Gruszczak, Artur and Sebastian Kaempf. Routledge Handbook of the Future of Warfare.

This edited volume presents a unique investigation of the problems, forms, and political dynamics of contemporary and future warfare, presenting a comprehensive yet detailed exploration of the rapidly transforming technological, socio-political, national and global aspects of warfare. In doing so the chapters in this volume explore case studies both in Western and Non-Western contexts. Through interdisciplinary study of various facets of warfare and power, the Handbook challenges and expands existing definitions and understanding of war, security, peace, and violence. As such, topics of eco-violence, dehumanization, cyber and AI violence, proximity, and gender are examined. The edited volume hence offers a broad discussion of emerging trends and geopolitical considerations of modern conflict. 

Gruszczak is an expert in military studies, whereas Kaempf, a renowned authority in security studies. In their works they build on an extensive range of warfare scholarship, both within an academic context and political and military contexts, seeking to fill the gap in existing scholarship through interdisciplinary research of the developments of modern warfare to sketch a prognosis for the future. 

The Handbook examines a broad range of case studies, positing the changing forms of warfare in the relation to those of the past while stretching the classic domains through which violence is understood by addressing it in the modern contexts through cyber and digital violence and surveillance that alters proximity and conventional understanding of the spaces and temporalities of war as the potential battlefields shift. Moreover, the volume addresses contemporary social factors that allow for war to break out and violence to occur, noting the changes in escalating hostilities as well as the role of propaganda, social media and disinformation as impacted by the rapidly changing technological and media landscape, extending our understanding of weaponry. The book further addresses the organisational processes of warfare, tracing the role of systemic violence, religion, gender, as well as globalization for the forms and outbreaks of (international) conflicts, thereby illuminating state strategies and policies. In doing so the authors in the volume place their discussion of warfare in the contexts of history, current cases, and future trajectories. 

The volume comprises six sections: (I) outlines overarching trends and significant developments in war from past to future; (II) examines key areas shaping future warfare; (III) explores contemporary conflict theories; (IV) addresses differentiation and complexity in warfare; (V) highlights technology’s role in altering warfare; (VI) applies general trends to specific local contexts, particularly in anticipated hotbeds of future conflict. 

Some chapters that may prove to be of particular interest for scholars of perpetrator studies include: “The Ecology of Violence” by Jonathan Luke Austin, “Militainment for Future Warfare” by Tanner Mirrlees, “Privatization of Warfare” by Elke Krahmann, and “Savage Wars and Conflict Dehumanization” by Paweł Ścigaj, each presenting innovative analyses of the future forms of violence and illustrating a possible rise of new forms and agents of warfare, thus implicitly stretching scholarly definitions of perpetration. In his chapter, Austin examines the ecological ramifications of modern warfare through a new materialist approach, illuminating the ethics and importance of ecological understandings of political violence. Mirrlees’ chapter provides an elaborate discussion of the weaponization of entertainment through military propaganda hijacking of popular media and literature, taking the example of the US Department of Defence as a case study. As such the chapter may grant literature and culture scholars a better understanding of the political implications of art and culture in warfare. In her chapter, Krahmann illustrates the foreseeable impact of privatization of warfare in modern society, tracing the rise of new actors, clients, and technologies of violence, thereby granting scholars of perpetrator studies a glimpse into possibly shifting discourses of responsibility and ethics. Ścigaj’s discussion centres on contemporary structures of dehumanization as a justification of violence, focusing in particular on (neo)colonial and civil warfare, addressing the problems of unlawful violence and genocide as perpetuated through national discourses and mechanisms of demonization. For humanities scholars of perpetrator studies this discussion could proof fruitful for the study of dehumanization in the contemporary context and the notable increase in barbarization of opponents in conflict. 

The Handbook’s interdisciplinary discussion of contemporary warfare is extensive, however some restrictions and gaps must be addressed. Most notably, for scholars of culture, the discussion of the cultural implications of modern warfare are few and as such the volume could have benefitted from an expanded engagement with the cultural debates. Furthermore, the volume centres its investigation on state-sponsored warfare and larger powers, neglecting to further examine the changes in the roles and implication of non-state actors and individuals. Although the volume does not explicitly investigate the perpetrators of violence, its detailed discussions of varying facets of modern warfare provide a unique and nuanced perspective on the future trajectories of warfare and violence, hinting at a possible shift in scholarly understanding of the forms and limits of violence. Through its interdisciplinary approach the book may allow those studying and researching perpetration to gain new insight into the complex methods and structures of violence, surveillance, and security. 

Author of this entry: Mohana Zwaga. 

Gruszczak, Artur and Sebastian Kaempf, editors. Routledge Handbook of the Future of Warfare. Routledge, 2023.