The Way Of War

[Surferbeetle]

Education, although sometimes painful, is always worth it.

Question: What impact has the compression of time and space had on the level and intensity of violence during and between wars in the past/present/future.

If we can agree that 'compression of time and space' is an artifact of globalization, could your question be restated as: What impact has globalization had upon warfare?

Very broadly, and by contrasting the battlefields of Iraq (OIF) with those of WWI Europe, I would say that a focus upon rapid removal of governance (individuals and structures) using an overwhelming force synchronized with realtime ICT (information and communication technology) results in reduced casualty rates for both sides. I also wonder about reduced post war recovery rates for both sides...by contrasting the ongoing recovery versus the interval from 1918 to 1939. A comparison of costs indicates that war is, and will always be, expensive in lives and treasure.

Perhaps a better contrast would be to examine the Iraq wars with the British (British Mandate 1920 -1932) and with the US (1991 and 2003-2010)?

How does globalization account for these differences in levels and intensity of violence? The IMF defines four aspects of globalization: 'trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people and the dissemination of knowledge.' Current themes in the media which relate to this topic include trade, energy, 'Chimerica', high finance, growth rates, innovation...

Some references for a later read on this topic might include:

• The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
  
• The Scientific Way of Warfare by Antoine Bousquet
  
• Globalization, A Short History by Jurgen Osterhammel and Niels P. Pietersson
  
• The Quest by Daniel Yergin
  
• The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
  
• The American Phoenix by Charles Dumas and Diana Choyleva
  
• How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer

[Taiko]

Education, although sometimes painful, is always worth it.

The pain is nothing compared to finding a career/job. 18 months in and still nothing.

clandestine

Where do I sign up Bob's World?

If we can agree that 'compression of time and space' is an artifact of globalization

Globalization is an artifact of a neo-liberal agenda In part, I agree that discounting globalization's impact on warfare would be detrimental to any attempt at understanding the changing utilization/exploitation of time/space in warfare. My problem is that globalization, as a conceptual framework, has the potential to over-estimate the role of trade/economics/international institutions etc at the cost of under-estimating the power and positions of states within the 'international system'. Sometimes I get the feeling that the net effect of globalization has been to strengthen the hand of sub-state actors at the cost of both states and international institutions. Hence, the most prominent argument since the mid 1990's has been, where there is globalization there is also fragmentation.

Is globalization's price tag the erosion of the sovereignty of a state and its monopoly on force? Is this a price states are willing to pay for the assumed net benefits of globalization?

I would say that a focus upon rapid removal of governance (individuals and structures) using an overwhelming force synchronized with realtime ICT (information and communication technology) results in reduced casualty rates for both sides.

This is close to what CvC would call the 'ideal war', or a war on paper. In the near term it syncs very closely to my understanding of the exploitation/utilization of time/space to influence the level and intensity of violence via cyberwarfare. Would you say it is an adaptation of the Powell Doctrine to better fit with current technological assets?