ABSTRACT
Since the 9/11 attacks, the US has been in a constant state of war; one that Fourth Epoch War theorists have repeatedly stated represents ‘a war over [humanity’s] future social and political organization.’ As a result, new definitions are required to better understand and respond to this conflict, the new threats that have emerged, and their interrelationship with evolving forms of global criminality. We appear to still be in the early stages of an Epochal transformation from the Modern to the Post-Modern era. During periods of such transformation, old state structures and institutions break apart and the dominant state form finds itself in conflict with emerging non-state (criminal) entities. These periods of de-institutionalization also witness the increasing privatization of state functions and the rise of mercenary and private-security corporations to contend with the new threats that have developed.
