Relevance of Mary Kaldors new wars thesis in the 21st century

Abstract

) rightly points out, our justifications for concepts such as the 'new wars' thesis should be based on their ability to confront and address the very circumstances they seek to improve rather than on claims of alleged coherence and reflections of history. While this article is not directed at refuting criticisms, it is important to note that the term 'new' used in describing these wars that were taking place in the 1990s in the Balkans and Africa did not refer to them as having no historical parallels or antecedents but referred to a different 'logic' from the wars that scholars and policy-makers were concentrating on (Kaldor, 2012). Regardless of its limitations, this article argues that Kaldors 'new war' thesis has significant academic/analytical and policy relevance in the field of security studies and much more in the 21st century.