'New Wars' with 'Old' Features: ISIS War – Between Primitivism and Postmodernism'

Abstract

In the last two decades, the international peace and security studies have been dominated by a debate over the changes in the contemporary war – encouraged by the "New War." The "New War" theory maintains that "new wars" are different from "old wars" with respect to actors, goals, methods of fighting and means of financing. "New wars" are increasingly fought between state and non-state actors, on "identity politics" and "economic predation," and primarily target civilians rather than military objectives. The historical and empirical accounts, including this article, however do not support the "new war" propositions. This article approaches the Islamic State war from the "new war" perspective, and by utilizing academic and field research, as well as governmental and non-governmental and media reports, it argues that the Islamic State war cannot be classified as a "new" war as it displays features of both "new" and "old" wars.

Keywords: new wars, contemporary wars, globalization, war economy, identity politics