International Relations and War

This essay explores the question of whether an end to warfare in the foreseeable future is probable. Unfortunately, human kind used war for such a variety of purposes (conflict resolution, as a form of political participation, to promote a "just cause," and so forth) that it is difficult to develop a solution that will end all warfare.

War or the threat of the use of force is the traditional approach to conflict resolution in the conduct of international relations. Although each national state tends to reserve a monopoly on violence for itself, through mutual diplomatic recognition of one another, national states also recognize the legitimacy of the wars they waged.

Francisco de Vitoria, in the Sixteenth Century, established the modern concept of international law with respect to war, which holds that war is licit as a last resort, when all other means of persuasion have failed. Thus, war becomes an extension of political participation, diplomacy. This concept goes on to hold that the cause which justifies war is the violation of a right, and that "an essential condition for the licitness of a war is that the evils resulting from it will not be greater than the good intended." A major problem with this premise is the perception from which the evaluation is made. The United States government, as an example, found no problems in justifying the activities of the Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua, while, at the same time, denouncing the guerrilla activit

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y small. Warfare, thus, is a form of participation in the process of political development. Outright armed conflict is simply the last step in the process, when all other efforts at persuasion and diplomacy have failed. There are several approaches to the assessment of international political relations among states. One approach posits that cultural traditions of the states in question provide the best basis for understanding motivations for policy. A second approach is based in the contention that political outcomes are linked to socioeconomic causes. A third alternative is the approach holding the world, imperfect as it is from the rational point of view, is the result of forces inherent in human nature. This alternative perception holds further that the conduct of international relations must, therefore, be realistic, must accept human nature as it actually is, and must deal with political processes as they actually occur. The theory of political realism holds that international relations is the concept of interest defined in terms of power. Political realism does not require, nor does it condone indifference to political ideals and moral principles, but it does requires a sharp distinction between the desirable and

Category: History - I