Session- 13

Van Evera in his article "cult of the offensive" talks about how offensive strategies were responsible for the war of 1914. The author gives the term to the general belligerent and tense atmosphere that was prevalent during the pre-war period amongst the statesmen and nations. The article argues that there was a belief held by many statesmen during that period, which dictated that building up arms and being the first to launch an offensive would result in the balance tipping on part of the attacker. The article also argues that the war could have been avoided had the states relied on their defensive capabilities whilst at the same time blaming the states whom adopted the cult of involving other countries in the war because of the trend. The article concludes by saying that nuclear deterrence and mutually assured destruction (MAD) can serve to keep the cult of offensive at bay, but if MAD fails then the world will face a war the likes of which it cannot afford.

This article can relate to the prisoners dilemma as well in a sense that if the states choose to rely on their defensive capabilities and divert the spending that would have gone to the military build up whilst at the same time ensuring that the survival of the state is not at risk then in my opinion it would lead to a win win situation. That is the survival and the well being of the state, both are ensured and at the same time due to the low content of war material, the risk of war will be low as well.