War as a Driver behind the Evolution of Human Political Life - Essay Example

Is it correct to say that war has been the principal driver behind the evolution of human political life? This discusses the fact that canwar be held responsible for the origin of human political life or was there any other motive behind its evolution. War among nations has existed since the beginning of life and exists until today. There have been many reasons and causes for which war has been fought and it has given rise to many after-effects as well. This paper has been written using the MLA writing style. Outline I. What is war? II. Types of War III. Has war been the driver behind the evolution of human political life? What is war? To define war in the simplest words it is ‘any conflict involving the organized use of arms and physical force between countries or other large-scale armed groups’(War, p.1). War is a horror that has existed since centuries between the human races for different reasons, such as land, wealth etc. Going deeper into the meaning of war, it can be said that war is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. War is as old as human society, and certainly features prominently in the recorded histories of state-cultures. But it is a complex issue. Some hunter-gatherer societies engaged in skirmishes over territory and resources, although many did not. (War, p.1). War is in contrast with peace. A writer rightly said that there was never a ‘good war’ or a ‘bad peace’. War has always been a cause of mass destruction and damage. Organizational change and technology has played a vital role in the origin of warfare. The advancement of technology has led to a rise in the destructiveness and cost of warfare throughout human history. There have been different reasons behind the wars that have been fought earlier. Looking deeper into the history we find that wars have been mostly fought for serious moral reasons. Although there have been many ancient nations and some more modern ones who have thought of war as to be noble, but the thought of war being moral has been increasingly pondered about. In today’s era, most nations and people have come to the conclusion that war is ‘undesirable and morally problematic’ and have declared that wars should only be fought when there is no other way out. There is a specific cateogry of people that known as pacifists, who believe that war is innately immoral and no war should ever be fought. The negative view of war has not always been condemned widely as it is today. Today, some see only Just Wars as legitimate, and it is the goal of organizations such as the United Nations to unite the world against wars of unjust aggression. With the passsage of time different societies have attempted to limit the cost of war by formalizing it in some way. There have been limitations set on targeting innocent civilians, on what type of weapons should be used. Although culture, law, and religion have been the vital factors in causing wars, they have also proved to be restraints at times. Today, international attention is being paid to peacefully resolve the conflicts which may lead to war. The United Nations is the latest and most inclusive attempt to ‘save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ as stated in the preamble of the U.N. Charter’ (War, p.1). But after all is said and done, “war is eternal. It is part of the human condition; it is, as Heraclitus wrote, "the father of us all" (Hanson, p.1). Types of War There are different names given to the the different types of war on the basis of their severity and nature. The smaller armed conflicts are called riots, rebellions, coups, etc.Another kind of war occurs when one country sends armed forces to another, allegedly to restore order or prevent genocide or other crimes against humanity, that is sometimes refered as a police action..A war where the people in conflict belong to the same country or empire or other political entity is known as a civil war. Another kind of war is the Asymmetrical warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military mechanization. A conventional war is a war where nuclear or biological weapons are not used, whereas, unconventional warfare (nuclear warfare) is a war where such weapons are used (Frisbee, p.1). Has war been the driver behind the evolution of human political life? If we take glance at the human history, we may find the necessary evidence for the fact that war has been responsible for the origin of human political life. However, this does not imply that human politics had no origin itself and began from war. The reasoning for this statement that either war has been responsible for the evolution of war or not can be grasped also from the international laws of countries. As is has been observed that international law must reflect social realities. Theorists argue that international law is not truly law because it is not applied by coercion, but the writer Hadley Bull scorns this notion. Others propose that it does feature compulsion in a decentralized form because states can individually or in groups punish, economically and militarily, the transgressors of international law. To prevent war from being a reason of conflict or war between nations it is necessary that ‘International law’ must reflect the methods in which different states naturally deals with one another. In the recent times, international law is altering from rules that only used to govern states, to rules that affect individuals and organizations, and from purely strategic matters to economic and environmental ones. Hadley Bull has defined diplomacy as the peaceful conduct of relations between states by their authorized agents. Other political organizations with world standing, such as the United Nations or national liberation groups, may also engage in diplomacy, as it is the need of the hour to prevent unnecessary wars. Diplomacy can be practiced as a bilateral negotiation between two states, or as a multilateral conference among a greater number of states seeking to resolve a problem together. Such efficient approaches are important to resolve the matters, which may lead to war (Bull). Most of the human political history tends to originate from the wars and conflicts, which have existed earlier between nations and political bodies. Most political events have seemed to rise from a certain war or conflict. When the reasons of war are pondered about, the thought that it has become a necessary evil also strikes the mind. But Michael Mandelbaum in his famous write-up namely “Is Major War Obsolete?” has argued that now political leaders have started to stop even thinking about war. In the words of Michael Mandelbaum, “major war is obsolete in the way that slavery, dueling or foot-binding are obsolete. It is a social practice that was once considered normal, useful-- even desirable--but that now seems odious. Not only are world powers in a state of detente, but major war among them is out of fashion because a) It costs too much in terms of property and human lives and b) Even winning doesnt pay enough. Today the instruments of war--nuclear arms, biological warfare, and other weaponry--are more destructive and far-reaching, he says, deterring multination quarrels. And countries are more focused on internal economic concerns than ideals or religious extremism that could lead to costly strife. Democracy, meanwhile, has spread, meaning a nations citizens (who usually suffer most in any war) have more say about decisions to launch large-scale military action" (Mandelbaum, p.20-38). But then again, at times countries will continue to have disputes and differences, and in order to resolve them they will fight wars to settle them if they cannot do so through discussions and conferences. Here is where human politics originates. Thus, it can be clearly seen that it originated from wars. Works Cited Bull, Hedley (1977). The Anarchical Society. Columbia University Press. 1977. Pp.1. Frisbee, Williams. Types of war. Retrieved on November 6th 2005 from: http://www.military-sf.com/typesofwar.htm Hanson, Victor. War Will Be War: No matter the era, no matter the weapons, the same old hell. National Review. May 6th, 2002. Pp.1. Mandelbaum, Michael. Is Major War Obsolete?. Survival. 1998-1999. Pp.20-38. War. Retrieved on November 6th 2005 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War Read More