1st Edition

The War Game Studies of the New Civilian Militarists

Edited By Irving Horowitz Copyright 2013
    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    War gaming has become a characteristic feature of modern life. From amateur clubs to professional academicians playing the war game in the company of military circles, we have come up against the phenomenon of the "robotization" of human life. Irving Louis Horowitz argues that those who protest the idea that war is a game do so on moral grounds that leave unanswered tough questions: What is the alternative to playing the game? What will become of us if we allow the opponent to become the better "player" in an all-or-nothing game of extinction?

    Horowitz provides answers in a logical manner while focusing on facts and ethical alternatives to risky ethics. The work is divided into three sections: The New Civilian Militarists, Thermonuclear Peace and Its Political Equivalents, and General Theory of Conflict and Conflict Resolution. Included are such topics as arms, policies, and games; morals, missiles, and militarism; and conflict, consensus, and cooperation.

    Horowitz concludes that it is time to register the fact that the basic option to destructive uses of science is not traditional morality, but better science—a science of survival. With a new introduction by Howard Schneiderman along with a major essay and other materials not included in the original edition, this classic work is a worthy contribution to intellectual debate in the twenty-first century and a must read for military strategists, sociologists, and historians.

    Conflagration and Calculation: The War Game Reconsidered
    By Howard G. Schneiderman
    Preface
    I The New Civilian Militarists
    1 Arms, Policies, and Games
    2 Tactics, Strategies, and Terror
    3 Morals, Missiles, and Militarism
    II Thermonuclear Peace and Its Political Equivalents
    4 American Politics and Military Risks
    5 The Russian Communist Theory of War
    6 Peace Concern and Minority Politics
    III General Theory of Conflict and Conflict Resolution
    7 Struggle, Search, and Survival
    8 Mini-Max: A No-Kill Alternative
    9 Conflict, Consensus, and Cooperation
    Games, Strategies, and Peace: A Symposium on Deterrence
    Strategies of War and Principles of Peace
    Acknowledgments
    Subject Index
    Name Index

    Biography

    Irving Horowitz