Licence to kill? On the organisation of destruction in the 21st century

War, the organised destruction of human beings, of human life worlds and modes of livelihood, has long been regarded as outside the usual preoccupations of organisation studies. And yet, as the various on-going “asymmetric wars” increasingly become the taken for granted background noise of contemporary life, this aloofness becomes difficult to maintain. This special issue then is an initial contribution to a long overdue conversation. By way of introduction to the articles that comprise the special issue this essay seeks to highlight some of the key connections between organisation theory, forms of organised destruction and their ongoing mutations in the still young, but already quite bloody, 21st century.