The Changing Character of War
John Baylis – International Relations
Chapter – 12
Table of Contents
Introduction
- Basil Liddell Hart stated, “if you want peace, understand war,” and Leon Trotsky emphasized that war is inevitable, even if one is not interested in it.
- Around 14,400 wars have occurred in history, claiming the lives of approximately 3.5 billion people.
- Since 1815, there have been between 224 and 559 wars, depending on the definition of war.
- War remains a significant form of social behavior, though it has become extinct in some regions.
- Post-Cold War, the number of wars, battle deaths, and war-related massacres sharply declined.
- Between 1989 and 1992, nearly one hundred wars ended, and the 1990s were the least violent decade since WWII.
- Despite the decline in war, many regions still experience it, showing novel features compared to the Cold War period.
- Globalization and post-modernity have produced political and social changes, influencing perceptions of external threats.
- These changes have led to evolving beliefs about the utility of force and the forms and functions of war.
- War in the modern era was traditionally seen as a way for states to resolve issues in international relations and project military power.
- In the post-Cold War period, threats are no longer just state-to-state rivalry, but include terrorism, insurgencies, and internal crises requiring military intervention.
- Some observers argue that the international system underwent a major transformation after the Cold War, particularly with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- Changes in the international environment have impacted the domestic attributes of many states, including an increase in democracies and the rise of civil wars in others.
- The United States became the hegemonic power, leading to globalization and Americanization, often met with cultural and political resistance.
- Carl von Clausewitz argued that the fundamental nature of war is immutable, with only its characteristics changing due to new ideas and social conditions.
- The end of the Cold War has led to changes in the form of warfare, driven by evolving perceptions of threat in the post-Cold War era.
- War is a socially constructed form of human behavior and must be understood within the political and cultural contexts.
- Communications technologies have led to new fields of warfare, with non-state actors using cyberspace and global media as battlegrounds.
- War is now fought on multiple planes, including terrestrial military operations, terrorism, and cyberspace, using informational and electronic deception.
- The battlefield has evolved into a three-dimensional battlespace that includes air-power, space satellites, and cyberspace.
- Military technology, including weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons, is becoming widely available.
- After the Cold War, surplus weaponry flooded the global arms market, making advanced military technology accessible at lower prices.