Mary Kaldor Research Articles

TA for human security: Aligning security cultures with human security in AI innovation

This research article addresses the growing concerns about digital technologies and artificial intelligence and their impact on human security. It explores the inadequacies of current digital technology regulation in protecting fundamental human rights. The authors present a typology of three “security cultures for digital technology” based on Mary Kaldor’s work on human security, linking international relations and critical security studies with technology assessment (TA). The following cultures are distinguished: dual use, cybersecurity, and TA. The article concludes with a call for collaborative efforts among policy makers, industry, and civil society to prioritize a human-centered approach and global cooperation mechanisms and to strengthen the TA culture in order to address AI innovation without compromising human rights.

Staging New Wars: Representations of Violence and Conflict in Drama

The theatrical portrayal of the individual and war in a period of collapsing peace endeavors, as well as the dramatization of survival vs destruction which became the driving forces on the war stage, are the main topics of this paper. The 20th and 21st centuries have regressed into the nightmarish perpetual and indefinite predicament of warfare. War has ceased to be the exceptional state and has instead become "the primary organizing principle of society," as Giorgio Agamben's claims that the exception has become the rule. Ulrich Beck's World at Risk and Mary Kaldor's New & Old Wars (2005) are important works on modern conflict and civilization, in which they track the changing face of war in the last half century.
 The new wars plays range from adaptations of Greek tragedies to dramas that portray civil wars, inner-state conflicts, and the politics of fear, to verbatim-based and documentary plays that try to depict the trauma of war and theatrical recreation of the process of testimony giving and public endorsement of mourning.
 At the heart of this paper are questions like How can conflict be shown on stage? How do the plays investigate the role of sociological factors in shaping civilizations while simulating the sociological factors that lead to conflict and violence? In relevance to the age of globalization and its "New Wars" the paper also tries to demonstrate how these “ New Wars” necessitate a new kind of drama about war.

POLITICAL POLARIZATION AND COMMUNITY SECURITY ASSURANCE WEST JAVA POST-2019 ELECTIONS

The 2019 presidential election left residue that threatened the security of the people of West Java. The residue is political polarization that still occurs even though the 2019 elections already finish for a long time, and a new government has been formed. At this moment, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto are both sitting in government does not affect the polarization that occurs in society. West Java is a province with nearly 20 percent of the national vote and the highest number of voters in Indonesia and has always been an arena for open political battles in every general election. With political polarization overlaid with identity politics, the security of the people of West Java is threatened. Therefore, this article will examine how political polarization in West Java and security guarantees from the local government for its people. In analyzing this research, the author used the concept of human security Mary Kaldor (2007) with a descriptive qualitative methodology through a phenomenological approach. The research concluded that the security conditions in West Java were relatively conducive and the West Java provincial government continued to carry out development according to the community's needs. So that prosperity and independence can be realized in every individual in West Java society.

DYNAMICS OF WEST JAVA PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT IN IMPLEMENTING SECURITY, TEST, PUBLIC ORDER AND PROTECTION OF THE COMMUNITY POST 2019 ELECTIONS

Before and after the 2019 Presidential Election there was political polarization in society. This condition is made worse by the existence of identity politics which has the potential to cause social segregation. This situation can certainly threaten the security and order of the people of West Java. To analyze the West Java Provincial Government's efforts to deal with community dynamics, the authors used the Dynamic Governance concept approach proposed by Boon Shiong, Neo, and Geraldine, Chen (2007) with a focus on discussion on Capability elements which include Thinking Ahead, Thinking Again, and Thinking Across. In addition, the Culture element will analyze five of the thirteen values, namely: Integrity, Multi-racialism (Different ethnicities and beliefs), Relevance (According to the Will of the Society), Stability, and Prudence. There are also changes due to elements of culture and capabilities. Moreover, to analyze the commitment of the West Java Provincial Government in implementing the development of human security this research was analyzed by using the theory of Human Security according to Mary Kaldor (2007). Based on the research results, it was found that; First, the West Java Provincial Government was able to predict the potential for social conflict due to political polarization in society. Therefore, preventive, pre-emptive, and repressive steps are taken to locate potential conflicts so that they do not spread; Second, the Provincial Government of West Java has not carried out social consolidation and reconciliation to reunite the polarized society. Thus, the potential for political polarization in the coming elections is quite potential; Third, the Provincial Government of West Java continues to make socialization and education efforts for the community through development policies that are in favor of the interests of the community, so that it is hoped that the community can understand the importance of security and for development and improving public welfare.

Interview: Mary Kaldor and Helmut K. Anheier

In this interview, Mary Kaldor and Helmut K. Anheier examine the state of Eastern Europe thirty years after the fall of communism; they explore the differences between old wars and new wars, the relevance of Clausewitz in the field of international relations today, the problem of methodological nationalism, and what the social sciences mean today. They also talk about the impact of neoliberalism, the state of democracy, and the role of civil society.

There Has Never Been “Old” Wars, or, Drone Ethics

The article challenges traditional notions of war and war ethics from the standpoints of a terrorist attack victim and of a drone strike victim, of the decentralized opposition of “old” and “new” wars, “major” wars and “small” ones, combatants vs. non-combatants, soldiers vs guerilla fighters, friends vs enemies, victors vs defeated. Accordingly, the authors consider the political status and social role of ethnographic, anthropological and ethical research within the context of “new wars,” which include guerilla warfare and resort to terrorist tactics. Building on current research in sociology, anthropology, ethics and political studies (Hugh Gusterson, Mary Kaldor, Jeff McMahan, Lucy Sachman, Emran Feroz, Grégoire Chamayou, Kirill Martynov, Victor Vakhshtayn et al.), the authors regard whether drone technologies and other automated weapons conform to the Russia’s military ethics. They also speculate upon prospects of some technologies being socially adapted in different world cultures. The article brings up to date critique of violence by Walter Benjamin and problematizes the concept of the political by Carl Schmitt through the lens of the present-day military ethnography (see Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov’s Hybrid Peace: Ethnographies of War in this issue of Logos). Analyzing historical transformations and inversions of guerillas, suicide pilots, UAV operators and suicide bombers deconstructs the notion of “hybrid war” as well as “hybrid peace.” Finally, the authors introduce a project of a less rigoristic and not purely prohibitive ethical program (“drone ethics”) which might serve as a basis for automated systems’ algorithms to make decisions during military crises and states of emergency. The article continues to address the range of problems brought up in the Logos issue on war (Vol. 29 #3 2019).

Future War: The Russian Perspective

In a multipolar world, military security issues still occupy a key place in the public debate. Military technology is one of the most developing sectors in the world. There is no doubt that the United States and the People’s Republic of China have dominated this sector in recent years. The Russian defense industry is associated with outdated equipment, technology and corruption. Nevertheless, recent conflicts show that the Russian Federation has mastered the elements of information war. “New war” theory was advanced by Mary Kaldor to characterize warfare in the post-Cold War era. According to newest research, nowadays military conflicts employ some elements of both conventional and cybernetic combat, while military operations are supported by domestic and international propaganda. The main goal of this article is to determine what type of conflict is contemporary Russia preparing for and in what ways.

International Law and New Wars by Christine Chinkin and Mary Kaldor

Book review

Cities at War: Global Insecurity and Urban Resistance. Edited by Mary Kaldor and Saskia Sassen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 264p. $90.00 cloth, $30.00 paper.

Cities at War: Global Insecurity and Urban Resistance. Edited by Mary Kaldor and Saskia Sassen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 264p. $90.00 cloth, $30.00 paper.

Kantian Project of Perpetual Peace in the Context of Modern Ethical and Political Concepts of War

The article considers the modern meaning of Kant’s doctrine of war. The author examines the context and content of the key provisions of Kant’s concept of perpetual peace. The author also reviews the ideological affinity between Kant and previous authors who proposed to build alliances of states as a means of preventing wars. It is noted that the French revolution and the wars caused by it, the peace treaty between France and Prussia served as the historical background for the conceptualization of Kant’s project. In the second half of the 20th century, there is a growing attention to Kant’s ethical and political philosophy. Theorists of a wide variety of political and ethical schools, (cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and liberalism) pay attention to Kant’s legacy and relate their own concepts to it. Kant’s idea of war is reconsidered by Michael Doyle, Jürgen Habermas, Ulrich Beck, Mary Kaldor, Brian Orend. Thus, Doyle tracks democratic peace theory back to Kant’s idea of the spread of republicanism. According to democratic peace theory, liberal democracies do not solve conflict among themselves by non-military methods. Habermas, Beck, Kaldor appreciate Kant as a key proponent of cosmopolitanism. For them, Kant’s project is important due to notion of supranational forms of cooperation. They share an understanding that peace will be promoted by an allied authority, which will be “governing without government” and will take responsibility for the functioning of the principles of pacification of international relations. Orend’s proves that Kant should be considered as a proponent of the just war theory. In addition, Orend develops a new area in just war theory – the concept of ius post bellum – and justifies regime change as the goal of just war.

The Evolution of the Concept of War in the Modern World (Some Considerations Inspired by Mary Kaldor’s Book)

The paper presents some considerations, partly polemic, inspired by Mary Kaldor’s book New and Old Wars. For this end, a brief comparative analysis is suggested of large-scale wars of the past (starting from the17th and with particular attention to the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries), on the one hand, and the so called “new wars”, on the other. The concept of “war” has been actual permanently, but it underwent changes, the most serious of them took place at the beginning and in the middle of the 20st century. However, the current political situation on the world scene shows that the conflicts of the globalization era differ considerably from those of previous centuries which were mainly conducted according to the generally adopted “rules of war” considered now as classical.The substantial role in modern violent collisions is played by a conflict of identities which was not so important when wars were conducted mainly between national states. Unlike conflicts of the previous centuries, the military confrontations of today may occur not only between states, but also inside the single country, where different groups of participants are pursuing their own goals in frameworks of identity policy. The traditional notion of civil war is not enough to cover this variety. Due to the global nature of the modern conflicts and involvement of the variety of participants, the conflict resolution seems to be more complicated than ever. Moreover, the identity factor has become an effective tool for different parties of the conflict who tend to use it at their own convenience. Consequently, resolution of modern violent conflicts, wherever they develop, demands contemporary and often non-trivial solutions, as well as close attention of the global community. The author believes that to resolve modern conflicts effectively, the world society should create a unified and comprehensive definition of the concept of “war” as well as invent new ways of the conflict solution taking into consideration, among other things, the diverse dynamics of globalization processes.

Evolution of war. Issues of variability or invariance of Nature and Character of War

The study of the nature and character of the war has probably been the subject of research since the first organized clash between the two opposing groups. My purpose in this paper is to elaborate on specific aspects of evolution of nature and character of war. First, based on the analysis of different theories of study of war and warfare, which includes examination of how warfare has evolved over a long history, analyzing important issues related to evolution of war, consider different considerations specifically what was and is the catalyst for changes in the character of war vs. unchanging nature of war. It is important to analyze the evolution of warfare, regard to revolutions in military affairs and the analysis of four generations of war. Revolutions in the military affairs have analyzed the issue in three directions: technological development, doctrinal innovations, and orga-nizational adaptations, which have been an essential process in light of developments taking place in chronological order throughout the world. Four Generations War Analysis is catalysts for change to understand the real drivers of the generational shift. The discussion of the fourth generation of war leads to the important issue what we today call the dilemmas posed by modern warfare, which brought war into the abstract dimension. Military theorists such as Martin van Creveld, Mary Kaldor, and Max Boot, have analyzed and saw the nature and character of war from a new prism, but to this day abstract nature of war “fog of war” remain unexplained, unresolved issue for modern military theorist

WHAT IS DISTINCTIVELY NEW ABOUT SO-CALLED ‘NEW’ WARS?

In the post-Cold war era, there has been a growing tendency to suggest the classification of ‘new’ wars, since the perception of the threat has changed. Since threats coming from within states have recently become dominant, many scholars have studied this development. The consensus they have reached is that this type of threat represents a different kind of war. Kalevi Holsti has named it a third kind of war (1996); Martin van Creveld has named it ‘Low-Intensity Conflict’ (1991); and Mary Kaldor has named it ‘new war’ (1999). This article will embrace Mary Kaldor’s ‘new war’ concept and use it to analyse and describe this different kind of war and compare it with old wars. In contrast to these aforementioned arguments, some scholars, such as Edward Newman and Stathis N. Kalyvas, have argued that there are no new wars in the contemporary world. According to them, many features of the so-called new wars can be seen in old wars. This paper also aims to unfold whether the new wars are in fact new or not. To better observe this, first the characteristics of new wars and old wars will be considered and then they will be compared to find out what is distinctively new about so-called new wars.

International law and new wars

Christine Chinkin is Emerita Professor of International Law and Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, and Mary Kaldor is Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, at the London School of Economics. International law and new wars brings together themes they have pursued over many years. Despite its ‘long gestation’ during which ‘the world has changed dramatically’, the authors ‘have endeavoured to include changes up to the end of 2016’. Old wars are ‘inter-state clashes involving battles between regular armed forces’. New wars ‘differ from old wars in terms of goals and identities, actors, tactics and forms of finance’ (for example the conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Mali). Chinkin and Kaldor believe it follows that the way we think about war, including attempts to regulate it under international law, must take account of the novel character of such conflicts. To this end, they impose on a familiar structure (jus ad bellum, jus in bello and, more recently, jus post bellum) the framework in table 2.1, ‘Security models and world order’ (p. 84). The table sets out what each of the posited four security models implies about the authority to use force, the rules governing the use of force, the nature of world order and its underlying philosophical assumptions. For example, the ‘liberal peace’ model derives a state's authority to use force from a multilateralist source, treating ‘new wars’ as old wars, while ‘war on terror’ is unilateralist in spirit, although seeking support through ‘coalitions of the willing’. Readers may find it helpful to keep table 2.1 to hand as a sort of sat nav as they proceed through a richly documented and carefully argued text. There can be hardly a topic, old or new, to which Chinkin and Kaldor fail to attend. But sat navs should be used with care: chapter five, for instance, is headed ‘The humanitarian model for recourse to force’, which does not marry up tidily with the headings in table 2.1.

International Law and New Wars Christine Chinkin and Mary Kaldor*

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Bringing the transnational into ‘new wars’: the case of islamic state

Abstract In her seminal 1998 work on ‘new wars’ Mary Kaldor developed a heuristic framework usefully for understanding the characteristics of armed non-state groups involved in contemporary conflicts. This framework was derived from analysing the 1992-1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict. Some two decades after this however, adjustments may now be necessary. A focussed examination of the strategy used during 2014 by Islamic State Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) reveals Kaldor’s framework may now need to include a more explicit focus on the transnational. Since the mid-1990s, the transnational has been made more accessible by advances in social media in particular, and by globalization more generally. ISIS’s use of the transnational indicates this may be an area that astute non-state actors can advantageously exploit - perhaps better than states - although there are some difficulties involved. ISIS’s success suggests that the transnational may in time have greater influence on the politics of international society.

Intra-State Violence In D.R. Congo And Features Of The ‘New War’ Scenarios

Abstract The chief objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the characteristics of new wars (described by scholars Mary Kaldor and Herfried Műnkler) are identified in the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hence, the main argument is that the wars in D.R. Congo displayed most features of the new wars. Former Zaire/RDC was a weak state, completely unable to retain monopoly on the use of organized violence or to control its entire territory. Many armed groups and local militias had free vein in the east part and at some point they also controlled the north east and south east areas. Moreover, they gained autonomy and resorted to atrocities. The distinction between combatants and civilians was blurred. The locus of belligerence moved from the military sector to the societal one, thus also pinpointing to the need to reconceptualize security. Most attacks were carried out systematically and deliberately against groups of individuals, without discrimination between civilians and members of the militias. Child-soldiering was present and violence against women was prevailing systematically. Looting, raping, and killing was the bulk of the fighting and on several occasions civilians were used as human shields.

Sociedad civil global: ¿A qué se está asistiendo?

This paper seeks to explore the concept of global civil society, understood as the actions of various networks of individuals operating in a transnationalised and deterritorialised mode transnationally and these networks have the ability to influence the public debate. This theory is derived primarily from the internationalist Mary Kaldor, and from the globalization dynamics. This theory has been extensively developed in recent years from various perspectives, either from a vindictive, critical or explanatory nature. For this reason, it is necessary to problematize and elucidate that category; first, by understanding the ideas of civil society and globalization, then, in a second stage, by developing the category of global civil society, in a third stage, by briefly describing an empirical case in which international civil society is exemplified and, finally, in a fourth moment, by formulating some proposals on the possibility of a public policy of global nature.

English

The nature and characteristics of war in the post-cold war era have been the focus of academic debates in the field of Peace and Conflict studies in recent years especially with regard to whether or not a distinction should be made between ‘old’ and ‘new’ wars. Mary Kaldor’s ‘new wars’ thesis, a very significant contribution to these debates, argues that there is a distinction given that the actors, goals, methods and modes of financing wars in the post-cold war era have changed significantly as a result of globalization (Kaldor, 2006:1). While many critics disagree and argue that the distinction does not exist (Kalyvas, 2001) and claim that there is nothing new about ‘new wars’ (Henderson and Singer, 2002), others question the lack of adequate empirical and historical evidence (Chojnacki, 2006:48) and argue that the thesis lacks any measureable criteria.  However, as Mundy (2011) rightly points out, our justifications for concepts such as the ‘new wars’ thesis should be based on their ability to confront and address the very circumstances they seek to improve rather than on claims of alleged coherence and reflections of history. While this article is not directed at refuting criticisms, it is important to note that the term ‘new’ used in describing these wars that were taking place in the 1990s in the Balkans and Africa did not refer to them as having no historical parallels or antecedents but referred to a different ‘logic’ from the wars that scholars and policy-makers were concentrating on (Kaldor, 2012). Regardless of its limitations, this article argues that Kaldors ‘new war’ thesis has significant academic/analytical and policy relevance in the field of security studies and much more in the 21st century.    Key words: New wars, conflict, policy, organized violence, peace.

From Activist to Entrepreneur: Peace One Day and the Changing Persona of the Social Campaigner

From Activist to Entrepreneur: Peace One Day and the Changing Persona of the Social Campaigner