The Waging of War

ongoing

Wars are raging around the world. War has terrible consequences: soldiers and civilians are killed or wounded, millions are forced to flee their homes, buildings and infrastructure are destroyed, and children, especially, are put at risk of sickness and death; the suffering is astounding. Some of this is unintended, but too much of the suffering is intentional. Wars are fought in myriad ways, ranging from conventional interstate war to intrastate guerilla insurgencies to terrorist actions. The ways wars are waged have serious consequences. The strategic dynamics between warring parties are crucial in shaping warfare – and thus its consequences – but these aspects are often overlooked. We know much more about the causes of war and ways to end wars than we know about what happens during war. The Waging of War (WOW) project addresses this fundamental research gap, emphasizing the dynamic and evolving nature of the interactions of belligerents, offering new insights into how the organization of warring parties influences the conduct of war, and conversely, how the fighting impacts the organizational structure of the belligerents. War dynamics are important because they determine winners and losers, and the nature of the resolution of conflict. War dynamics also have severe consequences for affected communities and societies and influence the prospects for rebuilding. WOW addresses three central research questions: • How are wars fought? • How does the organization of a belligerent party affect the way they wage war? • How do the dynamics of the war affect the organization of the fighting parties? The project has 3 objectives: • To develop a theory of the dynamics of war with applications to interstate and intrastate conflict. • To apply the dynamics of war theory to specific cases and develop generalizable conclusions. • To develop a data infrastructure about organizational features and aspects of the dynamics of war.