Clausewitz’s “Strange Trinity” and the Dysfunctionality of War

Abstract

By contrast with the Holy Trinity, Clausewitz’s “strange trinity” is an unstable system, whose three “dominant tendencies” compete for mastery over the realm of war. One tendency is the subordination of war to the aims of policy, but that is constantly challenged by the other two—blind hatred and the enjoyment of adventure. The political tendency is the only one that treats war as the function of a purpose beyond war, but only intermittently does that tendency predominate, meaning that war is more often than not a dysfunctional undertaking and always a highly dubious instrument of policy.