International Humanitarian Law

Are ‘forever wars’ forever?

/ Dan Smith / Leave a comment

A new concept has emerged to haunt us – the forever war.

It’s just one aspect of the bleak global picture today: more armed conflicts than at any time since the second World War; higher military spending than at any time ever; a new nuclear arms race getting under way; ecological crisis on a scale never experienced before in human history.

And the further problem is the apparent incapacity of our international institutions to address these challenges properly, combined with the melange of ambition and dunder-headedness of key political leaders that actively make things worse. 

But is ‘forever war’ the right term?

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World order §8: A multiplex alternative: international cooperation in bite-sized pieces

/ Dan Smith / 2 Comments

It is all very well to argue, as I did in my two most recent posts, that far-reaching international cooperation is essential to solve critical world issues and, furthermore, that there are issues on which it is evidently possible. But that does not solve the problem – the world order is in shaky condition and there is no consensus on how to fix it. Now’s the time to have a stab at what to do when consensus is lacking.

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World order §5: Laws and norms – and the double standard

/ Dan Smith / 1 Comment

How do you solve a problem like the world order?

We have had one – an order, a way of arranging international relations through institutions, treaties, law and norms – for virtually eight decades since the end of World War II. It has had its ups and downs and gone through some changes, though nothing fundamental. But now, so much seems to be going wrong at once – more armed conflicts with rising death tolls, worsening ecological disruption, growing economic inequalities and fragmenting social cohesion in numerous countries.

It all adds up to system failure on a world scale. This post, number 5 in a series based on the introductory chapter to the recently released SIPRI Yearbook 2024, focusses on the importance of laws and established norms in the world order.

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War and nature

/ Dan Smith / Leave a comment

War is not glorious. As we see this year in Ukraine, Ethiopia and almost 50 other continuing wars and armed conflicts, people are killed and, some of us, ordered to kill. People are maimed, terrified, forced into hiding and flight, and traumatised. Even without what are known as war crimes – such as torture, kidnapping, killing civilians whether close up or from long range – war is, as a US Civil War General said, hell.

And after the war? The effects of destruction are lasting because the natural environment is all too often another casualty of armed conflicts.

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