Clausewitz and African War

This study shows that wars interpreted as driven by economic, resource, ethnic or clan interests (such as the conflicts in Liberia and Somalia in the 1990s) have an overriding political rationale, in line with Clausewitz's 19th century theory of Oil, diamonds, timber, food aid - just some of the suggestions put forward as explanations for African wars in the past decade. Another set of suggestions focuses on ethnic and clan considerations. These economic and ethnic or clan explanations contend that wars are specifically not fought by states for political interests with mainly conventional military means, as originally suggested by Carl von Clausewitz in the 19th century. This study shows how alternative social organizations to the state can be viewed as political actors using war as a political instrument.