Description
The burgeoning of global connectivity in recent decades is without historical parallel and the 'wiring up' of the world continues apace, even in the poorest regions. Flux and ever-quickening change are the leitmotifs of the 'information age' across a swathe of human enterprise from industry and commerce through to politics and social relations. This is no less the case for the patterns of war, where change has been disorientating for soldiers and statesmen whose confidence in the old, the traditional, and the known has been shaken.David Betz's book explains the huge and disruptive implications of connectivity for the practice of warfare. The tactical ingenuity of opponents to confound or drop below the threshold of sophisticated weapons systems means war remains the realm of chance and probability. Increasingly, though, the conflicts of our time are less contests of arms than wars of hearts and minds conducted on a mass scale through multimedia communications networks. The most pernicious challengers to the status quo are not states but ever more powerful non-state actors.
Table of Contents
IntroductionCarnageConnectivityPower1. Antinomies of WarThis Much is TrueThe False DichotomyWar and CivilisationBall of Confusion2. The Context of Contemporary WarThe Great Illusion ReduxFragmentation vs ConsolidationI Feel the Need, the Need for SpeedMyth Behind Us and Myth Before Us3. War Without Chance: Something Better Than WarPost-modernity, Generally RightThe Bounty of Data, Beauteous and BafflingChance!The Other Revolution in Military Affairs4. Overestimate Yourself, Underestimate Your Enemy, Never Know VictoryIn Search of Proper WarAs in Business, So too in War?Speed, Always Speed!War, Not a Range Exercise5. War Without Passion: Something Other than WarNo Peace Through Superior FirepowerIn-Between warPassion!Post-mythological War6. Theatre of WarThe High Price of OwnershipAs Greece to America's RomeCounterinsurgency: The Movie!Ramparts of Willed Incomprehension7. War Without Reason: Something Just Short of WarA New Terror, Another Silver BulletThe 'Indirect Approach' Version 2.0Reason!The Sound of Two Hands Clapping8. The New Age of AnxietyUtopia to DystopiaCyber and the SeaGlobal Commons to Global VillageInformation and Revolution6. ConclusionThings fall apart, in new ways and oldRipples of rageRetribalisation
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