| ID | 141195 |
| Title Proper | Targeting the ontology of war |
| Other Title Information | from Clausewitz to Baudrillard |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Nordin, Astrid H M ; Oberg, Dan |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Against a surprising level of agreement between Clausewitz, contemporary military doctrines and critical war studies on an ontology of war as fighting, we suggest that the study of contemporary warfare needs to focus more on war as processing. Through Jean Baudrillard we argue that at least some of what is referred to as ‘war’ is no longer characterised by encounters through fighting. We exemplify our argument by how the repetitive battle-rhythm of military targeting strives for perfect war. What remains is not war as an object in itself, but a reified ‘war’ that obscures the disappearance of that very object. The debate on war contributes to the reification of such a war, as an imperative telling us: ‘we have a concept, you must learn to think through it’. |
| `In' analytical Note | Millennium: Journal of International Studies Vol. 43, No.2; Jan 2015: p.392-410 |
| Journal Source | Millennium: Journal of International Studies 2015-03 43, 2 |
| Key Words | Warfare ; Targeting ; Clausewitz ; Ontology of War ; Critical War Studies ; Baudrillard ; Disappearance |