Von Clausewitz is the author of the work “On War” (“Vom Kriege“), and until today dominates thinking about war and strategy-formulation.
However, Von Clausewitz’s theory and strategic imperatives are based on some fundamentally false/misguided assumptions. These false and misguided assumptions include:
- Von Clausewitz assumes that there is full state-control, and the existence of an isolated military domain;
- Von Clausewitz theory is based on the analysis of a systemic war, which was furthermore characterized by certain distortions;
- Von Clausewitz ignores fundamental differences between systemic and non-systemic wars;
- Von Clausewitz did not take the thermodynamic nature of war-dynamics into account, e.g. the workings/effects of a dissipative structure that typically produces KA/-war-cycles.
These false/misguided assumptions have serious consequences. They e.g. limit our ability to:
- Prevent war
- Adequately prepare for war
- Effectively fight wars, if unavoidable
- Effectively control war, and war-fighting
- Optimally utilize war for political purposes
- Achieve policy objectives, through war
- Escape from the war-trap, a dissipative structure imposes on our (international) System
In the upcoming blog posts, I will discuss this subject in more detail.
