TY  - BOOK
AU  - KEEN David
TI  - Useful enemies: when waging wars is more important than winning them 
SN  - 9780300162745 (hbk.) :
PY  - 2012///
CY  - New Haven, CT ; London
PB  - Yale University Press
KW  - POLITICS AND WAR
KW  - VIOLENCE
KW  - SOCIAL ASPECTS
KW  - WAR
KW  - CAUSES
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index
N2  - "There are currently between twenty and thirty civil wars worldwide, while at a global level the Cold War has been succeeded by a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" that continues to rage a decade after 9/11. Why is this, when we know how destructive war is in both human and economic terms? Why do the efforts of aid organizations and international diplomats founder so often? In this important book David Keen investigates why conflicts are so prevalent and so intractable, even when one side has much greater military resources. Could it be that endemic disorder and a "state of emergency" are more useful than bringing conflict to a close? Keen asks who benefits from wars - whether economically, politically, or psychologically - and argues that in order to bring them successfully to an end we need to understand the complex vested interests on all sides."--publisher website
ER  -