Lethal Genes: The Urban Military Imperative and Western Strategy in the Early Twenty-First Century

This article examines the way in which urban areas have emerged to become one of the most common environments for armed conflict in the early twenty-first century. The essay argues that, while military professionals have sought to improve their understanding of urban military operations in an era of global demographic movement from landscape to cityscape, strategic theory lags behind operational practice. Western strategy currently lacks an effective urban lens with policy-relevant analysis neglected within the strategic studies community. The article seeks to identify how an urban strategic focus can be developed in the new millennium. To this end, and in order to provide a context for detailed contemporary analysis, the essay examines the historical nexus between war, strategy and the city; assesses continuity and change in the characteristics of modern urban military operations; and surveys the professional military debate on the meaning of urban operations. The essay argues that the urban military imperative must become part of the intellectual repertoire of Western strategic studies in the new millennium. Relevant knowledge from interdisciplinary studies of the modern, global megacity must be translated into applied strategic knowledge. Increasingly, Western strategists must be prepared to conceive of cities in the developing world as sites of armed conflict and to rethink the traditional geography of war, society and governance.