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ABSTRACT
This paper re-examines the theoretical underpinnings of Strategic Studies, proposing a novel theory and a new framework for analysing war’s fundamental relationship with politics in line with the Clausewitzian tradition. Throughout modern history, Clausewitz’s concept of politics has been misconstrued as referring only to policy whereas in fact, for him, ‘politics’ was a much broader concept, including domestic power struggles. The political logic of war is defined here as the convergence of the interrelating factors of power struggles and policy objectives within a given polity that restrains and enables these political forces. The analysis of the Clausewitzian political logic of war is conducted through the sociological ‘liquid modern’ lens. It is argued that with power increasingly shifting from centralised state-oriented political leadership towards market forces, non-state actors and other political bodies, the effectiveness of war has been reduced. This is evident in the fragmentation of Western political systems and, as a result, suboptimal strategy and the domination of domestic power struggles in political decision-making concerning war.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Beatrice de Graaf, Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Frans Osinga and Alistair Reed for their valuable comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
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55 Earle, ‘Introduction’, vii–xi.
56 However, there were some notable exceptions, see Honig, ‘Clausewitz’s On War’, 72–73.
57 Summers, American Strategy in Vietnam, 113–222.
58 Van Creveld, The transformation of war, 124–156.
59 Ibid.
60 Keegan, A history of warfare, 386–392.
61 Kaldor, New and Old Wars.
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63 Herberg-Rothe, Clausewitz’s Puzzle, 164.
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108 Strachan, The Direction of War, 260.
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119 Palonen, ‘Four Times of Politics’, 179.
120 Ibid., 176; Bassford, ‘The Primacy of Policy’, 85.
121 Waldman, War, Clausewitz and the Trinity, 83–88.
122 Strachan, The Direction of War, 16.
123 Waldman, War, Clausewitz and the Trinity, 97.
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128 Simpson, War from the ground up.
129 Ucko and Egnell, Counterinsurgency in Crisis, 166.
130 Clausewitz, On War, 30, 240.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
George Dimitriu
George Dimitriu (MA MSc) is a PhD candidate of Utrecht University and a research fellow at the Netherlands Defence Academy. He has spent over 18 years in active military service and authored several articles on war and strategy in journals such as Small Wars & Insurgencies, Foreign Policy Analysis and Intelligence and National Security. He co-edited the Routledge volume ‘Strategic Narratives, Public Opinion and War’.
