Session 22 - correct approach to study war

Jack S. Levy in "War and Peace" gives a very interesting account of different ideologies and problems in their view of war.

He starts of by talking about the realist perspective that anarchy exist in the international system so states have no idea what another state might do. Coupled with the viewpoint that states are selfish entities that want to gain as much power and other gains possible and you have states who are distrusting of other states. This might lead to preemptive actions by a state to ensure that the other state does not attack it. An example given by the author was when Israel attacked Iraq in 1981 

because it feared Iraq would move against it.

Next he talks about liberal theories that state that war is less likely when states are have strong economic ties and are economically interdependent on each other. If there is a war then this trade will end, causing damage to each of their economy. However even in this scenario the author talks about how even if there is war between two states, those two states might still consider continuing the trade as it ensures that the economy does not completely come to a halt. He also looks at the link between democracy and war and quotes several authors whose studies have showed while democratic states are just as likely to go to war, there is less chance that two democracies will be on opposing sides of the war.

Lastly the author talks about how multi-method approaches must be used to explain cases of war accurately