Article Review: Freedman, 'The Changing Forms of Military Conflict'

This report is a review of Lawrence Freedman's 1998 article, "The Changing Forms of Military Conflict," published in Survival. The review analyzes Freedman's argument that the structure of international politics and advancements in military technology are reshaping warfare. It explores the shift away from traditional concepts of war, the impact of information advantage, and the challenges of maintaining territorial sovereignty. The review highlights Freedman's use of literature review methodology, referencing various sources to support his claims, while also pointing out a weakness in the study's failure to present different standpoints on the topic. The reviewer acknowledges the author's effective presentation of the literature and the key themes used to justify the thesis, emphasizing the evolving nature of military conflict and the increasing importance of human rights in shaping modern warfare. The article review concludes by emphasizing the relevance of Freedman's work in understanding the new definitions of war and the changing grounds for combat.

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Article Review: Freedman, L. 1998. "The changing forms of military conflict." Survival 40 (4):
39-56.
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Article Review: Freedman, L. 1998. "The changing forms of military conflict."
Survival 40 (4): 39-56
The article focusses on the changing forms of military conflict due to the changing
structure of international politics that is defined by the advances in military technology. The
changing nature of technology has made it difficult for war to take place because there is no
neutral ground where combat can take place. This means that war is to be based on the balance
of interests rather than the aspect of only winning. In this case, it means that alliances formed
during the war are based on the interests that each of the parties in the war seeks to fulfill. The
author talks of a new way of warfare where there is no target for civilians through a new way of
mitigating war terrors1. This implies that the focus of modern warfare and combat is based on a
reduced number of forces and human casualties. However, the biggest challenge in war has been
on holding territory as a way of proving sovereignty. Since war is mostly due to resources, then
it means that territory defines the nature of war. The success of war by most groups in the 21st
century is based on the information and technology advantage which makes it easy to deal with
the enemy. Thus it means that wars have become difficult to come by since it is difficult to
mobilize democracies to war unless there is a big reason. This is because the information age and
new international politics have changed the forms of conflict that exist today.
From the article, the author has presented a literature review of the topic by analyzing
how war has been changing as the world develops. This is based on the changes that the planet
hs witnessed like increased population which creates a different war environment that cannot be
compared to what existed in the past. For example, during the first and second world wars, there
was enough room and space for the war. Today the world has reduced to a small overpopulated
1 Freedman, L. 1998. "The changing forms of military conflict." Survival 40 (4): 39-56.

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planet that lacks enough space. The author has justified the topic through the use of different data
and literature on the topic. One major role that the use of evidence from different sources is
giving the author the ability to logically explain different standpoints2. The fact that this paper
relied heavily on what has been documented in the past, it means previously published research
on the topic is important in justifying the developments that have been made. The author used
thirty-seven different sources of data that gave different views on the topic. In research, the
evidence is important in concluding by comparing different research findings. Since this article is
a literature review, the author has combined the findings of different sources to create a review
that adequately reflects the changes in military conflict around the world.
The author has also utilized the format of a literature review well through the use of an
introduction, body, and conclusion. According to This allows the reader to understand the major
issues to be discussed in the article by checking the introduction part of the task. This ensures
that the author gives an overview of the topic of study in the introduction through a small
background review of the topic3. Then the body is supposed to give different views or findings
on the article that the author has found. In this section, the author has talked about sources of
victory, western concepts of war, a new way of warfare, forms of intervention, and the
information advantage to give an understanding of what exists on the topic. This makes it easy
for the reader to understand the different factors that have been identified to justify the relevance
2 Mudavanhu, Young. 2017. "Quality of literature review and discussion of findings in selected papers on
integration of ICT in teaching, role of mentors, and teaching science through science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM)." Educational Research and Reviews 12 (4): p.190.
3 Boote, D.N., and P. Beile. 2016. "On “literature reviews of, and for, educational research”: a response to
the critique by Joseph Maxwell." Educational Research and Reviews 32-35.

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of the research topic. The author has then concluded by suggesting that the thesis for this article
works only when some western countries choose to get involved in the war or not. The reasons
for failing to get involved in any war can be because the war is too remote or it has been deemed
less hazardous thus not requiring the intervention of outside forces. This breakdown has
presented the article in an organized manner that allows the reader to understand the current
issues that have changed the nature of war.
In a literature review, the researcher is supposed to present the different views of the
literature that exists on the topic before concluding on one that best holds more impact. This
means that the author is supposed to compare the different viewpoints on the topic4. This is the
weakness that is found in this study since it fails to give the different standpoints on the topic.
The author has mostly based the argument of the study on the changing forms of military conflict
and how the nature of combat is changing5. The arguments that are based on one side have failed
to highlight the existing issues like the wars that are taking place in the middle east countries like
Syria. In this literature review, the author has not presented these two standpoints before
concluding. Although the article focusses on the changing form of military conflict, it is worth
noting that change takes time and thus some old elements of war could still be applicable in the
modern war.
The author has presented the literature contained in the article well thus allowing us to
understand the changing nature of war. Since different issues related to the topic, the author has
used several themes in the article to support the thesis statement of the article in a way that
makes it easy for one to understand. Here the key themes justify the reasons that the author has
4 Paré, Guy, and Spyros Kitsiou. 2017 . "Chapter 9 Methods for Literature Reviews." In
Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach [Internet]., by Kuziemsky Lau
F. Victoria: University of Victoria
5 Pautasso, Marco. 2013. "Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review." PLOS
Computational Biology 9 (7).

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used to justify the thesis statement. Thus the author has presented the issues in research well
making it easy to understand how the nature of the military conflict is slowly changing. The
major reason that has been identified is the increasing human rights which have led to the need
for reducing the collateral damage that is experienced during the war. Thus this article presents
the best way in which military conflict has evolved to create a new definition of war and grounds
for combat that are different from what has been recorded in the past about war.

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Bibliography
Boote, D.N., and P. Beile. 2016. "On “literature reviews of, and for, educational research”: a
response to the critique by Joseph Maxwell." Educational Research and Reviews 32-35.
Freedman, L. 1998. "The changing forms of military conflict." Survival 40 (4): 39-56.
Mudavanhu, Young. 2017. "Quality of literature review and discussion of findings in selected
papers on integration of ICT in teaching, role of mentors, and teaching science through
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)." Educational Research and
Reviews 12 (4): 189-201.
Paré, Guy, and Spyros Kitsiou. 2017 . "Chapter 9 Methods for Literature Reviews." In
Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach [Internet]., by
Kuziemsky Lau F. Victoria: University of Victoria.
Pautasso, Marco. 2013. "Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review." PLOS
Computational Biology 9 (7).