Summary: We resume our analysis of modern war with a brief description of 4th generation war. Who fights it, and why. This is the 4th chapter in a series of posts following the 25th anniversary of the Marine Corps Gazette article “The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation”. A series of writers explain our past defeats at the hands of 4GW foes, and prepare you for those to come. Since these defeats are unnecessary, this might motivate you to join the effort to retake the reins of America.
- What is the 4th generation of war?
- War is a conflict; not all conflicts are war
- Posts in this series about 4GW
- For More Information
- The Evolution of Warfare graph
(1) What is the 4th generation of war?
Many trends since WW2 forced ended the supremacy of 3GW (aka maneuver war, blitzkrieg), and powered the rise to dominance of 4GW. Two of the most important are…
- The slow spread of nuclear weapons since WW2 has forced the end of conventional warfare between developed states.
- Loyalty to the State has peaked around the world. As its influence declines in people’s hearts and minds, other loyalties emerge.
These increase the power of non-state entities, reversing the growth of State power since the Treaties of Westphalia legitimized the the State as the only entity able to use force within its bounds. Unlike the first 3 generations of war (from Napoleon to Hitler), 4GWs are fought by a wider range of players (as they were before).
- Multi-national corporations (imagine a 21st C East India Company)
- Non-governmental non-profit organizations, for example those providing regulatory services (e.g., engineering standards) and charitable efforts
- Ideological groups, such as radical environmentalists (example), animal rights and anti-abortion activists
- Mercenary armies (the Bush administration reversed centuries of work to minimize them)
- Transnational ethnic groups (e.g., the Kurds, the Pashtun people)
- Religious groups, benign or inimical depending on the observer
- Organized crime networks
Groups can combine along more than one of these affinities (e.g., ethnic criminal networks such as the Mafia). These can organize within a state, or use modern communication and transportation technology to easily build global networks, greatly increasing their power and reach.
Any of these can employ force, either domestically and globally — within the State, between States, between States and global non-state entities, and between non-state entities. In the 21st C any of these non-state entities can again become great powers, as they have in the past. Martin van Creveld calls these non-Trinitarian conflicts, as they break Clausewitz’s “trinity” of the government, the army, and the people.