studies, the concept of warfare is often defined using cultural, legal, political, and sociological approaches. Defining War 2 A cultural approach notes that warfare looks different and evokes different meanings depending where and when in human history analysts look. John Keegan (1994): war ‘is always an expression of culture, often a determinant of cultural forms, in some societies the culture itself’. A legal approach notes that war requires a declaration and the parties to acknowledge their joint participation in it. War is thus ‘the legal condition which equally permits two or more hostile groups to carry on a conflict by armed force’ (Wright 1983). A political approach defines war as ‘organised violence carried on by political units against each other. Violence is not war unless it is carried out in the name of a political unit…[and] directed against another political unit (Bull 1977). A sociological