The very institution of the state is widely conceived of as inseparable from war. If it constitutes peace within the borders or order of its sovereignty, this very peace may be the condition for its potential for war with those other states and social formation outside it. This volume represents different analytical standpoints and positions within global processes, inviting further discussion on contemporary realities and the development of new formations of war and violence.

Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London, and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, and South Africa.

Chapter 1. Introduction
Bruce Kapferer

Chapter 2. Deterritorialized Wars of Public Safety
Allen Feldman

Chapter 3. Where's Jessica? Myth, Nation, and War in America"s Heartland
Charles W. Brown

Chapter 4. Wars, Europe, and Visions of the World
Carolyn Nordstrom

Chapter 5. Invisible Empires
Yngve Lithman

Chapter 6. Market Forces, Political Violence, and War
Caroline Ifeka

Chapter 7. Reflections on War and State and the Sudan
Leif Manger

Chapter 8. Militarized Democracies
Heidi Moksnes

Chapter 9. Muthanga: A Spark of Hope
K. Ravi Raman

Chapter 10. Kings or Presidents? War and the State in Pre- and Post-Genocidal Rwande
Christopher C. Taylor

Chapter 11. Chaos, Conspiracy, and Spectacle: The Russian War against Chechnya
Jakob Rigi

Chapter 12. About a Wall
Glenn Bowman

Chapter 13. Paramilitaries of the Empire, Guatemala, Colombia, and Israel
Staffan Löfving