ABSTRACT
The United States must remain prepared for war, but not one understood by traditional perceptions of security. The centuries-old idea of “a struggle between nation-states or their coalitions over the preservation and extension of national sovereignty” is in danger of becoming irrelevant. Long-standing assumptions about warfighting, which include defini tions of victory and defeat, threat entities, and the battlefield itself, are being challenged. The adversary, furthermore, will not necessarily be an emerging peer competitor, which we seem so intent on vanquishing by mastering the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs.[1]
Our most likely adversaries will emerge from a process of human advancement, a cyclical shifting between order and chaos, which is at least a millennium old.[2] Since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, this process has been one of increasing law and order that led to pros perity for many Western nation-states, their public institutions, and their peoples. The cycle, which is the topic of this article, now may be shifting away from stability toward chaos, suggesting that the nation-state may be entering a period in which its usefulness as a concept for organizing societies will be severely challenged.
