Eighty years after the end of World War II, new wars—such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the destruction of Gaza—demand a renewed engagement with the phenomenon of war. This conference explores how war acts as a crisis of society. Beyond technological aspects like cyberwarfare or drones, it highlights symbolic representations in art, literature, and film. How does war affect social differentiation, collective experience, trauma, and sites of memory? How does it reshape normative orders such as international law? And what role does the culture of war play in how societies process violence? The symposium brings together perspectives from history, sociology, law, and cultural studies to grasp war as a complex crisis.