Humane Warfare

The decision to fight 'humanitarian wars' and the development of technologies to make war more humane, illustrates the trend in the West to try to humanize war and thereby humanize modernity. This highly controversial and cutting-edge book questions whether the attempt to make war 'virtual' or 'virtuous' can succeed and whether the West is deluding itself (not its enemies) in thinking that war can ever be made more humane. Christopher Coker's radical conclusion is that Western humanitarian warfare is in fact an endgame, as other non-Western societies will make sure it does not succeed. Eminently readable, this book combines theory with accounts by politicians and serving military personnel.

Christopher Coker is Reader in International Relations at the London School of Economics