People might enjoy Margaret MacMillan's take on War: What is it Good for?

Much of the terrain is familiar. How to define war. How to interpret the experiences of war. War as generative: as innovation in society & technology; and as memory/identity.
1/ https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2020/288-war-what-is-it-good-for

On the future of warfare she argues there will be a split between war as high-tech and war as very low-tech, chaos where the lines between war and terrorism are blurred.

She sees these types of war working alongside each other.

2/

On the one hand, a lot of people are seeing this. They call it "greyzone" war (& it is an idea much hated by Clausewitzians).

On the other, I'm not sure we've really got at why some people see this as the future.

A lot of it is put down to military technology.

3/

For me though this "revolution" stems from society wide changes shaped by globalisation, conenctivitity and datafication. This has changed the nature of the relationship between society, the government and the military.

4/

These changes have produced much greater participation in war across society.

This is blurring the lines between combatant and civilian, removing the bystander and forcing people to choose or become unwitting participants.

5/

This is the levée en masse moment. It is made possible by connectivity and data saturation. But it isn't just about technology. It is about the blending of tech and experience that is generating a new politics of war and its place in society.

6/

Some random thoughts, stimulated by the MacMillan talk.

I'd give it a listen. It's good. Will get you to think again about war and society.

More from me when #radicalwar comes out.