Yesterday’s, Today’s, and Tomorrow’s Small Wars
by Kerry Chavez, by Rick Newton
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11.11.2024 at 12:01am
Yesterday’s, Today’s, and Tomorrow’s Small Wars Image
For two decades, Small Wars Journal (SWJ) has curated and enriched the exchange of ideas on warfare below the threshold of large-scale combat operations. Many of these were popular, hotly debated topics, but editors also regarded explorations of undervalued events and themes packed with import for scholars and practitioners. The journal has been and is distinctive for its willingness to wade into nuanced, complex, and dynamic discourses on unglamourous small wars that form the bedrock of modern conflict.
Small wars are far more common than large-scale combat operations. Indeed, they are the venue where great powers clash while carefully avoiding crossing the threshold into total war. They are also more diverse, and therefore harder to study systematically. We agree with SWJ’s animus that, for better or worse, regardless of how difficult or distasteful, small wars are an enduring feature of modern politics. The United States (US) and its allies must be prepared to fight and win them just as much as major theater war. This held true during the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it holds true now as leaders shift focus to great power competition. All along, SWJ has refused to look away from these constant currents that lie barely beneath the surface of what has been securitized and deemed salient.
War is Nuanced
Encompassing a hefty portion of the continuum of competition and conflict, studying small wars is no small task. We commend SWJ for spotlighting this less sensational segment of the spectrum of war. Even more, however, the journal’s most inspiring contribution has been to dimensionalize small wars and bring attention to their breadth and depth across the various analytical frameworks employed to ensure all elements of national power receive proportionate consideration (DIMEFIL – diplomacy, information, military, economic, financial, intelligence, law enforcement; PMESII – political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure; ASCOPE – areas, structures, capabilities, organizations, people, events; etc.).
The hard work for leaders, decision-makers, scholars, and practitioners is in parsing those details, scoping the scale, and mapping the connections and cross-pressures that span them.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/2024/11/11/yesterdays-todays-and-tomorrows-small-wars-2/
