The Decreasing Utility of the Armed Forces: Society, State and War in the Post-Modern World

摘要

Clausewitz described the nature of war in terms of a trinity that could be associated to relationships between the armed forces, the government and society. This paper examines if this trinity is fundamentally affected by three current processes: the increasing use of civilians to supplement or replace military capabilities; the growing employment of unmanned systems; and the rapidly developing capabilities and potential of cyber-based operations. Each of these areas is considered in turn, highlighting how the processes bring about changes between the traditional roles in providing national security of the elements of Clauscwitz's trinity. This paper concludes that the changes wrought by the processes of civiliani-sation, automation and cyber operations do pose significant challenges to the armed forces, but these are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The wider issue is the increasing reliance of the government on private organisations and other nations to provide the full range of national security measures, and it is in these areas where much work is required to continue to assure security.