Becoming war: towards a martial empiricism

Under the banner of martial empiricism, we advance a distinctive set of theoretical and methodological commitments for the study of war. Previous efforts to wrestle with this most recalcitrant of phenomena have sought to ground research upon primary definitions or foundational ontologies of war. By contrast, we propose to embrace war’s incessant becoming, making its creativity, mutability, and polyvalence central to our enquiry. Leaving behind the interminable quest for its essence, we embrace war as mystery. We draw on a tradition of radical empiricism to devise a conceptual and contextual mode of enquiry that can follow the processes and operations of war wherever they lead us. Moving beyond the instrumental appropriations of strategic thought and the normative strictures typical of critical approaches, martial empiricism calls for an unbounded investigation into the emergent and generative character of war. Framing the accompanying special issue, we outline three domains around which to orient future research: mobilization, design, and encounter. Martial empiricism is no idle exercise in philosophical speculation. It is the promise of a research agenda apposite to the task of fully contending with the momentous possibilities and dangers of war in our time

Researching “Digital War”: terminological snares, conceptual pitfalls, and methodological hazards

This article traces some of the intellectual lines of force concomitant to the constitution of a research field of Digital War. It submits that, while it may serve as a convenient shorthand for information and communication technologies concordant with common parlance, the concept of the “digital” cannot in itself provide a dependable referent for demarcating such an investigative terrain. This consideration raises in turn a series of further conceptual, methodological, and empirical challenges for scholars working in this emerging field, among which are the deep history of information technologies and their martial entanglements, the requirements of scientific and technical literacy, and engagement with the philosophy of technology

A revolution in military affairs? Changing technologies and changing practices of warfare

Book synopsis: This edited volume provides a convenient entry point to the cutting-edge field of the international politics of technology, in an interesting and informative manner. Technology and World Politics introduces its readers to different approaches to technology in global politics through a survey of emerging fusions of Science and Technology Studies and International Relations. The theoretical approaches to the subject include the Social Construction of Technology, Actor-Network Theory, the Critical Theory of Technology, and New Materialist and Posthumanist approaches. Considering how such theoretical approaches can be used to analyse concrete political issues such as the politics of nuclear weapons, Internet governance, shipping containers, the revolution in military affairs, space technologies, and the geopolitics of the Anthropocene, the volume stresses the socially constructed and inherently political nature of technological objects. Providing the theoretical background to approach the politics of technology in a sophisticated manner alongside a glossary and guide to further reading for newcomers, this volume is a vital resource for both students and scholars focusing on politics and international relations

Responsabilisation des conjoints aux comportements violents : regards des usagers des programmes

Les intervenants et les directeurs d’organismes d’aide aux conjoints aux comportements violents (CCV) du Québec et d’ailleurs s’entendent sur l’importance de responsabiliser ceux-ci. On peut toutefois se demander comment les hommes identifiés comme CCV réagissent à ce discours sur leur responsabilité. Cette recherche explore le discours de participants à des programmes d’aide sur la responsabilité, son évolution et ses points de convergence ou divergence avec le discours des intervenants et directeurs. La théorie de Loseke (2003) sur la construction des problèmes sociaux a été le cadre théorique retenu pour cette recherche. Les points de vue de 14 usagers de programmes situés dans trois régions différentes du Québec ont été recueillis dans le cadre de groupes de discussion focalisée et, exceptionnellement pour l’un des participants, dans le cadre d’un entretien individuel. De manière générale, les participants reconnaissent être responsables de leur violence. Toutefois, ils éprouvent de la difficulté à se percevoir comme des acteurs entièrement rationnels et à établir des frontières claires entre leur responsabilité et celle de leur partenaire. Ces résultats sont discutés et des recommandations sont formulées pour des recherches futures et les milieux de pratique.Practitioners and program managers in agencies for men perpetrators of intimatepartner violence (IPV) from Quebec and elsewhere agree about the significance of one’s responsibility. Nevertheless, one wonders how men identified as violent partners react to this discourse about their responsibility. This research seeks toexplore the discourse of participants attending IPV programs about responsibility, its evolution, and the ways in which it interacts with the practitioners and the programmanagers' discourses. Loseke's (2003) theory on the construction of social problemswas the theoretical framework chosen for this research. Fourteen men from three different areas in Quebec were met during focus groups and, exceptionally for one of the participants, through one individual interview. In general, participants recognize their responsibility within their violent behavior. However, they experienced difficulty seeing themselves as entirely rational agents and establishing clear limits between their responsibility and their partner's. The results of this research are discussed and recommendations are given for both further research and practical areas

The scientific way of warfare: Order and chaos on the battlefields of modernity.

The thesis of the present work is that throughout the modern era the dominant corpus of scientific ideas, as articulated around key machine technologies, has been reflected in the contemporary theories and practices of warfare in the Western world. Over the period covered by this thesis - from the ascendancy of the scientific worldview in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to present day - an ever more intimate symbiosis between science and warfare has established itself with the increasing reliance on the development and integration of technology within complex social assemblages of war. This extensive deployment of scientific ideas and methodologies in the military realm allows us to speak of the constitution and perpetuation of a scientific way of warfare. There are however within the scientific way of warfare significant variations in the theories and practices of warfare according to the prevalence of certain scientific ideas and technological apparatuses in given periods of the modern era. The four distinctive regimes I thereupon distinguish are those of mechanistic, thermodynamic, cybernetic, and chaoplexic warfare. Each of these regimes is characterised by a differing approach to the central question of order and chaos in war, on which hinge the related issues of centralisation and decentralisation, predictability and control

Becoming weapon: an opening call to arms

How does a weapon become one? What are the materials, knowledges and affects implicated in a process of weaponisation? In what ways does a weapon wield its user? In an opening call to arms, this introduction to the special issue on ‘Becoming Weapon’ sets out the scope and ambition of a new research agenda for the study of weaponry in International Relations. After reviewing the existing literature on weapons and outlining its limitations, the article presents the special issue’s individual contributions, highlighting how each of them sheds new light on the constitution and efficacy of our most lethal apparatuses

How do practitioners and program managers working with male perpetrators view IPV? : a Quebec study

To document the viewpoints on intimate partner violence (IPV) of Québec practitioners working with violent partners and of program managers of batterer intervention programs (BIPs). Based on Loseke’s (2003) theory of the construction of social problems, a qualitative study was carried out with 25 practitioners working with violent partners and with18 program managers of BIPs so as to explore their conceptions of IPV and their representations of perpetrators and victims. Study participants primarily defined IPV as a way of taking control, while nonetheless noting other motivations. They also insisted on the diversity of contexts of IPV and its numerous manifestations. For them, IPV was a complex, multifactorial problem, involving individual risk factors for the most part, though also including contextual and social ones. Not only did they not see a single type of IPV, but they also saw no single perpetrator or victim profile. They saw both perpetrators and victims as accountable for their choices, even though they posed some limitations on this general principle of accountability. Complexity and diversity seemed to characterize their conceptions of IPV and their representations of perpetrators and victims. Findings are discussed in the light of current debates about IPV, of implications for BIPs, and of contexts that may influence IPV conceptions

Available and affordable complementary treatments for COVID-19 : From hypothesis to pilot studies and the need for implementation

Vaccination is a highly effective preventive measure against COVID-19. However, complementary treatments are needed to better control the disease. Fermented vegetables and spices, agonists of the antioxidant transcription factor nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and TRPA1/V1 channels (Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 and Vanillin 1), may help in the control of COVID-19. Some preliminary clinical trials suggest that curcumin (spice) can prevent some of the COVID-19 symptoms. Before any conclusion can be drawn and these treatments recommended for COVID-19, the data warrant confirmation. In particular, the benefits of the foods need to be assessed in more patients, through research studies and large trials employing a double-blind, placebo-controlled design.Peer reviewe