What are cultures of war?

War, in the sense of an armed conflict between different groups, represents an underlying anthropological constant. War can therefore be designated as a shared part of the human experience and culture. In order to analyze this experience in a comprehensive and appropriate way, a broad understanding of cultures of war is necessary that encompasses all aspects of human experience with and in war. Accordingly, we have a broad understanding of cultures of war, including on the one hand the norms, interpretations, attributions of meaning, and general reflections on war, and on the other the forms and practices of warfare (material and immaterial). With this term, both the mentality and the materiality that characterize a specific culture of war come into focus.

We include within cultures of war any phenomenon that deals in one way or another with an armed conflict, potential or actual, between different groups of people, or with the representations of such conflicts in all possible media. This definition allows us to connect and compare phenomena that previously might have seemed unrelated, and to analyze war as an integral part of human existence.

ABC of War Mission Statement

1. The aim of ABC of War is to publish summaries of books and articles concerning cultures of War (see definition above).

2. The working language of ABC of War is English. 

3. ABC of War welcomes book and article summaries by external authors. These summaries will be reviewed by the editors and/or specialists in their respective fields. After this the article is returned to the author, who will have a fixed amount of time to submit a final version. 

4. The final decision to publish the article lies with the ABC of War editorial board. The editorial board consists of senior scholars in the field who supervise the editing process and define the order of publication.

5. ABC of War is a project funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation). Thanks to this, ABC of War is free of charge and independent.

6. ABC of War is a project that aims to facilitate the exchange of information. We are interested in summaries of books and articles in languages other than English or German. 

7. If the editorial board recommends rejection, the author receives a full commentary on her/his text and an offer to re-submit the review in a fixed amount of time. 

8. ABC of War aims to cultivate an atmosphere of amicable scholarly exchange. As such, there is no place for ad hominem attacks, political propaganda or any sort of mean-spirited commentary.

9. ABC of War welcomes feedback, suggestions and questions. Please send them to abcofwar@uni-mainz.de. We will respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your interest in ABC of War!