Critical War Studies

Name
Email
Subject
Comment *
File	Select/drop/paste files here
* = required field	[▶ Show post options & limits] Confused? See the FAQ.

Embed	(replaces files and can be used instead)
Options	Do not bump (you can also write sage in the email field) Spoiler images (this replaces the thumbnails of your images with question marks)
Password	(For file and post deletion.)
Allowed file types:jpg, jpeg, gif, png, webm, mp4, swf, pdf Max filesize is 8 MB. Max image dimensions are 10000 x 10000. You may upload 5 per post.

File: 1456405294244.jpg (48.31 KB, 611x344, 611:344, 34q0f0jl4r5hqleheo7nd2q3jh.jpg)

Critical War Studies Autodidact 02/25/16 (Thu) 13:01:34 No.993

"War is a mere continuation of policy by other means" - Carl von Clausewitz

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" - Mao Zedong

Critical War Studies is a budding field in social sciences that seeks to understand the human phenomena of war. It's primarily studied from the perspective of International Relations, but also incorporates elements of critical theory, gender theory, post-colonialism etc, as well as traditional theories of strategy and tactics.

I'll dump a mix of pdfs and links to articles that was used in a course I took on the subject. In general, the content deals with the topics of "What is War", "How are humans affected by War", and/or critiques of modern and "post-modern" warfare. Frequently mentioned is Carl von Clausewitz, Michel Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari, and Jean Baudrillard.

I'll start of with some chapters from the defining work "On War" by Clausewitz, in which we find the genesis of the important friction between Perfect and Real war, i.e. war as we desire it to be and war as it actually plays out, a distinction that becomes important in the analysis of so called post-modern warfare.

http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK1ch01.html

http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK1ch07.html#a

http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK8ch06.html#B

Autodidact 02/25/16 (Thu) 13:13:57 No.994

File: 1456406037298-0.pdf (128.48 KB, Barkawi_et_al-2011-Interna….pdf)

File: 1456406037299-1.pdf (409.9 KB, Millennium - Journal of In….pdf)

>>993

These articles primarily deal with what CWS is, how it should study war, and what war is. The two camps can generally be assessed as the Clausewitz + Foucault perspective and the Baudrillard perspective.

"Forget Clausewitz" Dr. Dan Öberg http://www2.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol-11_2/v11-2-oberg2.html

Autodidact 02/25/16 (Thu) 13:27:25 No.995

File: 1456406845788-0.pdf (134.87 KB, Ansorge-2010-International….pdf)

File: 1456406845789-1.pdf (323.88 KB, Security Dialogue-2013-Niv….pdf)

File: 1456406845789-2.pdf (196.5 KB, Millennium - Journal of In….pdf)

>>994

Should mention that the earlier pdfs where: Astrid Nordin and Dan Öberg (2015) 'Targeting the ontology of war: from Clausewitz to Baudrillard', Millennium Journal of International Studies and Tarak Barkawi and Shane Brighton (2011) ‘Powers of War: Fighting, Knowledge, and Critique’, International Political Sociology

These texts are a critique of modern and post-modern warfare (as practised by the US), how does it functions, what does it seek to achieve, and what are the problems resulting from these?

Gregoire Chamayou (2015) ‘War is becoming a telecommuting job for office workers’, &&&Journal http://tripleampersand.org/gregoire-chamayou-war-becoming-telecommuting-job-office-workers/

Eyal Weizman (2006) ‘The art of war: Deleuze, Guattari, Debord and the Israeli Defence Force’, Mute http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/art-war-deleuze-guattari-debord-and-israeli-defence-force

Joseph Teboho Ansorge (2010) ’Spirits of War: A field manual’, International Political Sociology

Steve Niva (2013) ‘Disappearing violence: JSOC and the Pentagon’s new cartography of networked warfare’, Security Dialogue

Michael Dillon and Julian Reid (2001) ‘Global liberal governance: Biopolitics, security and war’, Millennium Journal of International Studies

Autodidact 02/25/16 (Thu) 13:35:27 No.996

File: 1456407327288-0.pdf (544.69 KB, What-wars-and-war-bodies-k….pdf)

File: 1456407327289-1.pdf (346.04 KB, WarTruth-Foucault-Heraclit….pdf)

File: 1456407327289-2.pdf (323.37 KB, 09557571.2013.837427.pdf)

File: 1456407327289-3.pdf (297.06 KB, S026021051000121Xa.pdf)

>>995

These texts deals with the relationship between humans and war, some of these thus enters the field from a perspective of ethics, gender theory, etc.

Swati Parashar (2013) ‘What wars and “war bodies” know about international relations’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 26:4

Shane Brighton (2013) ‘War/Truth: Foucault, Heraclitus and the hoplite Homer’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 26:4

Caroline Holmqvist (2013) ‘War, “strategic communication” and the violence of non-recognition’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 26:4

Laleh Khalili (2011) ‘Gendered practices of Counterinsurgency’, Review of International Studies 37:4

Autodidact 02/25/16 (Thu) 15:17:05 No.997

Very interesting stuff, thanks for posting.

Do you have anything on pre-modern warfare, too? Or some kind of cross-era analysis of war, how war has looked in different economic/political/social eras, that kind of thing?

I found this cool article on the first ever recorded wars/evidence of warfare in human history: http://militaryhistorynow.com/2014/10/13/first-blood-historys-earliest-recorded-military-conflicts/

I think learning about the origins, history, and development of warfare could tell us a lot about war today.

Autodidact 02/27/16 (Sat) 10:43:54 No.1002

Here's a book about wargames and the left:

http://www.classwargames.net/?p=1656

Autodidact 03/11/16 (Fri) 09:38:01 No.1033

File: 1457689081700-0.pdf (1.2 MB, Barry M. Gough, ‘Maritime ….pdf)

File: 1457689081704-1.jpg (44.63 KB, 600x449, 600:449, 7y55ob4_imagesia-com_g6bz_….jpg)

>>997

Hmmm, this is the closest thing I have, regarding seapower and maritime strategy.

Otherwise I'd suggest you'd grab an Osprey torrent.

My personal musings are that almost all modern war, and it's difficulties, can be traced back to the nazi warmachine and it's doctrines (who themselves had learnt a lot from the British in Asia). These are theories such the widespread use of porxy forces and auxliaries such as the Ustaše or Chetniks, mechanization of the individual in war (see Nordin & Öberg) which was really perfected in the extermination camps, and the emphasis of speed and quality.

As for the difficulties, the Nazis ran into the same problem as the Americans have today, an eternally non-cooperative occupied population - which is why the US adopted the tactic of Strategic Communication as a narrative, it told them that people would inevitably come to support the US forces.

Well, that really never became the case.

Autodidact 03/23/16 (Wed) 06:03:37 No.1075

I've been looking for "shadows of war" by Carolyn Nordstrom. Can't find a PDF for it anywhere. Thanks in advance

Autodidact 03/23/16 (Wed) 12:57:48 No.1076

>>1075

I've had a hunt for you, I can only find the prologue here: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520242418#

Not very useful I know. Looks like this one might be hard to find for free :/

Autodidact 03/23/16 (Wed) 21:47:09 No.1077

>>1076

That really sucks. I can't find it at the library, and the cheapest copy online is 20 bucks. Oh well. If I get my hands on a copy, should I scan it make it avalible to everyone?

Autodidact 03/24/16 (Thu) 00:38:03 No.1078

>>1077

no one is going to openly condone breaking the law at risk of their own asses

you make your decision about what you do