- PII
- S013216250016792-4-
- DOI
- 10.31857/S013216250016792-4
- Publication type
- Article
- Status
- Published
- Authors
- Volume/ Edition
- Volume / Issue 9
- Pages
- 267-277
- Abstract
The recent scholarship on warfare has been highly polarised around the question: Is organised violence on the rise or in decline? In this paper I critically examine the two dominant approaches - the new war thesis, and the decline of violence perspective - which offer contrasting answers to this question. The paper challenges both of these perspectives and develops an alternative, longue durée sociological approach, that focuses on the macro-organisational social context and explores the dynamics of the war-state-society nexus over the past centuries. I argue that warfare is not becoming obsolete and that ‘new wars’ are unlikely to completely replace inter-state warfare. Instead, my analysis indicates that there is more organisational continuity in the contemporary warfare that either of the two dominant perspectives is willing to acknowledge.
- Keywords
- sociology of war, historical sociology, organised violence, war
- Date of publication
- 27.09.2021
- Year of publication
- 2021
- Number of purchasers
- 6
- Views
- 198
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