ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses contemporary land warfare. It does so through the lens of the so-called ‘transformation’ model, a model that for many constitutes the dominant paradigm for understanding the development of land warfare in the recent era. However, despite the salience of the transformation paradigm, it remains controversial. Indeed, as this chapter argues, the transformation paradigm is contested and does not describe the reality of much of the land warfare that we at the moment see. For this reason, this chapter also highlights the key debates surrounding the prosecution of land warfare, including those that challenge the efficacy, conceptual coherence, and wider applicability of the assumed norms of modern land operations. To illustrate these challenges, the discussion addresses three case studies (Afghanistan from 2001; Syria from 2011; and Ukraine from 2014).
