The asymmetric warfare: In search of a symmetry

Abstract

The chapter deals, though the analysis of several studies on that theme, with asymmetric warfare and its nature as well as the military issues that it creates. The new techniques devised in recent years by the military intelligentsia – RMA, NCW, NEC, EBO – in fact, certainly constitute useful refinements of the military machine and perfections of its functioning that enable it to achieve the highest performance, and as such they should be appreciated. However, they appear cut out for a war reality that is only partially that of asymmetric warfare. Today, the weak side's offensive tool is man, and man is no longer a person who carries and operates a weapon but is himself a weapon who sacrifices himself to strike the adversary, and he does this because his mind has been convinced to do it. Thus, the only winning weapon in this type of contest is to intervene on the mechanisms of conditioning the minds of millions of human beings, a task that is only in small part military but is instead on a vast political scale. The military can intervene in this direction especially by making politicians understand that, in today's asymmetric warfare, victory – and the survival of Western values – can be achieved only through co-ordinated, joint political action, where the military function can consist principally in a containment action suitable for giving time to the political initiative to bear its fruits.

Citation

Caforio, G. (2008), "The asymmetric warfare: In search of a symmetry", Caforio, G., Kümmel, G. and Purkayastha, B. (Ed.) Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution: Sociological Perspectives (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-8323(08)07002-1