Session 22- War

Jack Levy in his works talks about all the elements related to war; what causes it. What are its effects and how war can be prevented? He starts off by talking about the broader patterns of war and then narrows down his arguments to the differences in wars and the roots of particulars wars that have taken place and why wars have repeatedly taken place over the years. He concludes that over the years there has been an fall in the number of wars that take place. However, if a war does break out now then its impact would be much more. This is because the arms and ammunition have become more dangerous and hence wars can result in a lot more damage.   Moreover, he claims that in order to obtain an answer understand the roots of war and war patterns different methodological approaches need to be adopted.

Furthermore, he analyzes war from the realist as well as the liberalist perspective. Regarding realism he claims that due to many different schools within this field, several view points are available. However, on the whole realist believe that states are selfish and self centered and it is due to their desire to expand war is caused. Hobbes and Machiavelli are influential thinkers who hold this view which blames the innate nature of states that leads to war. Whereas scholars like Kenneth Waltz believe that it is because of the anarchy and lack of order present in the international system that war is caused. He belived that the root of evil is man hence the root of war is also man

On the other hand, Liberalism argues that under particular conditions of economic interdependence and peace between states is possible. This is because economic dependence in this case refers to trade between countries. When countries trade they benefit and generate revenues hence they wish to maintain this stability in order to keep earning revenue. If war is caused then it would disrupt the trading cycle thereby leading to a loss for both the countries. Therefore, this school of thought believes that war is not inevitable and due to certain conditions war can be avoided.

In conclusion,  Levy presents a comprehensive and valuable account of the various perspectives on war. His article is a good insight to the understanding of war and its history.