War Stories
Will be published approx. on 8. March 2001
Book
Hardback
XIII, 226 pages
978-0-8204-5107-7 (ISBN)
Description
War continues to occur and bewilder, despite the keen attention of scholars, generals, and officials. This book takes accounts of war - told, interpreted, retold, recast, and enacted - as its focus. It argues that war propagates from «war stories» into plans for the future. The vehicle is politics, ongoing, surging negotiation of interpretations and designs. Politics defies closure in civil society, but governments must take authoritative decisions. If war stories in circulation confirm war preparations, war threats, and war itself as «appropriate» for their circumstances, governments organize for war and undertake matching designs and choices. A war avoidance policy delegitimates the war choice, providing robust alternatives in mutual reassurance and collective security.
More details
Person
The Author: Bruce D. Larkin is Professor of Politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He studied at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in political science. He is the author of Nuclear Designs: Great Britain, France, and China in the Global Governance of Nuclear Arms.