A social theory of war: Clausewitz and war reconsidered
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
A social theory of war: Clausewitz and war reconsidered. / Sharma, Vivek; Kjellund, Jon (Editor).
In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 28, No. 3, 19.08.2014.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - A social theory of war: Clausewitz and war reconsidered
AU - Sharma, Vivek
A2 - Kjellund, Jon
PY - 2014/8/19
Y1 - 2014/8/19
N2 - This article presents a new theory of war that is grounded in the insights of Clausewitz on the social nature of conflict. Clausewitz had argued that war is a political process; he therefore distinguished between ‘war’—understood in political terms—and warfare—understood as fighting. He then created a typology covering a spectrum of war ranging from total to limited, the political stakes of a conflict determining where it would fall on the spectrum. I develop and modify this basic framework by arguing that the social organization of the actors has a determining role in predicting the stakes of war. I then show how this framework helps us understand some key problems in the political science literature on war and conflict. I attempt to show two main things: (1) that there are different types of wars (and that these differences are not necessarily related to the standing of the actors, i.e. the presence or absence of sovereignty); and (2) that how war and warfare are related is more complicated than previously understood and that this has implications for the political science literature on order, conflict and violence.
AB - This article presents a new theory of war that is grounded in the insights of Clausewitz on the social nature of conflict. Clausewitz had argued that war is a political process; he therefore distinguished between ‘war’—understood in political terms—and warfare—understood as fighting. He then created a typology covering a spectrum of war ranging from total to limited, the political stakes of a conflict determining where it would fall on the spectrum. I develop and modify this basic framework by arguing that the social organization of the actors has a determining role in predicting the stakes of war. I then show how this framework helps us understand some key problems in the political science literature on war and conflict. I attempt to show two main things: (1) that there are different types of wars (and that these differences are not necessarily related to the standing of the actors, i.e. the presence or absence of sovereignty); and (2) that how war and warfare are related is more complicated than previously understood and that this has implications for the political science literature on order, conflict and violence.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - War
KW - Security Concepts
KW - security and defence
KW - Sociology
KW - conflict research
KW - Conflict
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09557571.2013.872600
M3 - Journal article
VL - 28
JO - Cambridge Review of International Affairs
JF - Cambridge Review of International Affairs
SN - 0955-7571
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 194043513