Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

To find an uncontested definition of war is an almost impossible task. Although definitions characterizing wars as major and oftentimes longlasting conflicts between political groups (especially states or nation-states) and carried out by armed forces seem to be useful and convincing at first sight, they are not without problems. The difficulty lies not so much in the vagueness of terms like “major conflict” (how many injured or dead people make a war?) or “longlasting conflict” (there were certainly wars in history that lasted decades; however, can there be wars that last only hours?). The real problem with such definitions is the close link between war and the state. This link is a nuisance for those social scientists who – as social anthropologists or historians – have to deal with conflicts in areas or periods without states. And it is an obstacle for sociologists and political scientists who deal with contemporary conflicts in regions where once existing states have vanished as sovereign political units and where a variety of groups use their potential of violence in an often gruesome way. Is this form of mass violence to be called “war”? Or is it another type of conflict? Thus, the problem of definition is on the agenda again. Although analyses of war (and peace) are probably as old as historiography, systematic research into this topic did not started before the European ... log in or subscribe to read full text