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The book investigates the emergence and the development of irregular fighters, such as guerrillas, rebels, insurgents, and terrorists throughout the history of modern war. It presents a historically based critique of the twenty-first century notion of the irregular fighter as an 'unlawful combatant'

Post-heroism is often perceived as one of the main aspects of change in the character of war. Large parts of the contemporary strategic discourse rest on the assumption that war today is no longer fuelled by heroic motivations, and does not produce any popular public heroes, particularly in western democracies. Willingness to kill or die for the cause of one's socio-political community appears to be either a phenomenon of an historical stage that western states have long left behind, or an indicator of nationalistic or religious fanaticism. This is what has been described as the 'post-heroic condition' of western societies. According to this view, demographic and cultural changes in the west have severely decreased the tolerance for casualties in war. This edited volume provides a critical examination of this idea.

The issue of prisoners in war is a highly timely topic that has received much attention from both scholars and practitioners since the start of the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ensuing legal and political problems concerning detainees in those conflicts. This book analyses these contemporary problems and challenges against the background of their historical development. It provides a multidisciplinary yet highly coherent perspective on the historicaltrajectory of legal and ethical norms in this field by integrating the historical analysis of war with a study of the emerg

Negotiating sovereignty and human rights takes the transatlantic conflict over the International Criminal Court as a lens for an enquiry into the normative foundations of international society. The author shows how the way in which actors refer to core norms of the international society such as sovereignty and human rights affect the process and outcome of international negotiations. The book offers an innovative take on the long-standing debate over sovereignty and human rights in international relations. It goes beyond the simple and sometimes ideological duality of sovereignty versus human r

This article provides an appraisal of Hew Strachan's impact on Clausewitz research since the early 2000s. It highlights that owing to the complexity of Clausewitz's oeuvre and its publication history, scholarship on Clausewitz has to live up to demanding standards in order to be compelling. Strachan's research on Clausewitz provides not only a revisionist reinterpretation that usher our understanding of the Prussian general into the post-Cold War era. It also sets out the relevant standards and exemplifies how particular challenges can be overcome. Conversely, Strachan has also used his understanding of Clausewitz as a framework to sketch an understanding of strategic studies as an interdisciplinary field that is founded in history and that takes Clausewitz's trinity as a starting point for a more meaningful debate on civil-military relations.

Carl von Clausewitz's time in French captivity is well documented, but has never been studied in its own right. However, it is both fascinating and relevant, as Clausewitz's experience of captivity took place against the backdrop of the nationalization of war and the concomitant politicization of prisoners in war. Clausewitz framed his observations by contrasting the 'French' and the 'German' national characters. While Germany as a political identity ceased to play a role for Clausewitz after his return to Prussia, he held on to his characterization of the French as a politically backward society and, ultimately, as an empire in decline.

AbstractCarl von Clausewitz was both an avid analyst of small wars and people's war and, during the wars of liberation, a practitioner of small war. While Clausewitz scholars have increasingly recognised the centrality of small wars for Clausewitz's thought, the sources and inspirations of his writings on small wars have remained understudied. This article contextualises Clausewitz's thought on small wars and people's war in the tradition of German philosophical and aesthetic discourses around 1800. It shows how Clausewitz developed core concepts such as the integration of passion and reason and the idea of war in its 'absolute perfection' as a regulative ideal in the framework of his works on small wars and people's war. Contextualising Clausewitz inevitably distances him from the twenty-first-century strategic context, but, as this article shows, it can help us to ask pertinent questions about the configuration of society, the armed forces and the government in today's Western states.

If the West wants to contain or rout the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, it will have to rely on local allies in some way. The history of modern war suggests three ways in which such cooperation has previously been problematic. (Survival / SWP)