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War can be seen as both a scourge of mankind and a central institution of global politics. ... War has been used to maintain the balance of power. ...
Without effective means of a peaceful settlement of disputes, war has provided a mechanism through which states can implement a rule of law in their favour or redress unjust practices. ... This double perspective (the horrors of war and its social role in global politics) haunts us today in a world where the possibility of nuclear war threatens to spell the end of civilisation. ... We live then with the ever-present reality of war and the fear of total annihilation. ... The advent of total war, that is, war against entire populations for unlimited stakes made war at best a dangerous instrument of state policy. The development of nuclear weapons has made war (especially conducted between nuclear states) an irrational device for the peaceful solution of disputes.
As a student of International Relations I don’t want to conclude however that because war is dysfunctional it will not occur. To do so would be to assume that war is always a rational act or always arises from rational decision-making. ... The continued use of or threat of the use of force by nuclear states and the proliferation of wars among non-nuclear powers prevents us from concluding that major war is obsolete in the nuclear age. In considering the likelihood of major war in the future it is necessary to inquire into the causes of war. Some consider war to be a necessary consequence of the state system. With no overall sovereignty to maintain peace and each state pledged to defend its territory war is the natural result of international insecurity. Others search for the domestic causes of war in the domestic structure of states. ... Some argue that war is the result of particular economic systems. Some researchers stress the role of the individuals as a cause of war since it is individuals who declare war and also engage in the fighting. ... War can be situated within a wider theory of conflict and in thinking about the past, present and future society.
Robert Gilpin assesses the likelihood that changes in global politics might lead to what he terms hegemonic war. ... After assessing five destabilising tendencies Gilpin argues that five factors in the current global political system work in favour of peace and against hegemonic war.
Approximate Word count = 1945
Approximate Pages = 7.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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