The state of war |
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| Authors: | NICHOLAS RENGGER CAROLINE KENNEDY‐PIPE |
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| Institution: | 1. Professor of Political Theory and International Relations at the University of St Andrews and currently Editor of The Review of International Studies.;2. I would, like to thank Caroline Soper, for the invitation to guest‐edit this issue;3. all the contributors for agreeing to participate;4. and Chatham House itself—in the persons of Caroline, Katy Taylor and Benjie Guy—for organizing a study group in June 2008 where drafts of most of the papers were discussed. I am especially grateful to Mervyn Frost, Trevor Taylor and Theo Farrell, who agreed to attend the study group and comments on the drafts, and whose remarks were characteristically insightful, supportive and helpful in equal measure.;5. Professor of International Security and War Studies at Warwick University and a past Chair of the British International Studies Association. |
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| Abstract: | This article frames the discussion of the ‘state of war’ in this issue of International Affairs. Beginning by noting the continued recurrence of ‘traditional’ modes of war along side so‐called ‘new wars’ and calling to aid Rousseau's brutal satire of 1756, The state of war, the article offers a discussion of three ‘responses’ to the reality of war in international relations—the heroic response, the realpolitik response and the compassionate response—and argues that a synthesis between them characterizes the general approach to war in any historical period. It then considers how the contemporary synthesis might be viewed and offers thoughts on the articles in this issue in the light of this suggestion. |
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