George Orwell on politics and war
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11427125 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Stone (0000-0002-5925-0800, King's College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 221-239 |
| Publication date | 2017-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of International Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0260-2105 • E-ISSN: 1469-9044 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s026021051600036x |
| OpenAlex | W2550206331 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
George Orwell is not generally remembered for his views on strategy. Nevertheless a careful reading of his written work reveals a coherent appreciation of war’s strategic dimension. For Orwell, war is a necessary adjunct to politics, and the utility of strategic action should be based on rational considerations of cost and benefit. He rejected pacifism and self-imposed restraints on warfare on the basis that such positions proceeded from unexamined emotional commitments, and were neither instrumentally nor morally sound. He also maintained that the enemy’s political values are an essential input into effective strategic calculations. On this latter basis he criticised the strategic prescriptions of H. G. Wells and B. H. Liddell Hart for limited war with Nazi Germany
Action (physics · Adversary · Art history · Dimension (graph theory · George (robot · Law and economics · Nazism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Computer Science · History · Law · Military History and Strategy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |