Faculté des Langues
Licence LLCE Majeure Anglais
Semestre 6
UEF 3
Année Universitaire 2013-14
Civilisation US: Remembering War

Defining War


What do we mean when we use the term "war"?

At the beginning of her article in smallwarsjournal, Jill Long quotes definitions of war from two dictionaries and from the standard work on the topic. (The article is concerned with providing a new definition of war, better adapted to twenty-first century concerns, including war against less clearly defined adversaries, such as international terrorist networks (read the article here http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/what-is-war-a-new-point-of-view).):

It is striking that the definitions are so "sanitized", as it were: the mental images that the word "war" conjures up, of extremes of violence, of combat, of injuries and death, of armies killing and maiming enemy soldiers and civilians alike, of ever-more-powerful and destructive weapons, whether for use by soldiers in the field or by technicians from afar, to say nothing of the fear and even paralyzing terror experienced by all concerned, are not mentioned...

Similarly, the definition provided by Wikiquotes adopts the standpoint of belligerent nations or entities, and takes but little stock of the people involved: "War is a conflict involving the organized use of weapons and physical force by states or other large-scale groups. Warring parties usually hold territory, which they can win or lose; and each has a leading person or organization which can surrender, or collapse, thus ending the war. Wars are usually a series of campaigns between two opposing sides involving a dispute over sovereignty, territory, resources, religion, or ideology. A war to liberate an occupied country is called a "war of liberation"; a war between internal factions within a state is a civil war. Until the end of World War II, participants usually issued formal declarations of war. (en.wikiquote.org‹War)

The definitions, as perhaps might be expected, are quite literal, and do not refer to other, more metaphorical, uses. The word is used, however, in other contexts, some of which may shed light on the more literal uses: Lyndon Johnson, for example, baptized one of the components of his Great Society program the "War on Poverty". This use suggests several ideas: 1) that poverty is an enemy of the nation as a whole, 2) that represents a threat of very considerable magnitude, such 3) that a major national commitment of resources of every nature is justified. Indeed, very often, "war" elicits notions of total, unambiguous, unrelenting involvement of every aspect of national life: people, industry, agriculture and many others. (It is only fair to say that other sources provide secondary definitions that include more metaphorical uses - and that it is natural that Jill Long's article, which concerns remodeling the literal definition, should not include what for her are irrelevant passages.)

It is worth pointing out that the notions of total national commitment and willingness to go to any lengths to achieve victory are not necessary features of the definition of the term: there are examples of what has been called limited war, and war has for generations been conducted within a framework of rules, sometimes tacit, and since the mid-nineteenth century explicitly agreed upon by the belligerents.


Université Jean-Moulin - Lyon 3
Faculté des Langues
Charles C. Hadley 2013-14
This page was last updated on Monday, 20 January 2014 at 12:28