Abstract
The question of how wars end is of continued importance, especially in the context of the ongoing War on Terror. This question has traditionally been approached within International Relations through rational choice theories, logical modelling and game theory. Such approaches have become increasingly ill-suited to capturing the complexity and ambiguity of contemporary warfare and the War on Terror in particular. These battlefield ambiguities are often at odds with political and public desires to see decisive victory in wars. This article builds on recent critical work within War Termination Studies in order to re-conceptualise the end of war as assemblages. By paying greater attention to the affects inculcated by political rhetoric surrounding war and utilising the concepts of affect and emergence, this article presents a novel approach to the study of contemporary war termination. Utilising popular culture, increasingly seen as a crucial site of global politics, the case study analysed here advances the argument that sacrifice emerges from cinema and presidential rhetoric as a trope that allows leaders to claim victory in war despite indecisive conditions of the ground. Through affective cinematic encounters, conceptualised here through the end of wars assemblages, audiences can become more accepting of such political claims.
Highlights
How do we know when a war is over? Without the traditional trappings of surrender ceremonies or ticker-tape parades, how do we determine the end of armed hostilities? MoreInternational Relations 00(0)pressingly, how do political leaders make claims that armed conflicts have ended or will end, and how are those claims legitimised and accepted? How, for instance, could President Trump claim that ‘ we’ve won, it’s time to come back. . .they’ve [US troops] killed ISIS. . .and they’re [US troops] up there looking down on us. . .We won, and that’s the way we want it, and that’s the way they [gesturing skywards] want it’ despite all rational evidence to the contrary.[1]
As popular culture is a site through which geopolitical imaginaries are constructed,[4] it is logical to argue that it is a site where ideas about victory in war are shaped. Having established both the limitations of rational choice models and the utility of an assemblage and popular culture led approach, I discuss the end of wars assemblages as theoretical tool and orientation and explore how thinking with and through assemblages can help us unpick some of the processes and artefacts that contribute to war termination.[5]
The existing literature on war termination, dominated as it is by a focus on rational choice, utility maximisation and cost-benefit analyses has narrowed our understanding of the cessation of armed hostilities
Summary
How do we know when a war is over? Without the traditional trappings of surrender ceremonies or ticker-tape parades, how do we determine the end of armed hostilities? MoreInternational Relations 00(0)pressingly, how do political leaders make claims that armed conflicts have ended or will end, and how are those claims legitimised and accepted? How, for instance, could President Trump claim that ‘ we’ve won, it’s time to come back. . .they’ve [US troops] killed ISIS. . .and they’re [US troops] up there looking down on us. . .We won, and that’s the way we want it, and that’s the way they [gesturing skywards] want it’ despite all rational evidence to the contrary.[1]. Having established both the limitations of rational choice models and the utility of an assemblage and popular culture led approach, I discuss the end of wars assemblages as theoretical tool and orientation and explore how thinking with and through assemblages can help us unpick some of the processes and artefacts that contribute to war termination.[5] Utilising the related concepts of affect, encounter and emergence I argue that assemblages produce properties that are more than the sum of their parts and have far reaching consequences on political possibilities.
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