Why do nations go to wars?
War has been used for hundreds of thousands of years as a way of attaining a certain goal through the use of force. If you flip through the history the reasons for war varies significantly like to protect the weak and dharma and to kill the evil (reason for avatars of Hindu gods), for territorial gains, for wealth, for power & glory, for revenge / retribution, for self preservation / fear, for the superiority of an ideology like racial, cultural, religious, political etc, for resources and the list may go on.
Wars are always fought for money says Socrates. But the truth is “All nations want peace, but they want a peace that suits them.”
But let’s understand the situations that are leading to war. For many centuries when Kingdoms and monarchy were the primary / predominant governance model the decision to go to war is essentially from the King or his coterie and the wisdom is limited to that. The primary reasons for war were essentially territorial gains, wealth power, glory, and establishment of ideological superiority.
A closer study of the reasons behind the wars seems to be showing us that “establishment of superiority of ideologies” seems to be most important factor for war. There are many examples like the wars fought between 2 religious kingdoms and followers through out the 2000 years, rise of third Reich based on racial supremacy, the war in Vietnam (“Domino theory”) and cold war based on communism and democracy for the major part of last century, wars between India and Pakistan were essentially due to territorial disputes but the under current and the reason for partition itself has been essentially the difference in religious beliefs of the state. But most of these examples were decision taken by governments / leaders which (who) were mostly autocratic (even if they were elected) without much acceptance or approval from their people. People used to be submissive and look upon their kings and were ready to sacrifice their life at the drop their king’s hat.
Few of the recent wars like America’s decision to jump into WWII was mostly influenced by the provocation after the Pearl Harbor and War on Afghanistan was due to the 9/11 provocation. It is clear that “Self preservation & revenge” seems to be the predominant factors influenced by popular opinions are the reasons behind the war.
Men does not seem to have learnt from their history that “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.”
Let’s now understand the emergence of new social orders like democracy and public opinion for the last few centuries and its effect on the situations that lead to war. Public perceptions and opinions seem to be a major factor in decision making and this phenomenon would continue to increase as the time moves by. Communication technologies of today can share these perceptions instantly and on real time basis across the globe. Man is a rational animal when he is isolated. The “mob mentality” giving way to emotions (especially revenge and hatred) seems to be far more contagious than rationality. Instant communication seems to be a catalyst to increase the perception / emotions across the globe in a very short period of time.
Thomas Jefferson said that “The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to”. Few years back it was told that “It is dangerous to be right when the king is wrong”. But I think we are slowly giving ourselves to a situation that “It’s difficult for a government to be different from what the popular opinion is”. This relies essentially on the rationality of the human kind which seems to be evaporating when they are in groups.
If we are little sensitive to the current situation and have a global view at 30000 feet it will be very evident that the best recipes for war are just cooking and blending very well together as of now and the major factors at different times seems to be coming together now…
1. Emergence of ideological battle to a new pitch: Needless to explain as to what this is. A majority of us seems to have lost our ability to understand the value of human life. This insensitivity is not limited to the so called “terrorists” but shockingly leaders who head the governments too are reciprocating this absolute barbaric mentality.
War has been used for hundreds of thousands of years as a way of attaining a certain goal through the use of force. If you flip through the history the reasons for war varies significantly like to protect the weak and dharma and to kill the evil (reason for avatars of Hindu gods), for territorial gains, for wealth, for power & glory, for revenge / retribution, for self preservation / fear, for the superiority of an ideology like racial, cultural, religious, political etc, for resources and the list may go on.
Wars are always fought for money says Socrates. But the truth is “All nations want peace, but they want a peace that suits them.”
But let’s understand the situations that are leading to war. For many centuries when Kingdoms and monarchy were the primary / predominant governance model the decision to go to war is essentially from the King or his coterie and the wisdom is limited to that. The primary reasons for war were essentially territorial gains, wealth power, glory, and establishment of ideological superiority.
A closer study of the reasons behind the wars seems to be showing us that “establishment of superiority of ideologies” seems to be most important factor for war. There are many examples like the wars fought between 2 religious kingdoms and followers through out the 2000 years, rise of third Reich based on racial supremacy, the war in Vietnam (“Domino theory”) and cold war based on communism and democracy for the major part of last century, wars between India and Pakistan were essentially due to territorial disputes but the under current and the reason for partition itself has been essentially the difference in religious beliefs of the state. But most of these examples were decision taken by governments / leaders which (who) were mostly autocratic (even if they were elected) without much acceptance or approval from their people. People used to be submissive and look upon their kings and were ready to sacrifice their life at the drop their king’s hat.
Few of the recent wars like America’s decision to jump into WWII was mostly influenced by the provocation after the Pearl Harbor and War on Afghanistan was due to the 9/11 provocation. It is clear that “Self preservation & revenge” seems to be the predominant factors influenced by popular opinions are the reasons behind the war.
Men does not seem to have learnt from their history that “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.”
Let’s now understand the emergence of new social orders like democracy and public opinion for the last few centuries and its effect on the situations that lead to war. Public perceptions and opinions seem to be a major factor in decision making and this phenomenon would continue to increase as the time moves by. Communication technologies of today can share these perceptions instantly and on real time basis across the globe. Man is a rational animal when he is isolated. The “mob mentality” giving way to emotions (especially revenge and hatred) seems to be far more contagious than rationality. Instant communication seems to be a catalyst to increase the perception / emotions across the globe in a very short period of time.
Thomas Jefferson said that “The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to”. Few years back it was told that “It is dangerous to be right when the king is wrong”. But I think we are slowly giving ourselves to a situation that “It’s difficult for a government to be different from what the popular opinion is”. This relies essentially on the rationality of the human kind which seems to be evaporating when they are in groups.
If we are little sensitive to the current situation and have a global view at 30000 feet it will be very evident that the best recipes for war are just cooking and blending very well together as of now and the major factors at different times seems to be coming together now…
1. Emergence of ideological battle to a new pitch: Needless to explain as to what this is. A majority of us seems to have lost our ability to understand the value of human life. This insensitivity is not limited to the so called “terrorists” but shockingly leaders who head the governments too are reciprocating this absolute barbaric mentality.
2. Revenge and retribution: The wisdom behind “An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind” seems to be irrelevant and not any more applicable now. This seems to be the order of the day, be it in professional life, trade agreements between governments etc and we have become “tit for tat” beings.
3. Competitive Extremism: This seems to be the emotional state of many of us are in now. Be it office or personal life or social engagements we seem to have missed the boundary line between moderation, toleration and extremism. It’s always easy to garner energy and force behind “something against” than “something for” in this world. Hence the blend of competitive extremism combined with instant communication capabilities with the emotionally contagious attitude seems not only popular but also dangerous.
4. Weightage of Public Perception in governmental decision making: Unlike the last 2000 years this factor seems to be gaining Weightage and would prove to be lethal and fatal if rationality takes a back seat. A simple look at popular events would highlight that rationality has not only taken back seat but also has been thrown out of the car.
5. Self preservation: The most important issue seems to be the fight for self preservation within the vast population in this world. In the last few decades we have ensured that the world we live is not a fair place (Read http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.com/2008/11/world-isnt-fair-place.html ). Rich-poor divide, exploitation of resources, effects of globalization and the essential insecurity that is given for granted to lead a normal life, has made leading a normal, peaceful life in this planet seems to be a god given gift for many of us. Never has been in the history of mankind the concern for self preservation is more predominant than now.
If you just see all these in a perspective (could be termed pessimistic!) all major factors that force people to fight for their survival at different times seems to be coming together now. If a powerful country like US gets into a crisis (currency meltdown, resource depletion, financial or otherwise) which does not have immediate short term solutions then the instinct to preserve may force them to start a war or be in one. Unfortunately & scarily there are many countries in the brink of collapse and there are enough “ideological” and “extremist” issues available as excuses. Misguided men and guided missiles seems to have mastered the art of converting outcome of war into profits in their personal and nation’s P&L sheet.
Unless we have leaders who can lead us from these difficult times to a path of peace we may have a war round the corner with significant participation (you can call it as world war 3) in an attempt to resolve / reset or least escape from these issues. God, for no obvious reasons, has turned stingy in the supply of DNAs to this world which matches that of Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to this world, who can lead people in the path of peace and be a true leader.
But god has given the world nuclear weapons that assures mutual self destruction and seems to be the only major deterrent from escalation. Should there be a treaty among nations that they would not use nuclear weapons for the next 1 year then the start of World war 3 seems imminent.
I think and feel that there is a war round the corner.. wish am wrong!
Draft beer and not people.
Yours anxiously!
Happy reading!
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