The state, which since the middle of the seventeenth century has been the most important and most characteristics of all modern institutions, is in decline.

Plenty of bloggers like me make such outlandish statements; so, who is Martin Van Creveld?

Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam to a Jewish family.  His parents, Leon and Margaret, were staunch Zionists who had managed to evade the Nazis during World War II.  One of Creveld's uncles and several cousins were killed in the Holocaust.  In 1950, the family immigrated to Israel, and Creveld grew up in Ramat Gan.  He was drafted to the Israel Defense Forces and served in logistics, but was soon granted an early discharge for medical reasons due to his cleft palate.  From 1964 to 1969, he studied history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned an MA.  From 1969 to 1971, he studied history at the London School of Economics and received a PhD.  His doctoral dissertation on Hitler's strategy in the Balkans during the early years of World War II was later published into a book. After completing his PhD in 1971, van Creveld returned to Israel and began teaching at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  He became a professor in 1988. In 2007, he retired from teaching at Hebrew University, and began teaching at Tel Aviv University's Security Studies Program.