Aphoristic Observation: (Statist) politics is the continuation of war by other means.

A while back, I was watching the movie Crimson Tide and made the following observation.

There was mention of the famous dictum by the Prussian general, military historian, and theorist Carl von Clausewitz: “War is the continuation of politics by other means.”

There is a profound truth in that dictum. It identifies shared characteristics of statist politics and war: anti-social conflict, some imposing their will on others, destruction and redistribution of wealth, and so on. When statist political means fail to have the desired result and recourse is made to naked war, the true character of both the aggressors and the statist political process is revealed.

But I think that von Clausewitz got it backwards; the observation would have been more profound and true had he written instead: “(Statist) politics is the continuation of war by other means.”

Ballots replace bullets within the democratic state but conflict persists with special interest groups vying for the reins of power so that they can use the perceived legitimacy of the state to impose their will on each other. Beneath the sophisms that grant the state legitimacy there lies the same threat or use of initiatory violence that is present in war. Open war is traded for the illusion of peace.

Might this quip from Ronald Reagan touch upon a similar insight? “Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” Is he referring to war? Or prostitution? Both analogies would be apt. War is often a boon to both prostitutes and politicians, though prostitutes at least are usually more honest about what they do and can conduct their business peacefully.

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Update: I may well have been influenced by Gerard Radnitzky’s chapter, “Is Democracy More Peaceful than Other Forms of Government?” in Hoppe’s The Myth of National Defense. Radnitzky wrote: “Clausewitz’s dictum — “War is the continuation of politics by other means” — is generally accepted; but the converse — “Politics is the continuation of war by other means” — also holds” (p. 150). I don’t think I was conscious of this at the time I wrote the original version of this post (in late 2007). If I had been, I’m sure I would have referenced him. Fellow TLS blogger, Brutus, also drew upon this passage in a 2009 blogpost on Who’s Your Nanny?

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Slightly revised from the original at Is-Ought GAP.

About Geoffrey Allan Plauché (74 Posts)

Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Liberal political philosopher, an adjunct instructor for Buena Vista University, the founder and executive editor of Prometheus Unbound: A Libertarian Review of Fiction and Literature, and the webmaster of The Libertarian Standard. His work has appeared in Libertarian Papers, the Journal of Libertarian Studies, the Journal of Value Inquiry, and Transformers and Philosophy. He lives in Edgewood, KY with his wife and two children.

Tagged as: ballots and bullets, Carl von Clausewitz, Crimson Tide, Democracy, democratic peace, extrastate war, Gerard Radnitzky, interstate war, intrastate war, Myth of National Defense, peace, political means, politicians, power, prostitutes, prostitution, Reagan, sophisms, special interest warfare, state’smen, Statism, statist politics, Vulgar Politics, War