The Influence of War upon International Relations

Abstract

Sir Lawrence Freedman, a member of the British Academy and Emeritus Professor of war studies at King’s College in London, analyses the evolution of the most representative conceptions of war in Europe and the United States, from the last quarter of the 19th century to the present day. His analysis is of holistic type, the author using the writings of military authorities, official documents, novels (including the ones in the category “science fiction”) or famous films. The main concepts analysed by the author in this work, during 25 chapters, are: decisive battle, indecisive battle, total war, nuclear war (with the principles of “the first strike capability” and “mutually assured destruction”, i. e. the famous MAD), the wars of “failed states”, terrorism, counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, hybrid warfare, war with the help of drones and battle robots. The author achieved a work that could be included in the broad field of polemology but offering a paradigm of Realistic type in the interpretation of international relations.

Keywords

• war
• international relations
• decisive battle
• indecisive battle
• failed state
• terrorism
• counterinsurgency
• hybrid warfare.