The ‘individualization of war’: discussion and critique of a discourse

‘Individualisation of war’ is an expression used by several scholars to conceptualise in a holistic way contemporary forms of political violence as targeted killings or extraordinary renditions. Yet, the expression does not simply mirror the practices of the real world, but it also constitutes and is constituted by the practices, thus it can be framed as a discourse. This article questions how the discourse on the ‘individualisation of war’ has emerged, in what context it has gained institutional legitimacy, and what is the meaning that the discourse produces and re-produces. To answer such questions, the article in a first part outlines the intellectual context in which the ‘individualisation of war’ has emerged and how it has been articulated in specific knowledge domains. While in a second part, the article analyzes the discourse’s meaning(s) by questioning separately the two conceptual components: ‘individualisation’ and ‘war’. Eventually, the article claims that ‘individualisation of war’, despite the insightful interpretative tools it offers to decipher the role of the individual in the realm of in contemporary war, serves more a rhetorical and legitimising role than analytical functions.