Project description
Understanding the dynamics of war
Wars cause death, displacement, and destruction, with civilians (especially children) bearing the worst of it. The reason a war is waged and how it ends are usually well documented. What is not always clear is how wars are actually fought. With this in mind, the ERC-funded Waging of War (WOW) project aims to fill this knowledge gap. Specifically, it will study how the structure of warring groups influences combat and how combat changes these groups. Looking at conventional, guerrilla, and terrorist conflicts, the project will explore how strategies decide who wins, who loses, and how societies are impacted. The project’s goal is to make war in action clearer and advise ways to lessen its damaging impacts.
Objective
Wars are raging around the world. War has terrible consequences: soldiers and civilians are killed or wounded, millions are forced to flee their homes, buildings and infrastructure are destroyed, and children, especially, are put at risk of sickness and death; the suffering is astounding. Some of this is unintended, but too much of the suffering is intentional. Wars are fought in myriad ways, ranging from conventional interstate war to intrastate guerilla insurgencies to terrorist actions. The ways wars are waged have serious consequences. The strategic dynamics between warring parties are crucial in shaping warfare – and thus its consequences – but these aspects are often overlooked.
We know much more about the causes of war and ways to end wars than we know about what happens during war. The Waging of War (WOW) project addresses this fundamental research gap, emphasizing the dynamic and evolving nature of the interactions of belligerents, offering new insights into how the organization of warring parties influences the conduct of war, and conversely, how the fighting impacts the organizational structure of the belligerents.
War dynamics are important because they determine winners and losers, and the nature of the resolution of conflict. War dynamics also have severe consequences for affected communities and societies and influence the prospects for rebuilding.
WOW addresses three central research questions:
• How are wars fought?
• How does the organization of a belligerent party affect the way they wage war?
• How do the dynamics of the war affect the organization of the fighting parties?
The project has 3 objectives:
• To develop a theory of the dynamics of war with applications to interstate and intrastate conflict.
• To apply the dynamics of war theory to specific cases and develop generalizable conclusions.
• To develop a data infrastructure about organizational features and aspects of the dynamics of war.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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0313 Oslo
Norway
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