ROBB ON BOBBITT’S “VIRTUAL-STATE” EPOCHAL WAR
John Robb of Global Guerillas gives an endorsement to, and a sneak peak at, Philip Bobbitt’s yet to be released book, War Against Terror ( John has it :” Terror, Can We Win This War” and Amazon also lists it as just plain ” Terror” – so, the lack of a single working title indicates that we are getting a look fairly early into the publishing process – cool !). Here’s an excerpt from Robb’s post (Bobbitt quote is in italics):
” ‘…Whereas the nation-state based its legitimacy on a promise to better the material well-being of the nation, the market-state promises to maximize the opportunity of each individual citizen. The current conflict is one of several possible wars of the market-states as they seek to open up societies to trade in commerce, ideas, and immigration which excite hostility in those groups that want to use law to enforce religious or ethnic orthodoxy. States make war, not brigands; and the Al Qaeda network is a sort of virtual state, with a consistent source of finance, a recognized hierarchy of officials, foreign alliances, an army, published laws, even a rudimentary welfare system…’
This is a very useful framework by which to view the current conflict. It is also a natural compliment to Global Guerrillas — the rise of the virtual state, its new methods of warfare, and its impact on the world is a subject of my work here “
To echo the comments I left over at Global Guerillas, I much prefer Dr. Bobbitt’s shift of emphasis to ” Virtual-State” because:
a)It cuts to the heart of the conflict regarding globalization
b)”Virtual-State” as a term embraces a wide variety of non-state networks with starkly different motivations/aspirations in seeking to exercise state-like power ( Narco-State, Sharia-State, Tribal-State etc.)
c)It is an accurate structural/organizational descriptor of a networked entity.
My criticism from the other day has been pretty much rendered moot as Bobbitt is now articulating both the economic system conflict at the root of the war and the critical impact that scale free networks are having in globalization, warfare and politics.
Color me ” impressed”.
