Forever Wars

Extracted Attributes

• Genre

  Military Science Fiction

• Author

  Joe Haldeman

• Series

  The Forever War series

• Award (1975)

  Nebula Award for Best Novel

• Award (1976)

  Locus Award

• Literary Work

  The Forever War

• Characteristic

  Often state vs. non-state actor wars fighting for an idea and tending to be highly ideological

• First Title In

  SF Masterworks series

• Contrasting Policy

  Neoconservative foreign policy

• Associated Critique

  Military–industrial complex

• Conceptual Definition

  A lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion.

• Publication Year (Novel)

  1974

• Associated Political Shift

  Republican Party's transformation towards Populism

Timeline

• Joe Haldeman's novel "The Forever War" is published. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1974

• "The Forever War" wins the Nebula Award for Best Novel. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1975

• "The Forever War" wins the Hugo Award. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1976

• "The Forever War" wins the Locus Award. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1976

• Thematic sequel novel "Forever Peace" is published. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1997

• Direct sequel novel "Forever Free" is published. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1999

• Novella sequel "A Separate War" is published. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1999

• Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. plunges into a state of perpetual war-making, leading to the term "forever wars" being applied to conflicts like those in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Source: web_search_results)

  2001-09-11

• Journalist Mark Danner publishes the article "Taking Stock of the Forever War" in the New York Times magazine. (Source: web_search_results)

  2005

• War correspondent Dexter Filkins publishes his book titled "The Forever War." (Source: web_search_results)

  2008

• The concept of "Forever Wars" is discussed on the "All-In Podcast," linking it to a critique of interventionist foreign policy and a shift towards populism within the Republican Party. (Source: related_documents)

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The Forever War

The Forever War (1974) is a military science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story about human soldiers fighting an interstellar war against an alien civilization known as the Taurans. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1975 and the Hugo and Locus awards in 1976. Forever Free (1999) and Forever Peace (1997) are, respectively, direct and thematic sequel novels. The novella A Separate War (1999) is another sequel of sorts, occurring simultaneously with the final portion of The Forever War. Informally, the novels comprise The Forever War series; the novel also inspired a comic book and a board game. The Forever War is the first title in the SF Masterworks series.

Web Search Results

• Perpetual war - Wikipedia

  A perpetual war, endless war or forever war is a lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion. These wars are usually situations of ongoing tension that may escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War. From the late 20th century, the concepts have been used to critique the United States Armed Forces interventions in foreign nations and the military–industrial complex such as the Vietnam War and the Soviet-Afghan War, or wars with ambiguous enemies such as [...] Civil wars are prone to military stalemate which can prolong the war indefinitely. A lack of democracy is associated with an increased risk of civil war. Forever wars can occur in order to keep money flowing into institutions, such as the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC). Thus, forever wars can serve as domestic political engines, as policy makers promote policies of continuing and expanding wars. [...] Forever wars can be to the benefit of small armed groups, who may achieve political goals by wearing down a larger group or country. For example, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the beginning of the war on terror, Al-Qaeda aimed to involve the United States in a prolonged guerrilla war in Afghanistan, challenging its will to fight such a long war.

• What Are Frozen Wars and Forever Wars? - Tufts Now

  The term is an outgrowth of the Obama years—Afghanistan and Iraq were seen as forever wars in the U.S. Forever wars are not generally with a country, but with a non-state actor that’s fighting for an idea and tends to be highly ideological. That affects both their commitment and their viciousness. [...] But the term forever war tends to be applied more to state vs. non-state actor wars. You could say that Israel has been in a forever war with Hamas and earlier the PLO, and that the current war with Hamas is an extension of that forever war. If you’re a state fighting a forever war, you may end up controlling the ability of the non-state group to conduct operations, but you don’t deal with the sources of the conflict. [...] Tufts Now recently spoke with Shultz about two particular types of wars—the so-called forever wars and frozen wars, their differences, and what those differences suggest about their duration and potential ends. #### What are frozen wars? A frozen war is one with ongoing, low-level conflict. There is fighting, but there’s no major combat. There may be some little gains here and there, but essentially it just continues for quite a long time.

• A Short Etymology of Forever War - by Kelsey D. Atherton

  I’d be remiss if I did not, so late into this, acknowledge that, yes, “The Forever War” is a 1974 novel by Joe Haldeman. What is perhaps most relevant for an understanding of modern wars is that the conflicts continue, tangentially connected to the people they are nominally designed to serve. The war itself may be open-ended, but human lives are especially finite. [...] The more recent, and more durable, is, well, “The Forever War,” a book by war correspondent Dexter Filkins, published in 2008. Before that, in 2005, the New York Times magazine published an article by journalist Mark Danner, called “Taking Stock of the Forever War.” [...] The actual wars that encompass the (reductively named) 116-year span, fought on behalf of respective monarchs of what would become France and England over inheritance claims and feudal rights, was, centuries after its end, seen collectively as one longer conflict, spanning generations

• The Age of Forever Wars - by Lawrence Freedman

  Those hopes proved short-lived. The West’s counterinsurgency campaigns of the early decades of this century, which came to be labeled “forever wars,” were not notable for their rapidity. Washington’s military campaign in Afghanistan was the longest in U.S. history, and in the end it was unsuccessful: despite being pushed out at the start of the U.S. invasion, the Taliban eventually came back. [...] Yet despite this long history of protracted conflict, military strategists continue to shape their thinking around short wars, in which all is supposed to be decided in the first days, or even hours, of combat. According to this model, strategies can still be devised that will leave the enemy surprised by the speed, direction, and ruthlessness of the initial attack. With the constant possibility that the United States could be drawn into a war with China over Taiwan, the viability of such [...] In contrast to standard models of war, in which hostilities usually have a clear starting point and an equally clear end date, contemporary conflicts often have blurred edges. They tend to pass through stages, which can include war and periods of relative calm. Take the United States’ conflict with Iraq. In 1991, Iraqi forces were quickly defeated by a U.S.-led coalition, in what was ostensibly a short, decisive war. But because the United States decided not to occupy the country, the war left

• Ending the Post-9/11 Forever Wars | Brennan Center for Justice

  It’s time we end these forever wars. With a coalition of partners, allies, and advocates both inside the halls of Congress and out, we are finally on the cusp of turning the page on this state of perpetual war-making. [...] On September 11, 2001, the world witnessed a terrible attack against our nation that took thousands of lives and changed millions more lives forever. The events of that day fundamentally changed the way we view American national security. But the decision to plunge America into a state of perpetual war was taken rashly, without the debate that such a momentous decision demanded. [...] Twenty years on, America and the world are much worse off for this failure of leadership. It is time to turn the page on two decades of endless war with a vague and ever-shifting mission. While this begins with removing the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force from the law books, it will also require decisive changes in our foreign policy decision processes and resource allocation.