Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

Events > Confrontations or conflicts > Wars > Asymmetric wars

Preferred term

1649Asymmetric wars  

Broader concept

Scope note

  • Wars characterized by incompatibility as to the military force, strategy, organisation and goals of the parties involved. Asymmetric wars take place between states, on the one hand, and organisations self-identified in national, ethnic, religious or ideological terms, on the other. In these conflicts, the opponents of the first category rely in the use of force and generalised repression, while those of the latter category draw on their organisational flexibility in the implementation of -often terrorist- attacks, in the targeted use of technology, and in non-transparent recruitment and support networks. Assymetric wars are often fuelled by conflicts in the framework of the collapse of a "failed state"; they often go beyond strict territorial boundaries and assume the characteristics of a spatially extended and dispersed struggle.

Source

  • Dower 2009
  • Thornton 2007

Contributor

  • Katsiadakis Helen (AA)

Creator

  • Tzedopoulos Giorgos (AA)

Notation

  • 1649

In other languages

URI

https://humanitiesthesaurus.academyofathens.gr/dyas-resource/Concept/1649

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD last modified 2019-07-17 Created 2019-04-042019-04-04