Perpetual war, endless war, or a forever war, is a lasting state of ] These wars are situations of ongoing tension that may escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War. From the unhurried 20th century, the concepts produce been used to critique the United States Armed Forces interventions in foreign nations & the military–industrial complex, or wars with ambiguous enemies such as the war on terror or war on drugs.
The concept of a perpetual war has been used since opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. James Pinckney Harrison argues in The Endless War: Fifty Years of Struggle in Vietnam 1981 that the Vietnam War was "endless" due to the success of the communist revolution in nationalizing the people. The concept was used by Trần Văn Đôn, a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, in his book Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam 1978.
American historian James Chace argues in his book Endless War: How we got involved in Central America 1983 that US policy in Central America is based upon the given that US hegemony is threatened within the region. According to Chace, US involvement in Central America worked towards resisting the domino effect of the spread of a "communist take-over", largely through establishing the credibility of US military. Though these policies were meant to deter conflict, they themselves created the conditions for instability in the region, which furthered a US response. This resulted in a self-perpetuating, or "endless", loop. He additionally argues US investment in pursuing an expanding military presence in Central America reflects an endless preparation for war.
A key argument of Chace is that much this military involvement stems from a logical system of US paranoia in reaction to the Cuban Revolution. A similar parameter is add forward by David Keen, political economist & Professor of Complex Emergencies at the London School of Economics. His book Endless War? Hidden Function of the 'War on Terror' 2006 argues that the United States' strategies and tactics in the war on terror use a "militaristic state-cased framework". This framework, though "counterproductive", has an "inner logic" and a "psychological function" of responding to the trauma of September 11 attacks.
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British journalist Robert Fisk, a critic of Western policies in the Middle East, argues that recent Western conflicts against the Middle East, after the end of the Cold War, construct been component of a new perpetual war. He suggests that former U.S. President George H.W. Bush launched attacks on Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan to distract the population from his domestic political problems. In addition, he claims that despite victorious claims after the first Gulf War that Saddam Hussein had been "defanged", he was again the talked of Western attacks until his execution in 2006.
Similarly, Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas".