"What Should I wear to the War?" Topic

"It seems as if everyone has a new way of talking about war. Adjective changes like hybrid war, guerrilla war, revolutionary war, cyberwar, three-block war, and fourth-generation war compete with object changes like war on terror, war on drugs, war on poverty, and war on Christmas. Yet none of these really do a good job of defining their core noun—"war."

What is war? This question is one of the basic exercises I've used with military students, including in my former position at the US Naval War College. These concepts are widely spoken of, and even more often misspoken of, which means the student responses can range widely—something not uncommon with easily identifiable concepts that are still poorly defined. The exercise works hard to educate and preclude sloppy thinking, but for those students who've finished the Naval War College's Strategy and Policy coursework or any who are even passingly familiar with Carl von Clausewitz the quick and predictable answer is that "war is the continuation of politics by other means." It's such an easy and accepted answer, so the temptation is to dig no deeper and to move on; after all there's a research paper to write. Yet, the question is intentionally broad and seeks to move past not only the inevitable student recitation of Clausewitz's widely accepted dictum, but also the other common responses of "when Congress declares war" or "when someone is shooting at you." Defining war is important for the lawyer, the theorist, the politician, the strategist, and the operator. Asking such a seemingly obvious question seeks to get past the other common questions of war's nature, or war's character, and into the larger conversation of what war is, beyond the notion that we know what it is even if we can't easily define it. Occasionally someone will quote Shakespeare: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet." Even more astute students or faculty will compare the modern adjectivization of war with Lewis Carrol's "Jabberwocky"—words that sound right but are eventually meaningless. Regardless, I've always been a little uneasy with the idea that all "war is the continuation of politics by other means."…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Sometimes it's the other way around: Politics is the continuation of war by other means.

I plan on wearing a red fez!

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand