The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History,

Books Now

The state exists, Bobbitt notes with characteristic lack of sentimentality, because it is able to hurt people. Violence is its métier. It is this, the state’s ability to act violently, that enables it to protect its inhabitants both from external threats (foreign enemies) and internal violence (criminals). But the forms that violence assumes are not static; new, more concentrated, and more lethal forms of violence are continually being developed. If a particular state is to survive, it must adapt to the changed realities, and find ways both to defend against and to deploy the new machineries of violence.

PB

About the Author

Philip Bobbitt

Featured Tags

Books Now

The state exists, Bobbitt notes with characteristic lack of sentimentality, because it is able to hurt people. Violence is its métier. It is this, the state’s ability to act violently, that enables it to protect its inhabitants both from external threats (foreign enemies) and internal violence (criminals). But the forms that violence assumes are not static; new, more concentrated, and more lethal forms of violence are continually being developed. If a particular state is to survive, it must adapt to the changed realities, and find ways both to defend against and to deploy the new machineries of violence.