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This interdisciplinary study provides an original account of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to show how, why and with what consequences, twenty-first century wars became seen as policing wars. Holmqvist starts from the assumption that wars always reflect the societies that wage them and combines the analysis of western strategic thinking with a philosophical examination of the core ideas that structure the contemporary liberal imagination. She argues that the US-led interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq were characterised by a widespread understanding of war as 'policing', that is, waged against opponents deemed 'criminal' rather than political, and directed at the creation and maintenance of a certain type of 'order'. Holmqvist turns to themes of social theory and philosophy to offer new perspectives on why the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were waged in the way they were, and why the fantasy of policing wars came to resonate so widely amongst policy makers and academics alike. This unique contribution to the study of war and international politics will appeal to scholars of the philosophy and sociology of war, military strategy and international relations.

The turn to military robotics is a striking feature of contemporary Western warfare. How then to make sense of the increasing reliance on unmanned weapons systems, in particular, the use of combat-enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/drones? Questioning the intuitive and oft-repeated claim that robotics 'take the human experience out of war' (reducing it to a video game), I argue that in order to make sense of current developments, we need precisely to reconsider our understanding of the human, her role in, and experience of, war. In this, we are aided by a critical materialist inquiry that investigates the human–material assemblage as a complex whole, taking both fleshy and steely bodies into account. Drawing on the philosophies of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Judith Butler, I show that only by considering what being human means – in ontological terms – and by asking how human experience is altered through new technologies will we be able to think politically and ethically about contemporary war.

Notwithstanding the enduring nature of certain contemporary conflicts, the past decades have seen major changes in both the dynamics and understanding of conflicts. In particular, the increasing prominence of non-state actors has given rise to challenges in managing and responding to conflict, and the limited capacity of the international community to hold non-state actors accountable for their abuse of civilians continued to pose a grave threat to human security in 2005. The Israeli-Palestinian and Kashmiri conflicts illustrate how shifting perceptions of conflict -- from decolonization and superpower dominance to the current preoccupation with international terrorism -- have influenced international attitudes and engagement with these conflicts. Despite continuity in the insurgent groups' ultimate objectives, the two cases also illustrate a changing trajectory of conflict owing to the particularities of contemporary non-state actor activity. While the Palestinian Authority continued to have problems in reining in militant elements, Hamas' ascent to power through municipal and later parliamentary elections in Palestine cast the international community's method of engaging with the conflict in a new light. In Kashmir interstate relations between India and Pakistan told only part of the story in 2005; the emergence of new armed groups in the region and the purported links between Kashmiri extremist groups and international networks were testimony to the fluidity of the insurgency. The frequent irregularity of non-state groups and fragmentation of violence were recurring themes in conflicts in 2005. Efforts to instigate a comprehensive peace process in Darfur, Sudan, during the year were compromised by factionalism and inter-group hostility on the part of the Darfurian rebels and the corresponding failure to identify adequate representation from the rebel side. The irregular violence in the region has continued to plague the peace process, despite the signing of a peace agreement in May 2006. The fact that the opposition is from non-state actors may allow governments to deny the existence of 'conflict' (conventionally understood as physical confrontation between two parties with a clear political incompatibility). In this way the Russian Government continued to emphasize criminal and 'terrorist' elements in its hard-line policy towards Chechnya and the surrounding republics in 2005. Continued unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo challenged conventional assumptions about distinct phases of 'conflict' or 'post-conflict' given the frequent continuation of non-state violence despite the existence of formal 'peace'. Sustained militia violence and the faltering reintegration of former combatants created a volatile mix and continued to hamper effective peace-building in the region. In Iraq violence continued virtually unabated during 2005. Landmark events included the installing of a transitional government and the adoption of a new constitution, paving the way for the general elections that were held in December 2005. However, formal political development could not stave off the formation of sectarian divides in the country. Persistent wrangling over the nature of political representation, combined with the extreme levels of violence, frustrated any real movement towards peace. The US-led Multinational Force was confronted with a paradoxical situation because its presence in the country continued to provide a key recruiting incentive for the insurgency, while the prospect of departure amid highly insecure conditions was widely regarded as an abdication of responsibility. Dealing with the activity of non-state actors was at the heart of the challenges faced in Iraq. The failure to understand either the motivations of belligerents or the composition of the insurgency, let alone identify reliable entry points for political dialogue, continued to cast a shadow over Iraq at the end of 2005. Adapted from the source document.

All the 19 conflicts recorded as 'major armed conflicts' in 2004 -- those causing over 1000 battle-related deaths in any one year -- were classified as intra-state conflicts. Only three of these -- the conflict against al-Qaeda, the conflict in Iraq and the conflict in Darfur, Sudan -- are less than 10 years old. However, in a globalized world, intra-state conflicts are increasingly becoming international in nature and in effect. The complexity and diversity of these conflicts challenge the distinction between the 'internal' and the 'external', in turn calling into question the basis on which conflicts are classified and addressed. Contemporary intra-state conflicts -- the diversity of warring parties and their multiple grievances; the evolving tactics in conflict and their consequences for civilians; and the shifting location and containment of intra-state conflict-complicate traditional approaches to their analysis and management. While greater attention to the interconnection with the international community is welcome, it is also important not to overstate the global dimension of intra-state conflict. Although a number of conflicts in 2004 had international dimensions in terms of motivations, warring parties, location, funding and resolution efforts, many were also noteworthy for their localized nature -- 'small' wars with big costs -- as developments in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia (Aceh) illustrated. Conflicts in Burundi, Colombia and Sudan indicated how a multiplicity and irregularity of rebel parties, as well as inter-rebel hostility, can complicate conflict dynamics and efforts to manage and resolve them.

This book reflects on the way in which war and police/policing intersect in contemporary Western-led interventions in the global South. The volume combines empirically oriented work with ground-breaking theoretical insights and aims to collect, for the first time, thoughts on how war and policing converge, amalgamate, diffuse and dissolve in the context both of actual international intervention and in understandings thereof. The book uses the caption WAR:POLICE to highlight the distinctiveness of this volume in presenting a variety of approaches that share a concern for the assemblage of war-p.

Résumé La fin de la guerre froide gomme une distinction faussement évidente entre monde des affaires et questions de sécurité. Les entreprises sont plus largement confrontées aux conflits locaux, et davantage concernées par les problématiques du terrorisme et de la prolifération des armes de destruction massive. Le recours aux services privés de sécurité s'étend. Ces évolutions exigent l'élaboration de normes nouvelles, nationales et internationales, qui ne peuvent être définies qu'avec le secteur privé.