Lecture 1
Freedman 2007
Wars Wars shaped the international system and shaped social change. They
are the products of social and economic development and threats to the
continuing process.
States Should enjoy the monopoly of legitimate and organized violence within
its territorial boundaries. When the monopoly is challenged by internal
threats or when it sees the opportunity to expand territory then it is at
war.
● States make alliances through which they accept some
obligation to act and defend others.
Security Combination of physical condition in preventing others to inflict harm
and a mental condition that this is indeed the case.
Wars Tend to occur when there is a doubt about the outcome.
1. Not only the quantity and quality of the army will be decisive but
also: the strategic imagination with which they are deployed, the
nerve of the leaders in the face of setbacks, and their readiness
to exploit breakthroughs and the ability to forge and sustain
alliances.
Williams 2013
Strategic activities of War is resilient and continues to evolve
war 1. Identification of the prioritization of Vital interests and values
2. Identifications of the threats
Concept of war Art of groups using organized violence
1. Civil war term: emerged when the Romans (1st Century) fought
against own citizens
2. Wars are described as a social fact with ingrained cultural
practice.
3. War is connected to human identity
4. Human predisposition for war: Cognitive bias and internal bias.
Cultural War as Cultural Expression:
, ● Warfare varies in meaning and appearance across different
historical and cultural contexts.
● John Keegan suggests war is an expression of culture and can
even determine cultural forms.
● War can be seen as a socially constructed institution with
significant material implications, similar to marriage, markets, or
society.
Subjectivity in Defining War:
● Definitions of war can differ between societies, reflecting
different perspectives on what constitutes an act of war.
Legal Juridical Definitions of War:
● War has been legally defined as a condition allowing hostile
groups to engage in conflict using armed force.
● The UN Charter (1945) prohibits war except in self-defense or
with Security Council authorization.
● Legally, war is distinguished from peace by being a state of legal
contestation through military means, not necessarily involving
active military engagements.
Legal Framework Limitations:
● The international legal framework primarily considers states,
limiting its applicability to non-state belligerents.
● Governments may avoid recognizing domestic opponents'
actions as warfare, labeling them as criminal activity instead.
Political ● War is defined as a type of political activity involving violence,
following Clausewitz's perspective.
● Hedley Bull's Definition:
○ War is organized violence carried out by political units
against each other.
○ Violence is considered war when it is conducted in the
name of a political unit and has a vicarious and official
character.
○ Distinction between war and other forms of violence
(e.g., murder, execution of criminals, suppression of
pirates) is based on its political context and targets.
Sociological ● War is seen as a socially generative form of relations that
, consumes and reworks social and political orders.
● It is a full-spectrum social phenomenon involving social, cultural,
economic, and political relations.
● War shapes everything from state matters to gender relations,
from high politics to popular culture.
● Combat and strategy are visible aspects but represent only a
small part of war's broader sociological impact.
3 Éléments 1. Political: Act of violence intended to compel the opponent to
fulfill our will
a. Rational instrumental activity: decision to employ the
military.
2. Eschatological: Final war leading to the unfolding of a grand
design, devine, natural or human
a. Messianic: Agency to carry out the grand design
b. Global: Grand design presumed to arise from the chaos
of the final war.
3. Cataclysmic: A catastrophe that befalls the entire or part of
humanity.
Functions of War 1. Limit Violence
a. Geographically fight away from the homeland.
b. Politically use militias or proxies.
c. Militarily avoid direct confrontation with a competent
enemy.
2. Fulfill Immediate Gain
a. Economic gain, improved safety, or psychological
benefits.
3. Weaken Political Opposition
a. Suppress or divide critics within one’s own camp
Change in warfare Total War Concept
nature - Total war involves escalation and participation, but in practice,
limits have always been imposed.
Globalization and New Warfare
Globalization has led to "new wars" characterized by:
→ Goals: Struggle between cosmopolitan and exclusivist identity
groups.
→ Methods: Guerrilla techniques and counterinsurgency.
, → Systems of Finance: Decentralized and transnational financing.
Western Way of War
Contemporary Western warfare is characterized by:
- Expeditionary nature, with conflicts localized away from the
homeland.
- Enemy defined narrowly as leadership/regime of target state.
- Minimization of collateral damage.
- Emphasis on airpower, despite its limitations in avoiding civilian
casualties.
Gray 2012
Rich Interplay Wars might look different but some stay the same in terms of morale
and discipline of the troops. People expect change when wars end but
between strategic
often it does not happen.
historical continuity
Fear, Honor and interest often play in the continuity that affect
and discontinuity
international stability
The relationship Strategic history is the use or threat of violence carried on by political
units against each other for political motives
between politics and
war - War should not be entertaining.
- Strategy is the bridge between military power and political
purpose.
The relationship War: Legal concept, a social institution, a compound idea that embraces
the total relationship between belligerents
between war and
- Fighting is only a tool for a means to an end.
warfare - War is to bend the enemy to one’s will (clausewith
Warfare: Actual conduct of war in military dimensions.
The relationship Military violence and political consequences are different and it is difficult
between politicians to convert it into one by strategy. Politicians and soldiers have to
and soldiers cooperate to generate positive strategic effectiveness.
1. Soldiers: Ideal type that is decisive, determined, honest, loyal
and person of action
2. Politician: High virtue, honor code, tools for trade.
The dependence of War is a social institution and is waged also by societies and not only
war on society states.
The relations between 1. One must consider the consequences of wars for the peace and
war and peace, and order–disorder that follow.
between peace and 2. One has to understand the consequences of periods of peace
war for the succeeding wars.
Peace follows war, war follows peace not with temporal regularity and
