ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the ideas of politics, policy and reason hold a number of differing implications in terms of their relationship to one another and their influence on war. It explores some of the major influences on his thought relating to the subject. The chapter also provides the foundation for a more detailed analysis in the second section, before moving on to consider some of the theoretical implications deriving from the analysis. Clausewitz provides one of his clearest expressions of the relationship between war and politics. Over the first five paragraphs the context of his discussion is clearly about the total political situation, as distinct from unilateral policy. War is an instrument of policy, but not only that. It is also a continuation of the web of political interactions carried on through the medium of force.
