Employing the lens of systems theory, Fritz Simon offers an intriguing and surprising analysis. His conclusion is that, in general, wars are not fought for the sake of economic or impulse-driven interests, they are fought in the name of such antiquated values as honor, pride, and status. The attacks on September 11, 2001, and subsequent reactions to them have borne out Simon's perspective (the book was published shortly before). And so, it is with fascination and fear that we discover that what followed was a war that fit the scenario perfectly. In this new edition, the author offers a specific analysis of developments subsequent to the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon to the war against Iraq. Simon's voice, controversial and convincing, lends important information to what has become an urgent discussion.

Partial Contents:

I. Theoretical and Methodological Principles
II. War and Peace as a Perpetual State of Affairs
III. War as a State of Emergency with an Unequivocal Beginning and End
IV. War with a Slow Start
V. Ritualized and Arranged Single Combat
VI. War Without End
VII. Spontaneous Wars -- Impulsive Manslaughter
VIII. The Biological and Psychological Conditions of War
IX. Expressive Order
X. The Social Functions of War
XI. The Joy of Fighting
XII. The Logic of War

 

Fritz B. Simon, M. D., is professor of Management and Organization, Economics Faculty of the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany. Systemic organization consultant, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and systemic family therapist, he is also managing partner of Management Zentrum Witten GmbH and Simon, Weber and Friends, Systemic Organisation Consultation GmbH. From 1994 to 2001, vice president of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA), vice president of the German-Chinese Academy for Psychotherapy.

Fritz B. Simon
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