Causes OF WAR - THEN AND NOW PDF

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Teresa Willis...

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International Relations   

International relations is, in many ways, the study of war and peace  o Fundamentally about preventing or managing war, and achieving (or managing peace) How can we define war? How can we define peace?

War and Peace 

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How can we define war?  o Organized violence between two political actors (?): international, civil and ‘new’ wars (things like War on Drugs, Terror, Cyber Warfare.) o  How do we determine an actor? Any conflict with +1000 deaths (the UN) The continuation of politics by other means (Clausewitz, 1881)

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How can we define peace?  o An absence of violence? An absence of conflict? o Order and stability? o Achievement of human potential and cooperation?

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War can be understood as conflict in the system or breakdown of the system Peace becomes, then, stability of the system

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How does this relate to civil war?  o To ethnic conflict? o To ‘new wars’? (these wars pass borders and threaten stability of systems) o Does war necessarily entail violence?

History 

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In IR, we can have a very short view of history  o And yet the study of war dates back to Thucydides in ancient Greece Many argue that the specifics of war (who, why and how) may change, but it’s fundamental nature does not  o A driver of history, of human progress? Of innovation?

How can we trace these developments?...