Authority, Violence, and Clausewitz

Dr. Jackson's soliloquy on Public Authority and the Control of Violence was good, but it also was typical of his others in being a bit abstract. He describes violence in a very academic manner. Due to my military background and having spent the last five years in the school house environment at Fort Leavenworth, any discussion of the use of violence by the state leads to the Prussian military theorist, Carl von Clausewitz. Although Clausewitz's On War was written in the early 19th century based on his experiences derived from the Napoleonic wars, it still provides the best general theory on war. 

Clausewitz's work is dense and was not fully completed when he died, but it displays brilliance. 

For example, in Book 8 Clausewitz states: "war is simply the continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means." Thus, "war is an instrument of policy."

Clausewitz uses the paradoxical trinity to describe how violence, chance, and reason are war's dominant tendencies. He represents violence with the people; chance with the commander and his army; and reason with the government. In essence, he implies that the three must be in balance for the successful conduct of war.

Clausewitz uses the term "friction" to describe what separates war from every other human phenomenon due to its violent nature. Clausewitz writes: "Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war."  This quote is very apropos when one considers the United States' recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.