Abstract This introduction explores global warfare through accumulation, extraction, and historical conjuncture, revealing its deep ties to neoliberal economics. Recent conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and wars in the Middle East, are not merely by-products of political strife but key mechanisms of extraction, wealth redistribution, dispossession, and state restructuring. Articles in this theme section analyze war’s role in shaping economies in regions such as Iraq, Ukraine, and Bosnia revealing how financialized humanitarianism, military outsourcing, and informal war economies create new regimes of value. Using a conjunctural approach, the introduction highlights how warfare reshapes state power, global capital, and social relations. It illustrates war as both a destructive force and a structured system for accumulation and transformation, demonstrating its role in economic and political reconfiguration.