Useful enemies: when waging wars is more important than winning them

Keen, David ORCID: 0000-0002-7218-8378 (2012) Useful enemies: when waging wars is more important than winning them. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, USA. ISBN 9780300162745

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

There are currently between twenty and thirty civil wars worldwide, while at a global level the Cold War has been succeeded by a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" that continues to rage a decade after 9/11. Why is this, when we know how destructive war is in both human and economic terms? Why do the efforts of aid organizations and international diplomats founder so often? In this important book David Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when one side has much greater military resources. Could it be that endemic disorder and a "state of emergency" are more useful than bringing conflict to a close? Keen asks who benefits from wars--whether economically, politically, or psychologically—and argues that in order to bring them successfully to an end we need to understand the complex vested interests on all sides.

Item Type:	Book
Official URL:	http://yalepress.yale.edu/
Additional Information:	© 2012 The Author
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Date Deposited:	05 Mar 2012 10:35
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 05:28
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/42130

Actions (login required)

View Item