The Transformation

of War
Fauzan Ammary, S.IP, M.HI
The Evolution of War
Definition of War

Von Clausewitz : “All war involves violence, but not all violence consti-
tutes war”.
If two or more political units engage in the sustained and coordinated
use of violence, it is a war regardless of the motivations for the vio-
lence.
one issue is that the use of military force can be motivated by interests
of
actors other than the political organization itself.
The Evolution of War

War is a social practice adopted to achieve spe-

cific purposes, but those practices vary with
changing political, economic, and social envi-
ronments and with the goals and constraints in-
duced by those environments.
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

War emerged in different places at different times depending on the

presence and absence of critical factors, including the development
of hunting/homicidal skills, group segmentation processes, and the
interactions among increased organizational complexity, resource
scarcity, and conflicts of interest.
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

War coevolved with other activities, including mili-

tary and political organization, political economy,
threat environment, and weaponry.
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

Major changes in politico-economic complexity, in particular, have led to

occasional transformations in warfare. Weaponry has become more
specialized and lethal. Military organizations have expanded. Political
organizations have expanded to manage larger and more deadly military
forces and more intensified threat environments.
The expansion of warfare, however, has not been inexorable. An impor-
tant constraint is the escalating cost of warfare, which has especially im-
pacted the probability of warfare between industrial states
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

The pace of change/transformations in warfare and re-

lated
processes has significantly accelerated three times — first
in the late fourth to early third millennium BCE, then in
the
last half of the first millennium BCE, and again in the sec-
ond half of the second millennium CE.
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

The attempt to centralize regional political-mili-

tary power is one of the major drivers of periods
of
acceleration and transformation, especially in the
third acceleration, which was concentrated in the
western trajectory.
The Evolution of War
Six Arguments why War Evolve

Much of the world did not experience the third accelera-

tion directly (other than as targets), and it remains more
agrarian than industrialized. As a consequence, states
outside of the western trajectory tend to be weaker, vul-
nerable to internal warfare, and prone to fight fewer and
shorter interstate wars.
The Evolution of War
Definition of War

Von Clausewitz : “All war involves violence, but not all violence consti-
tutes war”.
If two or more political units engage in the sustained and coordinated
use of violence, it is a war regardless of the motivations for the vio-
lence.
one issue is that the use of military force can be motivated by interests
of actors other than the political organization itself.
Three of the most important, at least for the questions we are ask-
ing, are security, wealth, and power. To obtain these ends people
develop strategies and institutions. It is the evolution of these
strategies and institutions—how they emerge, change, and, often,
become obsolete over time and then decline — that are of most in-
terest to us.
THANK YOU