Putting Modern War in Perspective

In this brief, Oscar Jonsson, senior fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum, surveys the contemporary ways of understanding modern warfare. Moreover, he is analysing the main drivers of change in war but also society today. This includes how the information environment, artificial intelligence and the globalisation of finance is altering the parameters for statecraft in the 21st Century. Lastly, Jonsson argues that to be successful in a modern conflict, states both need a modern military instrument for coercive bargaining to deter the extreme scenario of large-scale violence, and an updated strategy for non-military defense.

Oscar Jonsson is a senior fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum. He was acting director of the Forum. He has worked as subject-matter expert at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters and been a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley. Oscar is the author of The Russian Understanding of War: Blurring the Lines between War and Peace (GUP) and holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.