Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Uncomfortable Visions : The Rise and Decline of the Idea of Limited War. / Honig, Jan Willem.
The Art of Creating Power: Freedman on Strategy. ed. / Benedict Wilkinson; James Gow. London : Hurst & Company, 2017. p. 29-47.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
}
TY - CHAP
T1 - Uncomfortable Visions
T2 - The Rise and Decline of the Idea of Limited War
AU - Honig, Jan Willem
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - This chapter interrogates strategy and warfare, in particular the themes of ‘limited war’ and influence. It argues that war is what we and our militaries make of it, paraphrasing Alexander Wendt’s constructivist version of anarchy in international society. The notion of ‘comfortable’ and ‘uncomfortable’ wars is explored. ‘Comfortable’ refers to the way societies and militaries accept the idea of war that is very violent and for national survival, or some other ‘necessary’ reason. In contrast, the idea of limited war with limited means as a way of influencing enemies and opponents proves to be ‘uncomfortable’ because it does not fit the prevailing intellectual and cultural template – to say nothing of the practical issues that many limited wars have faced, from Vietnam to the twenty-first century. That reinforces the constructed character of warfare and the salience of interaction and interrelationships, bounded by the realities of physical and social force
AB - This chapter interrogates strategy and warfare, in particular the themes of ‘limited war’ and influence. It argues that war is what we and our militaries make of it, paraphrasing Alexander Wendt’s constructivist version of anarchy in international society. The notion of ‘comfortable’ and ‘uncomfortable’ wars is explored. ‘Comfortable’ refers to the way societies and militaries accept the idea of war that is very violent and for national survival, or some other ‘necessary’ reason. In contrast, the idea of limited war with limited means as a way of influencing enemies and opponents proves to be ‘uncomfortable’ because it does not fit the prevailing intellectual and cultural template – to say nothing of the practical issues that many limited wars have faced, from Vietnam to the twenty-first century. That reinforces the constructed character of warfare and the salience of interaction and interrelationships, bounded by the realities of physical and social force
U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780190851163.003.0003
DO - 10.1093/oso/9780190851163.003.0003
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9781849045810
SP - 29
EP - 47
BT - The Art of Creating Power
A2 - Wilkinson, Benedict
A2 - Gow, James
PB - Hurst & Company
CY - London
ER -
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