Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

fhs.se
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
War as nothing but a duel: war as an institution and the construction of the Western military profession
Swedish Defence University, Department of Security, Strategy and Leadership (ISSL), Division of Strategy.
2020 (English)In: Journal of Military Studies, ISSN 2242-3524, E-ISSN 1799-3350, Vol. 9, no 1, p. 11-23Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Like all repetitive human interaction, even war has been institutionalized and fought according to conventions and norms. Historically, this institutionalization is apparent from the way war has been compared to the duel, first in the 14th century and most famously by Carl von Clausewitz 5 centuries later. This article continues this train of thought and argues that the observed limits of Western “professional orthodoxy” and “strategic vocabulary” can be traced to how war has been institutionalized by the military profession. This offers an alternative explanation to the prevailing views of why the West has struggled in contemporary wars: it is the fundamental mismatch between these professional norms in the West and those held by their opponents that forms the biggest asymmetry in contemporary war. As this asymmetry is unlikely to disappear, these professional norms need to be reconsidered: just like the aristocracy with the duel by the late 19th century, the Western military profession appears stuck in an institution that is increasingly becoming obsolete. Without such reconsideration, the attainment of decision – the central strategic objective in war – and hence victory in future wars will remain uncertain.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 9, no 1, p. 11-23
Keywords [en]
Clausewitz, cultural sociology, duel, institutions, military culture, strategy, war
National Category
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Research subject
War Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-8234DOI: 10.2478/jms-2018-0003OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-8234DiVA, id: diva2:1266935
Available from: 2018-11-29 Created: 2018-11-29 Last updated: 2022-03-22Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Käihkö, Ilmari

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Käihkö, Ilmari
By organisation
Division of Strategy
In the same journal
Journal of Military Studies
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 754 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf