New Wars, New Militaries, New Soldiers: An Introduction

Abstract

In recent decades, the world has been changing quite substantially. Long gone are the times when the Cold War, the bipolar East–West conflict with the United States of America and the Soviet Union as the main antagonists, produced a somewhat shaky stability in international relations due to the widespread fear of a nuclear holocaust. Looking back on this period from the angle of the 21st century and bearing in mind all that happened since the early 1990s, the Cold War world resembles a comparatively very stable and peaceful era. The period since then, however, is marked by considerable conflict in the global arena, even violent ones, which have become more numerous. Mankind has always lived dangerously, according to Raymond Aron, and this bonmot very much applies to our present era.

Citation

Kümmel, G. and Soeters, J. (2012), "New Wars, New Militaries, New Soldiers: An Introduction", Kümmel, G. and Soeters, J. (Ed.) New Wars, New Militaries, New Soldiers: Conflicts, the Armed Forces and the Soldierly Subject (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xiii-xiv. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-8323(2012)0000019004