The USPS Alumni Programme is a format designed to provide School alumni of different years with relevant soft and hard skills in the context of contemporary socio-political discourse.
This time, Mykola Bielieskov, together with the alumni, interpreted the essence of war – its nature, practice, theory, and foundations. The informative lectures naturally ended with a discussion on the character and peculiarities of the russian-Ukrainian war. The participants were able to analyse the Ukrainian case using the theoretical and practical framework gained at the lectures with the guest lecturer.
Mykola Bielieskov asked participants big questions: Will the russo-Ukrainian war become an exception or a standard for the theory of war? Will our war create a new template for future violence, or will it throw societies back to the archaic method of total arbitrariness?
While these questions remain unanswered, we can come closer to understanding them by looking at the paradoxes in the nature of war itself.
Politics vs. War
The logic of the relationship between war and politics is undeniable. War is often the result of the maturity of a state’s political will. According to the father of war theory, Carl von Clausewitz: “war is merely a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.” However, this relationship is much more complex. Sometimes, politics generates war, and sometimes vice versa. When all other means are exhausted, why not resort to large-scale violence, as russia did in 2022, to achieve political ambitions?
There is a significant defect in the interaction between war and politics. Both politics and war are all-encompassing, so they tend to overwhelm each other. However, it is more likely that war will corrode and paralyse the effectiveness of politics than that politics will be able to supplant the uncompromising influence of war.
Fog of War vs. Totality
Totality is the best feature that characterises the pernicious nature of war. The total and comprehensive drainage of state resources by war exhausts societies on both sides of the confrontation. War forces us to live at the expense of the future. It eats up not only itself but also all the actual potentials of the state, namely financial, military, economic, and most importantly, human. The war is certainly becoming all-encompassing. However, there are things that remain beyond its influence.
The fog of war is a blind spot in a military conflict. Data not available to the country’s intelligence service. Strategies and tactics that are unknown to the leaders and participants in the conflict. There is always a gap that, despite the totality of the war, plays a key role in determining its outcome.
War vs. Peace (Life)
War is a contextual phenomenon. At the turn of the century, while Northwest Europe was in a relatively peaceful environment, war reigned in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Sakartvelo.
War and human life have existed and continue to exist simultaneously on the same plane. The well-known saying, “If you want peace, prepare for war,” still holds sway in the dilemma of war and peace. The intensity of war always prevails. However, in contemporary international relations, in particular, in the case of the russian-Ukrainian war, the level of tolerance for violence and death is sharply declining. But will the russo-Ukrainian war help consolidate this shift in attitudes, or will it tip the scales in favour of the tradition of violence?
The phenomena of war and much more were discussed at the USPS Alumni Programme. We are grateful to Mykola Bielieskov for the professional discussion and to our participants for their inspiration and desire to find answers.
