Reversing Clausewitz: A History of a Mistake

Abstract

This paper traces the result of the reversal of the Clausewitzian dictum that war is the continuation of politics in post-structuralist political theorizing. I argue that much can be gained by not reversing the dictum (hence, making the reversal a mistake) and retaining the conceptual relation between politics and war Clausewitz espouses. I then show what a neo-Clausewitzian position would contribute to the debate on the relation between war or violence and politics by arguing that, in the case of Clausewitz, it is better to be a Kantian than a Nietzschean.