Is our war culture immutable?

The recent "Correlates of War" Project collated data on all post-Napoleonic wars with casaulties of more than 1,000 people. Its conclusion is that the Western world's predominant security parameters through the 19th and 20th centuries have been those of a quintessential "war cult...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peace review (Palo Alto, Calif.) Calif.), 1999-06, Vol.11 (2), p.333-336
Main Author: Jacobsen, C. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conflict Resolution
Cultural Change
Culture
Futures (of Society)
Gorbachev, Mikhail S
International Conflict
International relations
Peace
Peaceful Coexistence
Politics
Social conditions & trends
War
Western Society
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Summary:The recent "Correlates of War" Project collated data on all post-Napoleonic wars with casaulties of more than 1,000 people. Its conclusion is that the Western world's predominant security parameters through the 19th and 20th centuries have been those of a quintessential "war culture." This culture's realpolitik security prescriptions-generally assumed to deter emerging threats-have instead stimulated and precipitated conflict rather than avoided or transcended it. Three distinct yet complementary, contrary dynamics have challenged this culture in recent years: post-1960s academic game theory; Mikhail Gorbachev's inversion of past arms race and arms control truisms; and today's increasing understanding that state-based or state-dictated conflict-resolution formulas rarely solve and often exacerbate underlying differences. These dynamics or phenomenological challenges may or may not alone or together constitute or reflect an emergent "peace culture," but at the very least they present the core components of any such alternative.
ISSN:1040-2659
1469-9982
DOI:10.1080/10402659908426272