Man, the State, and War

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  Examines the causes for war from '3 images': the individual, the state & international conflict. Idea being that understanding the causes provides opportunties to reduce the potential for war.

  The 1st image relies heavily on the behavioural sciences: evilness of man instigates war while his inherent goodness leads to peace. Shaping man to reduce the former & promote the latter therefore reduces conflict. How realistic & practical is that? How long will culture change take? Fur... (show more)

  Examines the causes for war from '3 images': the individual, the state & international conflict. Idea being that understanding the causes provides opportunties to reduce the potential for war.

  The 1st image relies heavily on the behavioural sciences: evilness of man instigates war while his inherent goodness leads to peace. Shaping man to reduce the former & promote the latter therefore reduces conflict. How realistic & practical is that? How long will culture change take? Furthermore, man is the product of the time and world that he lives in. Therefore, how relevant can an individual-centric analysis be without contextualising it to its external environment i.e. the state & international system's politics?

  2nd image touches on the relation between the internal structure of states & international conflict. The liberal view (a la Adam Smith's free market mechanism) espouses limited government & decentralisation of authority. It leads to democracy peace theory: democracies respect people's choices, the people generally desire peace rather than war, hence democracies generally do not fight wars. Hence "a world full of democracies would be a world forever at peace, but autocratic governments are warlike..." Hence the US's (one of the) ostensible reasons for invading Iraq. There is truth in that the nature of states determine their propensity to cultivate violence. However, this then begets the question of who judges good or evil. States' behaviour are also shaped by the international environment that they are in. This leads to the 3rd image.

  The 3rd image concerns international anarchy. Quite often, the rational actions of individual nations lead to seemingly irrational outcomes on the international stage. "Individual wisdom may represent collective insanity." This is where the concept of balance of power to maintain harmony comes into play
  (for "there is no automatic harmony in anarchy"). The issue of morality in pursuing balance-of-power foreign policies is also examined from the angle of immoral behaviour (its pursuance) versus abdication of moral responsibilities (desired outcomes from its pursuance). Answer lies in Marchiavelli's refrain that "ends justify the means", subject to the necessity of the causes concerned. World governance is an obvious remedy for world war (just as enforceable law within a state maintains its internal order) but it is not practicable given the resources required and the (unrealistic) assumption of universal consent to it.

  So why do wars occur? Because, in Rousseau's words, there is nothing to prevent them from occurring. States fight because they can and because they want to. The underlying causes of war can be understood by considering all the three images. Key for policy makers is to understand that states pursue their own interests in the manner they deem most expedient, and force is the key instrument for doing so. Force is also the instrument for maintaining the balance of power that constrains anarchy.

  Readers without a background in political philosophy will find this book heavy going. Pretty sure I did not understand the book fully, but whatever I got from it was worth the effort. (show less)

   

  by Siew Kum Wong on Jan 01, 2008 at 12:01PM

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  A thoughtful examination of the nature of mankind, the state, and western thought. This leaves you with more questions than answers, but I suppose that's the point. A good read in light of what's going on in Gaza.

   

   

  by Facebook-användare on Jan 12, 2009 at 04:16PM

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