The decision to fight 'humanitarian wars' - such as Kosovo - and the development of technology to make war more humane, illustrates the trend in the West to try to humanise war, and thereby humanise modernity. This highly controversial and cutting-edge book asks whether the attempt to make war 'virtual' or 'virtuous' can succeed and whether the west is deluding itself (not its enemies) in thinking that war can ever be made more humane.
Christopher Coker's radical conclusion is that Western humanitarian warfare is in fact an endgame as other non-Western societies will make sure it does not succeed. Eminently readable, this book combines theory with accounts by politicians and serving military personnel, alongside illuminating literary insights. It will be vital reading for all those interested in international relations and strategic studies and defence issues, including journalists, students and politicians.

1. HUMANISING WAR: Surfing the Zeitgeist - Irony and War - Humanising Modernity - Humanising War 2. WAR AND THE DENUNCIATION OF CRUELTY: The American Century and the will to power - Into the Slaughterhouse - Judith Shklar and cruelty 3. THE REDUNDANCY OF COURAGE: Machiavelli and the virtuous state - Hegel and war as a vocation - Nietzsche and the masses as a military caste - The end of the virtuous state - The Risk Society - Risk Aversive War - Stress-Free War 4. WAR WITHOUT HATRED: Why no enemies? - Post Materialist War - Uncivil Society - The Feminisation of Society - Non-lethal warfare 5. THE HUMANE WARRIOR: Counter Culture - Post Military Society - Post Tradition Military - The Feminisation of the Military 6. ZONING THE PLANET: Keeping the peace - An Insecure World - The Humanitarian military ethos - Humanitarian imperialism? - Humanitarian War and the loss of metaphysics 7. HUMANE WAR AND THE MORAL IMAGINATION: Lin Yutang and humanised thinking - Richard Rorty and the end of metaphysics - History as a metaphysical principle - War and sacrifice in an ironic world 8. CONCLUSION: Humanism and War - Humanity and War - Humanitarian Wars