The Culture of Future Conflict

The computer will not replace the book, and post-modern forms of conflict will not fully replace conventional war.We will, however, experience a bewildering expansion of the varieties of collective and factional violence.The computer expands our possibilities, and alters methods of working and organizing.So, too, the worldwide crisis in systems of social organization and belief broadens the range of challenges to global, regional, and local order.States and military establishments that restrict their preparations, initiatives, and responses to traditional patterns will pay for their fear of the future in blood, money, and quality of life.Although man and his failings will remain at the center of war and conflict, a unique combination of factors will precipitate and shape events.At least into the 17th century, Western man believed planetary and stellar conjunctions were responsible for disasters upon the earth.Today, we face a constellation of crises much closer to home with profound strategic and military implications.The warning comet is already with us as we approach a dark new century.Future wars and violent conflicts will be shaped by the inabilities of governments to function as effective systems of resource distribution and control, and by the failure of entire cultures to compete in the post-modern age.The worldwide polarization of wealth, afflicting continents and countries, as well as individuals in all countries, will prove insurmountable, and social divisions will spark various forms of class warfare more brutal than anything imagined by Karl Marx.Post-state organizations, from criminal empires to the internationalizing media, will rupture the integrity of the nation-state.Niche technologies, such as post-modern means of information manipulation and dissemination, will provoke at least as often as they produce, and will become powerful tools of conflict.Basic resources will prove inadequate for populations exploding beyond natural limits, and we may discover truths about ourselves that we do not wish to know.In the end, the greatest challenge may be to our moral order

Criminology · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies · Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life

• Cambio Y Continuidad en El Pensamiento Estratégico Estadounidense Desde El Final De La Guerra Fría

  Open Access•Guillem Colom Piella, Guillem Colom-Piella•Revista de ciencia política•2013

  Add to list

• The U.S. presumption of quick, costless wars

  Open Access•Andrew P N Erdmann•Orbis•1999

  Add to list