Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Why War?
Why War?
In Introduction to International Relations we studied theories of why war happens. There’s the powder keg theory, the spiral model and bargaining theory, but maybe this is the problem. Maybe Economists and Political Scientists only see the numbers. Maybe they can’t see the human component. Is experimentation all its cracked up to be when it comes to social science or can intuition sometimes win out?
Thomas Hobbes said countries go to war for competition, diffidence or glory. But exactly how rational are countries? Do they really go to war when they calculate the potential gain with and without war? Or is it a bit simpler than that?
Walking down the street the other day, a little boy, no more than 9 years old ran to the top of a little pile of snow and shouted “I am the king!” scuttling away to follow his family. I thought it was adorable, but bubble burst quickly. I overheard the statement “attitudes like that are what lead to war.” It was a bit jarring to have the mood ruined, but not inaccurate.
When you push past the tremendous volume of ink spilled in an attempt to explain war and look at the psychology, it might all comes down to an attitude we cultivate in our earliest years. If we weren’t competitive we would never achieve. If we didn’t have leaders who wanted to be in charge, we would never progress. This same instinct for competition – this same proclivity to seize power which can so readily provoke war – is the same quality that sparks movement towards peace and progress.
