Stephan Van Evern in this week’s article talks about the
offensive strategies in the world system that leads to war and chaos. He
specifically focuses on the World War 1 and like many theorists of the
discipline of International Relations, he gives a very diverse set of opinions
as to why the World War 1 occurred, his main focus being on the offensive
front. One of the factors that sparked an interest in me and what I feel can be
synonymous to the defining cause of the World War can be the advantage of the
state that strikes first.
Evern has predicted that the state which carries the first
strike will be better off than the other state and because of this, the entire
system focuses on strengthen their military capabilities. There can be the
aspect of psychological advantage which states might achieve if they carry out
the first strike, as the country being attacked will have this thought in mind
that the country that is attacking them, surely is powerful and confident
enough to survive any retaliations. The international system is generally
anarchic as we have been taught throughout this course through the lens of
Realism mostly, and in the system the concept of self-help really stands out. The
ability to defend yourself ensures your chances of surviving in the system.
Evern delves into the causes of the World War 1 and tries
his best to explain why this war could have had been carried out. For us
readers, the question he leaves us with is whether the wars that have been fought
since the time of the first Great War have all of them been due to these
reasons? Is the basics of these reasons a build up to all the wars that have
followed this war or since time has passed, other intricate reasons have joined
these factors stated by Evern.
You have very aptly recognized that preceding the Great Wars, there was a very reactive and active system of retaliation. It is very interesting to analyse the transformation in the world political climate and system. Given that there was no concept of deterrence, offensive political planning played a far more important role which ultimately undermined the concept of collaboration promoting the bandwagon logic.
ReplyDeleteWell realists argue that the international system is anarchic, but there are challenges to this theory from integrationists and form those who believe in international regimes. Wars will remain attractive to some if states continue to believe in the "cult of the offensive".
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