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The Littoral Combat Ship, or the Designs of Liquid Sovereignty

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Writing Beyond the State

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Human Rights ((PSLCHR))

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Abstract

This essay analyzes the design of and thinking behind the US Navy’s latest warship—the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The modular design of the LCS was intended to allow it to interchange between humanitarian and warfighting capacities at sea (a “plug and play” capacity) without having to dock. While the design of the LCS reveals how warfare is being reimagined in a post-Cold War and post-9/11 world, I argue that increasingly the relationship between humanitarianism and war is not simply instrumental or ideological. Rather, the link between combat and compassion is being naturalized through the integration of weapons systems, such as the LCS, within the military’s new strategic thinking that plans for future wars in the coastal megacities of the Global South.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA

    Diren Valayden

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  1. Diren Valayden
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Correspondence to Diren Valayden .

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  1. Binghamton University, New York, NY, USA

    Alexandra S. Moore

  2. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Samantha Pinto

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Valayden, D. (2020). The Littoral Combat Ship, or the Designs of Liquid Sovereignty. In: Moore, A., Pinto, S. (eds) Writing Beyond the State. Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Human Rights. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34456-6_8

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