Pub Date : 2021-01-06DOI: 10.1332/policypress/9781529206999.003.0010
T. Waldman
This chapter suggests some possible implications of the analysis for US grand strategy and considers the extent to which vicarious warfare might be eclipsed by the demands of re-emerging great power rivalry. It assesses the broad contours of US foreign policy and offers prescriptions regarding the best way forward. The chapter also focuses on the overarching purpose or 'vision' of US global engagement, identifying vital interests and suggesting how they can best be secured by employing the resources available to the nation in ways that accord with foundational values. The chapter then turns to the application of military force in some sweeping grand strategic articulations, especially those associated with the pursuit of continued US primacy and liberal interventionism. Ultimately, the chapter presents a way to escape the never-ending spirals of war, resistance and radicalization that characterizes current approaches, which, in the long run, will likely prove cumulatively more costly in blood, treasure and insecurity. It unveils the impacts of the application of ill-considered military force.
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This chapter explores the concept of vicarious warfare in terms of its deeper historical background in socio political forms, material-technological developments and opportunities, as well as its basis in the evolution of military and strategic thought. It identifies broader patterns and conditions that might assist our appreciation of the vicarious military approaches and provide a rough framework for our analysis of contemporary US strategic practice. The chapter also argues that the conduct of vicarious warfare in a holistic sense only becomes meaningful in certain historical conditions. In exploring these issues, the chapter presents a necessarily impressionistic historical analysis centred around broad recurring patterns apparent at different times in different periods; it utilizes representative cases, drawn mainly from European history, to tease out dynamics that have been apparent across other cultures and periods. Ultimately, the chapter offers some initial clues as to those deep underlying factors that might predispose and permit societies, including contemporary America, to wage the vicarious warfare. It also shows how states that had begun to amass significant power often took advantage of opportunities to adopt forms of vicarious warfare and to evade, minimize or limit the costs and requirements of war.
{"title":"A Vicarious Instinct","authors":"T. Waldman","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1bn9jfq.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1bn9jfq.6","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores the concept of vicarious warfare in terms of its deeper historical background in socio political forms, material-technological developments and opportunities, as well as its basis in the evolution of military and strategic thought. It identifies broader patterns and conditions that might assist our appreciation of the vicarious military approaches and provide a rough framework for our analysis of contemporary US strategic practice. The chapter also argues that the conduct of vicarious warfare in a holistic sense only becomes meaningful in certain historical conditions. In exploring these issues, the chapter presents a necessarily impressionistic historical analysis centred around broad recurring patterns apparent at different times in different periods; it utilizes representative cases, drawn mainly from European history, to tease out dynamics that have been apparent across other cultures and periods. Ultimately, the chapter offers some initial clues as to those deep underlying factors that might predispose and permit societies, including contemporary America, to wage the vicarious warfare. It also shows how states that had begun to amass significant power often took advantage of opportunities to adopt forms of vicarious warfare and to evade, minimize or limit the costs and requirements of war.","PeriodicalId":143085,"journal":{"name":"Vicarious Warfare","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123378500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter explains how vicarious warfare has iteratively emerged and evolved in an American context. In doing so, the chapter brings the analysis into view across episodes and events that traditional narratives or popular accounts often leave out. It analyzes the diverse 'alternative' history of US warfare, noting [Antulio Joseph] Echevarria, for instance, has pushed back against the notion that the application of overwhelming force has always been the default option for decision-makers in confronting adversaries. The chapter also outlines the number of reasons following the absence of vicarious warfare within the orthodox telling of the story of US force. It then reviews the military practices of the early republic, and discusses the tensions that run through the whole history of US warfare until today.
{"title":"Ambivalent Beginnings","authors":"T. Waldman","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv1bn9jfq.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1bn9jfq.8","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explains how vicarious warfare has iteratively emerged and evolved in an American context. In doing so, the chapter brings the analysis into view across episodes and events that traditional narratives or popular accounts often leave out. It analyzes the diverse 'alternative' history of US warfare, noting [Antulio Joseph] Echevarria, for instance, has pushed back against the notion that the application of overwhelming force has always been the default option for decision-makers in confronting adversaries. The chapter also outlines the number of reasons following the absence of vicarious warfare within the orthodox telling of the story of US force. It then reviews the military practices of the early republic, and discusses the tensions that run through the whole history of US warfare until today.","PeriodicalId":143085,"journal":{"name":"Vicarious Warfare","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115975807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-06DOI: 10.1332/policypress/9781529206999.003.0001
T. Waldman
This chapter asserts that a recurring theme throughout the history of war — although not necessarily always the most prominent one — concerns the efforts of belligerents to somehow limit, minimize or evade the various liabilities associated with its conduct. It argues that vicarious warfare is an extreme form of the strategic alchemy, and contemporary America is its most enthusiastic guild. The chapter then elaborates the symbol of the squared circle in alchemy which represented the elements that would combine to create the philosopher's stone. It employs a similar idea to capture the way actors seek to 'produce' less burdensome wars through reduced costs and requirements, whether in terms of, among other things, blood, treasure, political capital or material resources. In war, this translates into a form of denial with regard to the serious costs that might have to be incurred or the level of investments in material, social, political and even emotional capital required to realize objectives, resulting in a mismatch between ends and means. Ultimately, the chapter charts the emergence of America's general preference to fight its wars: delegating fighting to proxies, limiting the exposure of its own military forces to danger, and operating in the shadows through the use of special forces, covert practices and evolving offensive cyber techniques.
{"title":"Introduction: The Alchemy of War","authors":"T. Waldman","doi":"10.1332/policypress/9781529206999.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781529206999.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter asserts that a recurring theme throughout the history of war — although not necessarily always the most prominent one — concerns the efforts of belligerents to somehow limit, minimize or evade the various liabilities associated with its conduct. It argues that vicarious warfare is an extreme form of the strategic alchemy, and contemporary America is its most enthusiastic guild. The chapter then elaborates the symbol of the squared circle in alchemy which represented the elements that would combine to create the philosopher's stone. It employs a similar idea to capture the way actors seek to 'produce' less burdensome wars through reduced costs and requirements, whether in terms of, among other things, blood, treasure, political capital or material resources. In war, this translates into a form of denial with regard to the serious costs that might have to be incurred or the level of investments in material, social, political and even emotional capital required to realize objectives, resulting in a mismatch between ends and means. Ultimately, the chapter charts the emergence of America's general preference to fight its wars: delegating fighting to proxies, limiting the exposure of its own military forces to danger, and operating in the shadows through the use of special forces, covert practices and evolving offensive cyber techniques.","PeriodicalId":143085,"journal":{"name":"Vicarious Warfare","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127699025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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