Some scholars have proposed the concept of
amode of warfareto characterize the ‘complex
of social relations through which wars are
prepared, military power organized and wars
fought’ (Shaw, 2005, p. 42; Kaldor, 2006).
Modes of warfare differ over space and time,
but several writers have identified the con-
temporary emergence of new, global modes
of warfare that are closely connected to
globalization(cf.Bauman,2001b)(seetable).
On one side, and closely associated with the
USA, is aRevolution in Military Affairs(RMA)
and its successor projects, which promise that
future wars can be fought with fewer ground
troops through the intensive use of high techn-
ology by ever more professionalized and
specialized armies. New systems of sensing and
surveillancefrom air and space platforms,
advanced systems of information management
(‘command, control and communications’
or C3), and weapons systems revolving around
pilotless aircraft and robotic vehicles, precision-
guided weapons and ‘smart bombs’, substan-
tially rework the spatial templates ofgeopolit-
ics. Crucially, the significance of physical
distance is diminished though not erased: the
distance over which air strikes can be launched
is increased, but the global deployment of
ground forces and equipment still poses logis-
tical problems (Ek, 2000; Graham, 2008b;
Singer, 2009). These developments have
produced a convergence between military oper-
ations and the advanced sectors of the global
economy, particularly the armaments, telecom-
munications and software industries, and the
connections within the Military–Industrial–
Media–Entertainment complex have been
reinforced through the enhancedtime–space
compression made possible by network-
centric warfare. This transforms the battle
space from the conventional, linear form with
its geometry of fronts and battles, advances
and retreats; instead, military forces ‘swarm’
in complex, fluid formations through multiple
theatres of war that ‘will be as virtual as they
will be geographic, coursing through the capil-
laries and conduits that comprisenetwork
societyitself’ (Dillon, 2002, p. 74). The com-
bined effect of these innovations is to institute
a hypermodern form of warfare that creates
what Coker (2004) calls a ‘re-enchantment’
of war: offensive, ‘surgical’ strikes target com-
batants and supposedly minimize ‘collateral
damage’, death virtually disappears from the
battle space, and military interventions are
increasingly staged asjust wars.
On the other side are so-callednew wars
fought by non-state and para-state actors
including militias and guerrilla forces who,
when they engage professional armies, resort
toasymmetric warfare. For the most part these
armed groups rely on local, ground-based
knowledge and the use of cheap, light and
even improvised weapons (Kaldor, 2006).
Although their violence is close-range and
even face-to-face, these conflicts often spill
acrossborders. Combatants take advantage
of border zones, such as the tribal territories
straddling the Afghanistan–Pakistan border,
but their activities are also enmeshed in what
Nordstrom (2004) identifies as an even wider
‘shadow globalization’: many of the armed
groups are supported and funded (at least in
part) by emigre ́communities; they draw their‘New wars’ (1) ‘New wars’ (2)
reason–science–law unreason–tradition–criminality
High technology: Low technology:
. professional, specialized armies. warlords and militias
. surveillance from air and space platforms. local, ground-based knowledge
. long-distance, precision-guided weapons. short-distance, often improvised weapons
Globalization: Shadow globalization:
. the global arms trade. illegal and small arms trade
. private (often foreign) contractors. diasporic recruitment
. accumulation by dispossession. traffic in conflict commodities
Strikes target combatants: Strikes target civilians:
. the ‘erasure’ of the body. war made flesh
The re-enchantment of war: The dis-enchantment of war:
. enforcement of international law. violation of international law
. ‘just wars’ and military humanism. wars of economic predation
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