The Causes of

War and the

Conditions of
Peace
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War

War has been far too common in human history

and thus is the central problem of international
relations. Many political scientists and foreign
policymakers view war as the continuation of
politics: When diplomacy fails, some states decide
to use force.

Others see war as the result of a breakdown of the

modern international system because so many of
the rules of international institutions were
designed to reduce conflict among states.
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Causes of War

Human nature: Humans are naturally violent and

aggressive, making war inevitable.
Regime types: Some regimes are more prone to
waging war than others.
Example: There has been extensive research on
whether democracies are less likely to start wars
than other regimes. Overall, it appears that
democracies are less likely to fight other
democracies, a phenomenon scholars refer to as the
democratic peace. Democracies are, however, just as
likely as other types of regimes to fight nondemocracies.
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Causes of War

Ideology: Some political beliefs favour war more than others.

Some scholars blame fascism, for example, for World War II.
Religion: Religious belief has driven many states to war, either
to spread the faith or to eradicate heretics.
Example: During the early modern era, nearly every European
country experienced numerous wars of religion as the Catholics
sought to destroy the Protestants. The wars of religion culminated
in the Thirty Years War, which stretched from Spain and France to
the eastern stretches of Germany during the seventeenth century.
It was a brutal and horrific war, and the Catholics failure to win the
war marked the end of the major religious wars in Europe.
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Causes of War - Militarism

Militarism is the
belief in using force
of arms to resolve
disputes.
Militarism led to
arms races.
Army sizes grew
in response to
increased
perceive threats.
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Causes of War Imperialism

Imperialism led to
disputes between
the powers.

Rivals competed
to control new
territories.
Imperial
successes bred
contempt for
rivals.
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Causes of War Alliance

System

An alliance
system spanned
most of Europe.

Deterrence kept
the peace for a
time.
However, even a
minor conflict
might erupt into a
major war.
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Causes of War International

Anarchy

There was no big

organization, like
the UN, where
crises could be
dealt with.
The
lack
of
somewhere
to
refer
disputes
meant
that
countries were left
to
their
own
devices.

Causes of War
Economics
resources:
Disputes
resources
lead to war.

and
over
often

Types of War

Although all wars are violent, not all

wars are the same. In fact, there are
many different types of wars, which can
be classified according to which people
actually fight, the intensity of the
conflict, and the extent of combatants
use of violence, among other factors.

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Types of War

Scholars generally describe five types

of war:

Total war
Limited war
Guerrilla war
Civil war
Proxy war

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Total War

A total war is a war in which combatants use every

resource available to destroy the social fabric of the
enemy.

Total wars are highly destructive and are characterized

by mass civilian casualties because winning a total war
often requires combatants to break the peoples will to
continue fighting. World Wars I and II were total wars,
marked by the complete destruction of the civilian
economy and society in many countries, including
France, Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy, Great Britain,
and Japan.
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Limited War

A limited war is a war fought primarily between

professional armies to achieve specific political objectives
without causing widespread destruction.

Although the total of civilian casualties may be high,

combatants do not seek to completely destroy the
enemys social and economic frameworks.

The Persian Gulf War of 19901991 was a limited war in

which the United States and its allies forcibly removed
Iraqi troops from Kuwait
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Guerrilla War

A guerrilla war is a war in which one or both

combatants use small, lightly armed militia units
rather than professional, organized armies. Guerrilla
fighters usually seek to topple their government,
often enjoying the support of the people.
These wars are often very long but also tend to be
successful for the insurgents as evidenced by Mao
Zedongs victory over Chiang Kai-shek in China in the
1940s, the Vietcongs victory over the United States
in the Vietnam War, and the Mujahideens victory over
the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

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Civil War

A civil war is a war fought within a single country

between or among different groups of citizens who want
to control the government and do not recognize another
groups right to rule.

Civil wars are almost always total wars because each

side feels compelled to destroy the enemys political
support base. Regional rifts, such as the American Civil
War between the North and the South, characterize some
civil wars, whereas other civil wars have been fought
among ethnic rivals, religious rivals, and rival clans.
Revolutions can spark civil wars as well.
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Proxy War

A proxy war is a war fought by third parties

rather than by the enemy states themselves.
Many of the militarized conflicts during the
Cold War, such as the Korean War and the
Vietnam
War, can be interpreted as proxy wars
between the United States and the Soviet
Union, neither of which wanted to fight each
other directly.
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The Conditions of
Peace/
Reasons for Peace

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Reasons for Peace Internationalism

Many wrote and spoke

of a world community.

Writers, like Victor Hugo

and Leo Tolstoy fostered
this.
Philanthropists like
Andrew Carnegie and
Alfred Nobel did not limit
their interests to narrow
national projects.

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Reasons for Peace Technological

Change

Telegraph lines
linked all major
cities and
allowed rapid
communication.
Railways, canals
and roads joined
even enemies
together.
River systems
were
international
waterways.
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Reasons for Peace Economic

Interdependence

Economic
Interdependence
convinced many that no
major nation would risk
the disruption of war.

Markets and sources of

raw materials meant that
potential enemies traded
extensively with eachother.
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What Next?
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Tutorial Question

What is war? Can and how do we

define war? Does the modern era
require us to examine our
definition of war?

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Thank You
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