Clausewitz's dictum becomes substantially obsolete with the spread of industrialised weaponry; and where the borders between nations have mostly been fixed and nation-states cover virtually the whole of earth's surface, territorial aggrandisement loses the meaning it once had. Finally, growing interdependence on a global level increases the range of situations in which similar interests are shared by all states. To envisage a world without war is clearly Utopian, but is by no means wholly lacking in realism.

Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Moderni…, loc. 392