postmodern war - Chris Hables Gray

POSTMODERN WAR

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES
A Guilford Series
DOUGLAS KELLNER, Editor
University of Texas at Austin
A THEORY OF HUMAN NEED
Len Doyal and Ian Gough
POSTMODERN THEORY: CRITICAL INTERROGATIONS
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AND FREUD'S FRENCH REVOLUTION
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POSTNATIONAL IDENTITY: CRITICAL THEORY AND EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY
IN HABERMAS, KIERKEGAARD, AND HAVEL
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POSTMODERNISM AND SOCIAL INQUIRY
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MARXISM IN THE POSTMODERN AGE: CONFRONTING THE NEW WORLD ORDER
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AFTER MARXISM
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THE POLITICS OF HISTORICAL VISION: MARX, FOUCAULT, HABERMAS
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ROADS TO DOMINION: RIGHT-WING MOVEMENTS AND POLITICAL POWER
IN THE UNITED STATES
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AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF NONVIOLENCE
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POSTMODERN WAR
Chris Hables Gray

POSTMODERN WAR
THE NEW POLITICS OF CONFLICT
Chris Hables Gray
THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London

© 1997 The Guilford Press
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All rights reserved
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Printed in the United States of America
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Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in*Publication Data
Gray, Chris Hables
Postmodern war: the new politics of conflict / Chris Hables Gray.
p. cm.—(Critical perspectives)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57230460-0 (hard).—ISBN 1-57230-176-7 (paper)
1. World politics—1989-. 2. War—Forecasting. 3. Military
history, Modern—20th century. 4- War—Psychological aspects.
I. Title. II. Series: Critical perspectives (New York, N.Y)
D860.G75 1997
306.6'6—dc21 97-1538
CIP

To Carl Harp, cofounder of Men Against Sexism,
Walla Walla Federal Penitentiary. Dead of state terrorism.
Love and rage, Carl.

Preface
wlile the arguments of this book may seem contentious, they actually
rest on many agreements. I agree with Noam Chomsky that there is "a
persistent fair probability of nuclear war" (1986, p. 39). I agree with Richard
Lebow and Janice Stein that we all lost the Cold War (1994), although we
did win the one thing that we needed most, time. I agree with many specific
things that historians and others have said, and I cite them at length in this
book. But there are a number of intellectual dogmas that I don't ascribe to.
I reject simplistic accounts of the Cold War, and of all wars. In the book
that follows I challenge much received wisdom. If you disagree, I'd love to
hear from you. Write me care of this publisher.
There is one dogma, of the history profession, that I want to challenge
here in the Preface, as it is a meta-issue not really addressed in the main text.
It has to do with the idea of progress. I believe in progress, of a sort, even
though history has its cycles. History does repeat itself, as tragedy and farce,
but not always. New things happen. Many historians argue against the idea
that history can be progressive; that it is going somewhere. But I disagree
with them. There are patterns we can see that clearly show a kind of progress,
if we remember that love and cancer both progress, grow, and spread.
Technoscience, and the human impact on nature, where we can see progress
of some type clearly, is obviously a mixture of healthy growth and something
else. War is part of that something else. This is an account of its progress.
It is contested as are all stories. There is a place for stories in academia
(Cronon 1992) and you will see that I mainly think in stories. For me, there
are stories in everything. For example, I have dedicated this book to Carl
Harp. Now there's a story, several stories. There's a story about Carl Harp,
the beautiful anarchist activist who formed a Men Against Sexism group in
prison and who was eventually murdered by the forces of order, as he called
[ vii ]

[ vijj ] Preface
them. I was fortunate enough to meet Carl a few times, and learned a great
deal from him. And there is a story to the dedication itself.
Originally I dedicated this book to another wonderful person, a deciparacida
in South America, presumed long dead in Argentina's Dirty War.
But then, years later as this book was in press, I discovered he had recently
come out of hiding in exile and that he had survived. So, a happy ending, in
part. Just as war has its happy moments, especially in the stories of those who
seek to end it.
The nature of these forces who seek to wage peace is an important part
of the story of our present. The incredible mobilizations of women in
countries as different as South Africa and Bosnia is one crucial example, and
another happy story in the larger sad one of war (Lederer, 1995). I discuss
peace activism at length towards the end of this book because it is part of the
war story, as much as the effectiveness of machine guns or the madness of
mutually assured destruction. There are many stories.
Science, which has offered us so many difficult tests in the area of war,
also offers us one of these happy stories, hope in the power of life. Whether
or not Rock 84001 really has signs of ancient life from Mars, the hope it offers
is real. We might find life on other planets. We might have already. We might
make peace on our planet. Peace could be breaking out all over. There is
always hope, where there is life. Life writes stories just by living. Humans
have formalized this, of course. Hence this book. I hope it holds your
attention.
LOVE AND RAGE,
CHRIS HABLES GRAY, 8/16/96

Acknowledgments
I would to first thank Donna Haraway, my mentor. She is an inspiration. I
would also like to sincerely thank the other members of my dissertation
committee: Barbara Epstein, Terry Winograd, and Bruce Larkin, for their
support and advice. Billie Harris, the administrator of the History of Consciousness
Board during my time there, was an invaluable help, a steadfast
supporter, and a good friend. Everyone at HistCon deserves thanks. It is a
unique, wonder-filled program and a weird but real community. But I would
especially like to mention Hayden White, Jim Clifford, and my good friends
Zoe Sofia, Paul Edwards, Sharon Helsel, Noel Sturgeon, Sarah Williams, and
Ron Eglash. Everyone in our Cultural Studies of Science and Technology
Research Group has been helpful, thoughtful, and amusing, especially Mark
Driscoll
I owe a great deal to the faculty and students I've worked with at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, and in other places as distant as
Moscow, but I don't have space to name them all here. I also must thank the
Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation of the University of California
at San Diego, the Universitiy of California Regents, the Eisenhower Fellowships,
and the Smithsonian Institution for funding support. Paul Ceruzzi of
the Smithsonian was a kind and gracious host during my summer there. James
Der Derian as a commentator and Les Levidow, an editor, helped me improve
this book a great deal, as did Hugh Gusterson, a fine friend and a fine reader.
Of course all errors are my responsibility.
Finally, I could not have done this work without my friends and
family. Jane, Corey, Zachary, Mary Hables, the Wilsons, the Grays, and all
my companeros, you know who you are, thank you!