Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century

A closer reading of Clausewitz gives rise to the following implications for warfare in the 21st century. First, the war on terror, as with all wars, is irreversibly political in nature, and requires a decidedly political approach. (...) Second, globalization intensifies the role of politics, and indeed reduces reaction time within all three elements of Clausewitz's wondrous trinity, which is quite different from so called trinitarian war and which is Clausewitz's true legacy. Third, policys subordinating influence over warfare suggests that the overarching political goal for grand strategy in the 21st century should be the containment of violence, with the intent to diminish armed conflict as precondition for establishing democracies.

• Foreword: Clausewitz On War: a History of the Howard-Paret Translation - ; Introduction ; 1. Clausewitz and the Dialectics of War ; 2. Clausewitz and the Non-Linear Nature of War: Systems of Organized Complexity ; 3. Clausewitz's On War: Problems of Text and Translation ; 4. The Primacy of Policy and the 'Trinity' in Clausewitz's Mature Thought ; 5. The Instrument: Clausewitz on Aims and Objectives in War ; 6. Moral Forces in War ; 7. War as 'Art': Aesthetics and Politics in Clausewitz's Social Thinking ; 8. Clausewitz's Ideas of Strategy and Victory ; 9. On Defence as the Stronger Form of War ; 10. Clausewitz and Small Wars ; 11. Clausewitz and the Nature of the War on Terror ; 12. Clausewitz and the Privatization of War ; 13. Clausewitz and Information Warfare ; 14. Clausewitz and the Two Temptations of Modern Strategic Thinking ; 15. Civil-Military Relations and Democracies ; 16. Clausewitz and a New Containment: the Limitation of War and Violence