Introduction

One of the principal arguments made in this book is that the shift from a model of war based on the use of mass to a more capital-intensive form of warfare focused on precision changed but did not end the war–state relationship. Most importantly, the state played a vital role in facilitating this transition and remained crucial in creating technologies that changed the face of war and facilitated a broader revolution in economics, politics and society. These technologies have evolved and grown in the commercial sector and are now feeding back into the domain of war. However, brand new technologies are also emerging, and the state is facilitating the development of capabilities such as AI, quantum computing and encryption. In the previous chapter, we explored how Western militaries are engaging with the challenges posed by this latest technological revolution through MDI, this sets out the Western view of the future of war. This construct provides a conceptualization of war that widens our understanding of the subject and blurs the distinction between war and peace. An essential consequence of this reconceptualization is that it also assigns the state a more prominent role in its efforts to contest war in the grey zone. This means the state continues to fulfil its principal function as the primary provider of security.

The aim of this and the following chapter is to question the ideas underlying the current Western theorization of war. This goal will be achieved in two ways. This chapter takes advantage of the opportunity to explore the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to determine how well expectations set out in US and British versions of MDI coincide with the unfolding reality of this war. As important is the need to explore the implications of what has happened in this war in terms of the role played by technology and to ask if its application challenges or undermines Western military conceptions of future war. Within this context we also need to ponder what this war reveals about the nature of the war–state relationship that might unfold in the future.