How does armed conflict shape global politics? And, critically, can it ever be regulated, a necessary first step to achieving a more peaceful world? This book examines the factors that define and shape war in the contemporary world, and how changes to technology and society are transforming warfare. Focusing on efforts to regulate and eliminate war, it provides a guide to the complex problems it poses now - and threatens in the future.

Jack McDonald is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He is the author of two books examining the relationship between the law and ethics of war, and emerging technology.