Land operations and competing perspectives on warfare

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between different conceptualizations of the character of war and the role of land operations and tactics. Cold-War era expectations for a conventional war against a high-technological peer adversary, Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), “New Wars” theory, Counterinsurgency (COIN) and Hybrid Warfare all denote different implications for the role and relevance of land forces. While Europe’s increasingly uncertain and unpredictable security environment in recent years has validated the continued relevance of conventional land operations, research in this area should encourage more integrative and cumulative research on future warfare and the potential of land forces.