Trenches to TikTok
Our Generational Rupture on War
An original and provocative reassessment of how generations view war differently—and how this will reshape the next era of global security.
Description
What if the conflicts of tomorrow will be decided not by new technologies but by clashing generational views?
Elizabeth Buchanan offers a timely exploration of the differing attitudes towards war between baby boomers and Gen X on the one hand, and millennials and Gen Z on the other. While older generations lived through the post-war boom and peace dividend, millennials grew up amid the war on terror and a collapsing liberal social contract. The first digital natives, Gen Z came of age with the smartphone era delivering unfiltered global crises direct to consumers.
Based on over eighty interviews, Buchanan shows how formative experiences impact a generation’s perceptions of conflict. Amid instability and ‘forever wars’, today’s youth value multipolar collaboration; yet for their parents and grandparents, international order is best secured through hard-power victories. But millennials and Gen Z are not homogenous: while clear generational divides exist in the West, young people in China and Russia are profoundly shaped by inherited cultural memories of battle, and their views often align more closely with those of their elders.
Trenches to TikTok powerfully insists that the changing face of modern warfare is not just about weapons—but also about people.
Author(s)
Elizabeth Buchanan PhD is a senior fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a senior fellow in Alliance Studies at the Center for the National Interest, Washington, DC. She co-founded the polar warfare programme at West Point and was head of research for the Royal Australian Navy. Her books include So You Want to Own Greenland?, Russian Energy Strategy in the Asia-Pacific, Red Arctic: Russian Strategy Under Putin and the forthcoming Trenches to TikTok: Our Generational Rupture on War.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Trenches to TikTok" about?
What if the conflicts of tomorrow will be decided not by new technologies but by clashing generational views?
Elizabeth Buchanan offers a timely exploration of the differing attitudes towards war between baby boomers and Gen X on the one hand, and millennials and Gen Z on the other. While older generations lived through the post-war boom and peace dividend, millennials grew up amid the war on terror and a collapsing liberal social contract. The first digital natives, Gen Z came of age with the smartphone era delivering unfiltered global crises direct to consumers.
Based on over eighty interviews, Buchanan shows how formative experiences impact a generation’s perceptions of conflict. Amid instability and ‘forever wars’, today’s youth value multipolar collaboration; yet for their parents and grandparents, international order is best secured through hard-power victories. But millennials and Gen Z are not homogenous: while clear generational divides exist in the West, young people in China and Russia are profoundly shaped by inherited cultural memories of battle, and their views often align more closely with those of their elders.
Trenches to TikTok powerfully insists that the changing face of modern warfare is not just about weapons—but also about people.
Who wrote "Trenches to TikTok"?
"Trenches to TikTok" was written by Elizabeth Buchanan.
Elizabeth Buchanan PhD is a senior fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a senior fellow in Alliance Studies at the Center for the National Interest, Washington, DC. She co-founded the polar warfare programme at West Point and was head of research for the Royal Australian Navy. Her books include So You Want to Own Greenland?, Russian Energy Strategy in the Asia-Pacific, Red Arctic: Russian Strategy Under Putin and the forthcoming Trenches to TikTok: Our Generational Rupture on War.
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