A revolution in military affairs: some comparative approaches to the contemporary debate

Abstract

The problem addressed in this paper is not fundamentally new or exclusive for it contains a historic line. In spite of this historic line, no general consensus exists. Therefore the first part of the paper is directed towards clarifying the concept before pursuing its historic roots and contemporary meaning. The historic analysis of a revolution in military affairs (RMA) might reflect much of an ex post facto and descriptive approach. This however, is perhaps inevitably the departure or entry point from which even the contemporary debate on the issue is to be pursued. Within the present debate two broad lines of thought become apparent. One, that the process is evolutionary and two, the view that developments contain dynamics that reflect a more revolutionary than evolutionary nature.