Future strategy must absorb change without assuming war is tamed

Future strategy has not yet been written because technology and social expectations are changing together. It will draw on historical experience while accounting for new practices instead of merely repeating old formulas. Sensibilities about acceptable conduct can change even when the underlying nature of war has not been transformed or safely controlled. Rules made in peacetime can be strained when actors fear losses that they consider worse than death itself. Belief that institutions have tamed war can fail quickly under crisis pressure.