Endless War? Hidden Functions of the "War on Terror"

by Keen, David

• ISBN13: 9780745324166
• ISBN10: 0745324169
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-20
• Publisher: PLUTO PRESS (UK)

Summary

Was the Iraq war really an act of goodwill to liberate people from injustice? Or was it a strategic move to maintain US dominance globally? Endless War? casts a critical light on the real motives behind war and conflict. David Keen explores how winning war is rarely an end in itself; rather, war tends to be part of a wider political and economic game that is consistent with strengthening the enemy. Keen devises a radical framework for analysing an unending war project, where the "war on terror" is an extension of the Cold War.The book draws on the author's detailed study of wars in Sudan, Sierra Leone, as well as in a range of other conflicts. It provides a new approach to conflict analysis that will be of use to students across development studies and the social sciences.

Author Biography

David Keen is Reader in Complex Emergencies at the Institute of Development Studies at the London School of Economics. He has written a number of books on conflicts, famines and civil wars. In recent years, he has conducted extensive fieldwork in Sudan, Sierra Leone and Iraq.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
1. Introduction	1	(7)
Aims and argument of the book	1	(7)
2. Fuel on the fire: predictably counterproductive tactics in the 'war on terror'	8	(43)
Two models of terrorism	8	(3)
Violence for a safer world?	11	(8)
The doctrine of pre-emption	19	(4)
Fuelling anger	23	(2)
Anger in the targeted countries	25	(6)
Anger outside the targeted countries	31	(17)
Concluding remarks	48	(3)
3. War systems: local and global	51	(33)
Introduction	51	(3)
Insurgency and terror	54	(3)
'Counter-insurgency' and 'counter-terror'	57	(23)
Concluding remarks	80	(4)
4. Elusive enemies and the need for certainty	84	(12)
Economic insecurity and the search for certainty	91	(4)
Concluding remarks	95	(1)
5. The new witch-hunt: finding and removing the source of evil	96	(19)
Devils and details: the neglect of reconstruction	107	(6)
Concluding remarks	113	(2)
6. The retreat from evidence-based thinking	115	(16)
Concluding remarks	127	(4)
7. Action as propaganda	131	(14)
'Just world thinking': might is right	132	(5)
Making your predictions and assertions come true	137	(6)
Concluding remarks	143	(2)
8. Warding off the shame of powerlessness	145	(15)
Violence as power	146	(4)
Dependence and omnipotence	150	(7)
Piggybacking US power	157	(3)
9. Shame, purity and violence	160	(30)
America 'goes soft': weakness, emasculation and impurity	160	(10)
Resisting those who 'blame America' for 9/11	170	(7)
Counter-terror and the proliferation of enemies	177	(10)
Conclusion	187	(3)
10. Culture and magic	190	(20)
US history and sense of mission	190	(4)
Magic, consumerism and advertising	194	(7)
Intellectuals	201	(9)
11. Conclusion	210	(10)
Notes	220	(50)
Bibliography	270	(9)
Index	279