Trevor N Dupuy, Understanding War: History and Theory of Combat (New York: Paragon House, 1987).
This book is entirely about combat theory and combat strategy.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Howard: The Causes of Wars
Michael Howard, The Causes of Wars and Other Essays, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1984).
"Whatever may be the underlying causes of international conflict, even if we accept the role of atavistic militarism or of military-industrial complexes or of socio-biological drives or of domestic tensions in fuelling it, wars begin with conscious and reasoned decisions based on the calculation, made by both parties, that they can achieve more by going to war than by remaining at peace" (22).
Wide ranging and often rambling.
"Whatever may be the underlying causes of international conflict, even if we accept the role of atavistic militarism or of military-industrial complexes or of socio-biological drives or of domestic tensions in fuelling it, wars begin with conscious and reasoned decisions based on the calculation, made by both parties, that they can achieve more by going to war than by remaining at peace" (22).
Wide ranging and often rambling.
Suganami: On the Causes of War
Hidemi Suganami, On the Causes of War (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1996).
The author breaks down approaches to analyzing the causes of war into those that address three distinct questions. The kind of question that the theorists are attempting to address directly drives the approach taken, and the conclusions gleaned.
The three questions are:
“What are the conditions that must be present for wars to occur?”
“Under what types of circumstances have wars occurred more frequently?”
“How did this particular war come about?”
The first question addresses the necessary conditions for war to occur. A necessary condition, like oxygen for fire, can hardly be found to exist for the causes of international war. The second question—regarding the correlates of war—has a much richer set of studies to draw from. The final question deals most explicitly with understanding notions of causality. This is where Suganami fleshes out his own understanding of the causes of international crises.
The other two questions are relatively more straight forward.
“Nearly everyone knows that correlation is not causation” (Haas 1974, 59) (80).
The author breaks down approaches to analyzing the causes of war into those that address three distinct questions. The kind of question that the theorists are attempting to address directly drives the approach taken, and the conclusions gleaned.
The three questions are:
“What are the conditions that must be present for wars to occur?”
“Under what types of circumstances have wars occurred more frequently?”
“How did this particular war come about?”
The first question addresses the necessary conditions for war to occur. A necessary condition, like oxygen for fire, can hardly be found to exist for the causes of international war. The second question—regarding the correlates of war—has a much richer set of studies to draw from. The final question deals most explicitly with understanding notions of causality. This is where Suganami fleshes out his own understanding of the causes of international crises.
The other two questions are relatively more straight forward.
“Nearly everyone knows that correlation is not causation” (Haas 1974, 59) (80).
Dickinson: Causes of International War
G. Lowes Dickinson, Causes of International War (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1984).
“In discussing war it is important to distinguish clearly what we mean by it…We mean the deliberate use of organized physical force by groups of men against other groups” (7).
“It is necessary…to distinguish international war from civil. In some periods of h8istory, the distinction is not easy to draw in practice. But it becomes clear as soon as sovereign states have appeared. International war is, then, war between such states; while civil war is war between groups included in one of them” (8).
The book begins by positioning international war as a strange thing. Yes, people will fight, but that is because they are mad at each other. War, on the other hand, does not require that any of the participants actually dislike one another.
One necessary condition for the occurrence of international conflict is that humans tend to be “social animals”, and that without this sense of community, the drive for war would be less likely.
“We have seen that the community-sense is a condition of the possibility of war. But it is not enough to account for war” (15).
“There is no evidence for the statement, sometimes hastily made, that whenever and wherever there have been men there has been war” (16).
“In discussing war it is important to distinguish clearly what we mean by it…We mean the deliberate use of organized physical force by groups of men against other groups” (7).
“It is necessary…to distinguish international war from civil. In some periods of h8istory, the distinction is not easy to draw in practice. But it becomes clear as soon as sovereign states have appeared. International war is, then, war between such states; while civil war is war between groups included in one of them” (8).
The book begins by positioning international war as a strange thing. Yes, people will fight, but that is because they are mad at each other. War, on the other hand, does not require that any of the participants actually dislike one another.
One necessary condition for the occurrence of international conflict is that humans tend to be “social animals”, and that without this sense of community, the drive for war would be less likely.
“We have seen that the community-sense is a condition of the possibility of war. But it is not enough to account for war” (15).
“There is no evidence for the statement, sometimes hastily made, that whenever and wherever there have been men there has been war” (16).
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cashman: What Causes War?
Cashman, Greg. 1993. What Causes War?: An Introduction to Theories of International Conflict. New York: Lexington Books.
This book is a wide ranging overview of the different causes of war organized by levels of analysis.”Clues to the cause of war may be found in a variety of different locations. The causes of war may be said to exist at several levels of analysis. While there are different views of the number and identity of levels of analysis, we will examine theories of war at five levels: the individual, the small group, the state, the interaction between two states, and the international system” (13).
At the level of states—where internal conflict can foment external conflict—Blainey argued that about 50% of wars in the 19th and early 20th centuries were “immediately preceded by civil conflict in one of the belligerent nations” (147). This is referred to as the “kick them while they’re down” theory of war. The “scapegoat” theory of war, or the diversionary conflict theory, has been supported by Rosencrance. Lebow also supports this argument by presenting the case for “brinksmanship crises”. Maoz argues that revolutionary transformations create a context where states are likely to either be the perpetrator of international violence or the recipient. Rummel explored this empirically and found that internal and external conflict are not related. Wilkenfeld argued that this lack of a finding was the result of Rummel grouping all regime types into the same analysis and not breaking them out at all.
There is obviously much more than this brief abstract, though this piece was the one that I was most interested in at the moment.
UPDATE:
ToC:
The individual Level of Analysis: Human Aggression
The Individual Level of Analysis: Psychological Explanations for War
Governmental Decision Making
The State and International Conflict
International interaction: Stimulus-Response Theory and Arms Races
International Interaction: Game Theory and Deterrence
The International System: Anarchy and Power
The International System: Cyclical Theories and Historical Structural Theories of War
UPDATE II:
The book begins by claiming that there is both good news and bad news about "war". First, big wars are less frequent than they used to be. Second, they are more deadly. Third, intra-state wars are more prevalent. Fourth, inter-state wars are incredibly rare, especially when all possible dyads are taken into consideration.
The introduction then goes on to explore different explanations for the causes of war from the perspective of different levels of analysis. These levels are the following: the individual level, the substate level, the nation-state level, the dyadic level, the international system level and then analyses that take place across levels, or multilevel analysis.
The book then thoroughly explores major wars of the 20th and 21st centuries from the perspectives of these levels of analysis.
This book is a wide ranging overview of the different causes of war organized by levels of analysis.”Clues to the cause of war may be found in a variety of different locations. The causes of war may be said to exist at several levels of analysis. While there are different views of the number and identity of levels of analysis, we will examine theories of war at five levels: the individual, the small group, the state, the interaction between two states, and the international system” (13).
At the level of states—where internal conflict can foment external conflict—Blainey argued that about 50% of wars in the 19th and early 20th centuries were “immediately preceded by civil conflict in one of the belligerent nations” (147). This is referred to as the “kick them while they’re down” theory of war. The “scapegoat” theory of war, or the diversionary conflict theory, has been supported by Rosencrance. Lebow also supports this argument by presenting the case for “brinksmanship crises”. Maoz argues that revolutionary transformations create a context where states are likely to either be the perpetrator of international violence or the recipient. Rummel explored this empirically and found that internal and external conflict are not related. Wilkenfeld argued that this lack of a finding was the result of Rummel grouping all regime types into the same analysis and not breaking them out at all.
There is obviously much more than this brief abstract, though this piece was the one that I was most interested in at the moment.
UPDATE:
ToC:
The individual Level of Analysis: Human Aggression
The Individual Level of Analysis: Psychological Explanations for War
Governmental Decision Making
The State and International Conflict
International interaction: Stimulus-Response Theory and Arms Races
International Interaction: Game Theory and Deterrence
The International System: Anarchy and Power
The International System: Cyclical Theories and Historical Structural Theories of War
UPDATE II:
The book begins by claiming that there is both good news and bad news about "war". First, big wars are less frequent than they used to be. Second, they are more deadly. Third, intra-state wars are more prevalent. Fourth, inter-state wars are incredibly rare, especially when all possible dyads are taken into consideration.
The introduction then goes on to explore different explanations for the causes of war from the perspective of different levels of analysis. These levels are the following: the individual level, the substate level, the nation-state level, the dyadic level, the international system level and then analyses that take place across levels, or multilevel analysis.
The book then thoroughly explores major wars of the 20th and 21st centuries from the perspectives of these levels of analysis.
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