News

Future of war debated

By Michael Weinberg | April 29, 1994

Historian and author Hardy McNeil shared his wisdom about the evolution of war and power-relations and speculated about conflict in the post-Cold War era in a speech yesterday afternoon. McNeil, despite disclaiming his ability to predict the future, offered two alternative historical models as a replacement of the nation-state system that enabled massive powers like Napoleon to conquer Europe. Introduced as a "mega-historian" by Martin Sherwin, director of the John Dickey Center for International Understanding, McNeil began his lecture, "The Future of War," by briefly tracing the history of warfare. McNeil said the development of "recent warfare" dates back to the nation-state system, which emerged in 1650 and reached its climax with World War II. But the traditional sources of community authority that enabled the rise of massive powers are "wearing out" and need to be replaced by larger or smaller peace-keeping institutions than currently exist, McNeil said. McNeil said the ideology behind the United Nations as a "world-wide intervention toward peace" is similar to the large-scale nature of the Holy Roman Empire. But the lack of central authority which doomed the Empire will limit the effectiveness of the United Nations unless it is given the power of taxation, McNeil said.