What is war?

A cursory review of popular and academic discourse demonstrates the lack of a single common definition.  In fact, it reveals a spectrum of definitions — conventional war, total war, guerrilla war, cold war, nuclear war, even trade war.  These distinctions, often the product of honest attempts at precision, tend to obfuscate rather than clarify.

This linguistic and conceptual fog is a product of a general reluctance within modern society to examine or discuss the topic.  There is a popular belief that, in all but the most extreme circumstances, war lacks efficacy and/or justification.  It is not worth the costs or suffering.  This belief, born out of the First World War, produced a normative shift against war as policy.  The history of the 20th century and events of the 21st, have created a situation in which to speak of, examine, or contemplate war is to risk being labeled a war-monger.  Yet, just as ignorance of a disease does not prevent its spread — ignorance of war will not prevent its outbreak.

Avoiding the topic has erased any existence of a common understanding.  It has left modern society devoid of the common understanding of the term held by previous generations.  It has left modern society without a baseline definition to unify discussions about war and warfare.

Defining war requires the conceptualization of it as both an event (an observed outcome) and as a behavior (actions taken).  The first component is a question of status, it is a question of occurrence.  The second component is a question of nature, it is a question of form and process.

Sun Zu and the Art of War

Henri Jomini and the Art of War

Carl von Clausewitz and On War

Alex