Rebooting Clausewitz

Rebooting Clausewitz offers an entirely new take on the work of history's greatest theorist of war. Written for an undergraduate readership that often struggles with Clausewitz's master work On War--a book that is often considered too philosophical and impenetrably dense--it seeks to unpack some of Clausewitz's key insights on theory and strategy. In three fictional interludes Clausewitz attends a seminar at West Point; debates the War on Terror at a Washington think tank; and visits a Robotics Institute in Santa Fe where he discusses how scientists are reshaping the future of war. Three separate essays situate Clausewitz in the context of his times, discuss his understanding of the culture of war, and the extent to which two other giants--Thucydides and Sun Tzu--complement his work. Some years ago the philosopher W.B. Gallie argued that Clausewitz needed to be 'saved from the Clausewitzians'. Clausewitz doesn't need saving and his commentators have contributed a great deal to our understanding of On War's seminal status as a text. But too often they tend to conduct a conversation between themselves. This book is an attempt to let a wider audience into the conversation.

Rebooting Clausewitz offers an entirely new take on the work of history's greatest theorist of war. Written for an undergraduate readership that often struggles with Clausewitz's master work On War--a book that is often considered too philosophical and impenetrably dense--it seeks to unpack some of Clausewitz's key insights on theory and strategy. In three fictional interludes Clausewitz attends a seminar at West Point; debates the War on Terror at a Washington think tank; and visits a Robotics Institute in Santa Fe where he discusses how scientists are reshaping the future of war. Three separate essays situate Clausewitz in the context of his times, discuss his understanding of the culture of war, and the extent to which two other giants--Thucydides and Sun Tzu--complement his work. Some years ago the philosopher W.B. Gallie argued that Clausewitz needed to be 'saved from the Clausewitzians'. Clausewitz doesn't need saving and his commentators have contributed a great deal to our understanding of On War's seminal status as a text. But too often they tend to conduct a conversation between themselves. This book is an attempt to let a wider audience into the conversation.

Committing one's country to war is a grave decision. Governments often have to make tough calls, but none are quite so painful as those that involve sending soldiers into harm's way, to kill and be killed. The idea of 'just war' informs how we approach and reflect on these decisions. It signifies the belief that while war is always a wretched enterprise it may in certain circumstances, and subject to certain restrictions, be justified. Boasting a long history that is usually traced back to the sunset of the Roman Empire, it has coalesced over time into a series of principles and moral categories--e.g., just cause, last resort, proportionality, etc.--that will be familiar to anyone who has ever entered a discussion about the rights and wrongs of war. Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War focuses both on how this particular tradition of thought has evolved over time and how it has informed the practice of states and the legal architecture of international society. This book examines the vexed position that the concept of victory occupies within this framework.

This book discusses the often explosive relation between war and ideas between 1650 and 1900, how the ideas of philosophers and generals have influenced war, and how war in its turn has influenced ideas.

This compelling account charts the historical emergence of vicarious warfare and its contemporary prominence. It contrasts its tactical advantages with its hidden costs and potential to cause significant strategic harm.

For students of Strategic Studies in small countries with limited financial, human and military resources, the available literature on Strategic Studies, in particular texts that seek to explain the key concepts and components of Strategic Studies, can be very alien in its focus to the strategic conditions and issues that these countries face.This book contains a collection of essays that seeks to discuss key concepts in Strategic Studies, as well as contemporary challenges in strategy and defence policy, from the perspective of small states. It is based on the idea — derived from the German philosopher of war, Carl von Clausewitz — that there is a distinction between logic and grammar: while the field of Strategic Studies contains a number of key concepts (such as geopolitics and geostrategy, strategic culture, arms dynamics and the phenomenon of military modernization) that are universal in logic, the grammar (that is, the specific manifestations of these concepts) in the contexts of small states is necessarily different from larger, more materially endowed, states.Related Link(s)

​This handbook provides an exploration of the field of International Political Theory (IPT), which in its broadest terms, examines the ways in which ideas about justice, sovereignty, and legitimacy shape international politics. It is a comprehensive resource for those interested in understanding the philosophical, political, and legal issues that arise from interactions between states, peoples, and global actors. The two volumes of the handbook cover a wide range of topics, from the foundations of international political thought to the latest debates in the field. They are designed to give readers a comprehensive overview of the key concepts and arguments within international political theory and provide an introduction to the main debates in the field. Volume 1 takes us from the ancient world to the formation of the modern state system as we lay the groundwork for a critical understanding of changes in, and challenges to, core ideas such as sovereignty, international law and territorial integrity. The contributions to this volume explore the European domination of the discipline providing insights into how it came to conceive the world in its own image. They also focus on non-Western perspectives and reactions to European hegemony.