Title: Technology, war and the state: past, present and future | International Affairs | Oxford Academic
Headings: Technology, war and the state: past, present and future
Technology, war and the state: past, present and future
Published:
Abstract
Subject
Issue Section:
Reconceptualizing war: the rise of post-modern war, 1945–1989
The persistence of post-modern war after the Cold War
Post-modern war and the future of the state
Conclusion
Footnotes
Author notes

Content: 1
The article presents an alternative view of the war–state relationship in the post-Second World War era. It does not challenge the logic that the decline in war affected the war–state connection. 2 However, it does not see this change as evidence of atrophy. Instead, it demonstrates how the complexity of war after 1945 led to a deep but more subtle interaction, which had a profound effect on war, the state and society in the western world. While I do not challenge the premise that a range of factors played a role in shaping the connection between war and the state, the precise interaction and relative importance of these forces have altered over time, and this has caused the demands of war on the state to shift in significant ways. In the period under scrutiny in this article, I argue that the role of technology in war increased dramatically because of the nuclear revolution. In this setting, technological development reduced the opportunities for war, but the arms race it generated also brought into being new technologies, and these facilitated new forms of conflict. These developments affected our understanding of war's character and its interaction with the state. Military history provides a rich literature on war and technology, but its focus has tended to be on the importance of technology in helping militaries win wars. 3 In rarer cases, writers have sought to situate war within a broader technological, economic, social and cultural framework.