Editorial: War
Ole Wĉver: The Three Debates of War (in Danish)
War is treated in various relatively separate debates. This introducing article discusses three of these debates and its primary aim is to uncover whether they in fact say the same thing though in different ways - or alternatively whether they are 'out of sync' and draw up contrary tendencies. The three treated debates are 1) the theory of war, including the classics and the ongoing discussion on these and not least Clausewitz; 2) the more immediate observation of tendencies within the actual warfare, both presented in the literature of the 'establishment' on the 'revolution in military affairs' and by the more radical and cosmopolitan theses on 'new wars'; and finally 3) the treatment of wars by sociologists and philosophers and the room they leave open for (or indeed grant) war in the general understanding of societies. The article argues that the three debates are in harmony if one sees them from the perspective that wars as a phenomenon are under dissolution and to an ever-larger degree pop up at times and in places where it should not be found. Nevertheless, we do not dispose of a new, post-sovereign language for the understanding of this phenomenon and thus the most precise understanding still occurs by comparing these new developments with the classics and the classical concept of war.
Carl von Clausewitz: War is a Political Tool (in Danish)
Eckard Bolsinger: War & State in the 21st Century: On the Pronounced End of the Clausewitzean World (in Danish)
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Having survived the globalisation thesis, the very existence of the nation-state seems to be again under serious threat. Many commentators and scholars claim that the nation-state is about to lose its central base of power, namely the monopoly of waging war. They believe that 'new wars' within states transcend our previous understanding of war and political order. They offer us a dark vision of the future, holding that the instruments of war are gradually slipping out of the control of central states, as the global arms market enables almost any military force, terrorist group, or warlord to obtain technically advanced weaponry. They contend that state-centred, large-scale warfare has played its last cards. They suggest that terrorism, low-intensity conflicts, and the pervasiveness of organised crime will replace it. With the end of classical warfare, the state will become increasingly irrelevant and impotent. In sharp contrast to this fashionable thesis, this article shows that the nation-state and the current international system will persist. It also argues that the so-called new wars are in fact the old ones. In their history states have always been faced with a wide range of armed struggles, reaching from small wars to large-scale warfare. In the future the nation-state will be politically and militarily capable to fight all forms of violent conflicts. Instead of decline, the state will adapt to the 2new wars".
Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen: The Future of War: Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Revolutions in Military Affairs (in Danish)
On the one hand, the future of warfare is defined by the Western, particularly American, revolution in military affairs (RMA). On the other hand, the future of warfare is defined by the asymmetrical counter-strategies against the RMA. Thus concludes this article by means of the ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu is used as a 'heuristic crowbar' to comprehend the rationale of the future of warfare. RMA and the asymmetrical counter-strategies transforms the very rationale for how war is fought. The article shows this by means of an analysis of the differences in the 'strategic culture' of which Clausewitz and Sun Tzu are paradigmatic representatives. Next the strategic priorities of Sun Tzu is used to describe the new practice of war produced by the RMA and the reactions against it.
Vilhelm Güntelberg: Thoughts on the Development and Future of War (in Danish)
Based on a long academic and administrative career, the author tries to give an overall description of such conflicts that may create wars, and a description of the development of wars, from the conventional war (purely military) up to the total war on the one hand, and to the anonymous war on the other hand, the anonymous war being necessary for the inferior opponent in order to avoid destruction. With UN involvement - often somewhat late - the author expects future wars to be short assaults or an anonymous war, a war very difficult to control.
Paul Hirst: Another Century of Conflict? War and the International System in the 21st Century (in Danish)
This paper examines the major factors likely to affect sources and methods of armed conflict in the coming century. First, it considers the role of changing military technology, concentrating on the Revolution in Military Affairs. Second, it then turns to the issue of possible balances between economic conflict and cooperation and their effects on war, including whether the current extreme economic inequality within and between nations will be reduced by widespread industrialization and the prospects for China becoming an economic equal of and military rival to the USA. Thirdly, it considers how climate change may affect the role of states and the sources of conflict between them. Finally, it raises the question of whether international norms will be extended and consolidated, leading to greater cosmopolitan governance. It concludes that this is unlikely in an environment where states are facing confrontational non-state actors and where the major powers are forced to intervene in collapsing states. The paper envisages a century of conflict, different from the twentieth century but in many ways no less brutal.
Klaus Bolving: Clausewitz and the War as Phenomenon (in Danish)
Carl von Clausewitz divides his conception of war into two parts; war in abstract and war in reality. The war in abstract escalates to the utmost extreme and leaves one of the combating parties defenceless. But through a number of modifications Clausewitz creates a connection between the war in abstract and the war in reality and thus shows that war in reality ends before it reaches an extreme end state. The article analyses Clausewitz's theory of war and applies it to understand the war in Kosovo which developed in accordance with Clausewitz's theory. The Clausewitzian aims of war played a decisive role in the war in Kosovo and the war was solely a means for a political object. The article suggests that Clausewitz' theory of war is in fact universal, that is, relevant to all wars if these are regarded in accordance with their individual conditions and distinctive character.
Hans Joas: The Dream of the Violent-Free Modernity (in Danish)
This text was originally written in 1994. It was first published in a cultural journal called 'Sinn und Form'. This journal was the leading intellectual forum in East Germany - a position it managed to maintain after the reunion. The article came into being under the impressions from the xenophobic acts of violence in Germany and the war on Balkan. The war in Kosovo, the cruel genocide in Rwanda and much more lay still ahead of us at that time. After September 11, the international terrorism and the complications that stem from the war on it have increased the attention on violence as a theme.
Lars Bo Kaspersen: The 'Warfare Paradigm' in Historical Sociology - Warfare as a Driving Historical Force (in English)
A fundamental problem within social sciences concerns the neglect of violence and warfare as important social forces. Political violence organized by states is rarely discussed. This neglect can among other things be seen as a specific conception of state and society which claims that state and society are constituted by its internal elements. Consequently, the relations and conflicts between states/societies are omitted. A number of thinkers, however, who wrote from the late 19th century (e.g. Oppenheimer, Gumplowitz, Ratzenhofer, Spencer, Mackinder, Hintze og Weber) actually stressed the importance of war and violence as driving forces of societal change. During the last two or three decades these thinkers have inspired more recent historical sociology. The more recent historical 'state sociologists' such as Tilly, Mann, Giddens, Downing contribute with many important dimensions of the development of state and the importance of warfare for social change. A number of problems still seem to be present in the works of the new historical sociologists in terms of the key concepts of state and war. This article argues that a further and more fruitful development of a theory of war and state can done by taking a point of departure in the theories of Hegel, Clausewitz and Carl Schmitt.
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