War and Diplomacy in World Politics

WAR AND DIPLOMACY IN WORLD POLITICS   by Hasan Askari Rizvi,  May 13, 2022

         War is not viewed as desirable activity but it is a feature of global politics. Nations go to war for several reasons. However, the ways of war have changed over time because of innovative human mind, changes in weapons systems and new opportunities created by modern communication and information technologies.  It is now  possible to humble an adversary country without dispatching troops across the territorial boundaries of a state. It is called war by non-military means.

     Traditionally, a powerful ruler would use his state’s military power to establish his hegemony on the neighboring states, deter another state from military operation or force another ruler to follow his advice in regional affairs. Actual military operation or its threat is often used  to change the policy options of another state.

   Initially, the affluent people and the feudal lords  provided soldiers to the ruler  who joined the ruler’s own soldiers to fight against the neighboring state or to counter a military invasion by another state.  It was towards the beginning of the 19th Century that the notion of a trained standing army at the disposal of the ruler began to be adopted by the rulers in Europe and elsewhere so as to reduce the dependence on feudal elite and warlords within the state. The professional standing armies were also used by European states to expand their colonial control of non-European countries. Later, they established professional militaries in the colonized countries that worked under the control of the colonial country and its armed forces.  These troops were used to assert and expand the control in the colonized territories, security of the territorial boundaries,  maintenance of law and order, and help to civilian administration to cope with natural calamities.  The local troops of the colonized state were also used for undertaking military expeditions outside the territories of the colonized state in pursuance of foreign policy goals of the colonizing state. The British colonial government used Indian troops in the two World Wars outside of British India.  

      War technologies changed a lot in the 20th Century, especially during the two World Wars, like the introduction of long-range guns, the tank system, the use of aircraft for bombing and explosives and weapons. Two nuclear weapons were used by the United States on two cities of Japan in August 1945. Nuclear weapons capability was acquired by the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom and France in the post-World War Second period during the years of the Cold War. Israel, India, and Pakistan acquired this capability much later. North Korea is believed to have acquired nuclear weapons capability and its missile delivery system.  

  The major shift in war techniques came with the advent of new Information and communication technologies, especially the internet-based communication system and the availability of various social media platforms as well as the introduction of satellite TV, and radio, satellite and regular mobile phone systems. These technologies and internet-based platform and cyber-space are used by the state as well as non-state actor to pursue their ideological and political agendas and to subdue their adversary.

  Now-a-days, in addition to the use of hard military power to subdue an adversary country, several non-military methods can also be used to achieve the military agenda. The non-military means are used to compel a country to change its domestic or foreign policy. The war can now be pursued by non-military means, but these non-military means can be effective if it is known that the concerned country has also got enough conventional military power and weapons system at its disposal. In other words, the new methods of waging war have not replaced the conventional war methods.  The new methods have increased the options to pursue political and military agendas.

 Modern communication technology can be used for negative propaganda against a country or for making specific political demands.  The outside powers can exploit internal ethnic, linguistic, religious and regional differences to their advantage by extending support to some such groups, especially those challenging the government and the state. Hard cash can easily be supplied for accentuating such activities that create internal chaos and civil strife.  Fake news can be used to increase internal turmoil in a country. The method of proxy war is used by supporting some feuding groups in a country. Other state provide material, financial, and diplomatic support to the dissident and separatist groups. The neighboring countries can offer a safe haven and training facilities to anti-state groups in another state.  

   The major powers have used both military and non-military methods to change governments in other countries. The United States is known for effecting government change in several Latin American countries and in Iran (Dr. Mosaddeq government in 1953) and Iraq by different methods.   It has also supported the groups of its choice in internal conflicts of other states to ensure  a political change of its choice in the target country

    The first stage of the policy of changing the government is expression of strong reservation on the policies of the government through the official diplomatic channels. The second stage is the launch of propaganda against that country at the international level though official and non-official sources, including the global media. The objective is to embarrass the target government by raising issues about human rights, the rule of law, treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, and corruption. This is accompanied by increasing interaction with the domestic opposition of the government of the target state and encouraging the opposition to take a firm position against the government. If political agitation breaks out, a major power may extend  support to the opposition if the change of government is the goal of the major power.   The suspension of economic aid and discontinuation of military aid are also known methods as a part of the sanction policy.

    In the case of the recent Pakistan-U.S relation, the adverse comments of the U.S. official in a meeting with Pakistani Ambassador in Washington  were a subtle threat to the then PTI government to change its policy towards Russia and China. Some limited interaction also took place between American embassy people in Islamabad and some opposition leaders in Feb-March which made it clear to the domestic opposition that the PTI government had lost the goodwill of the U.S.   The first stage strategy of the U.S. worked and Imran Khan government was knocked out of power by the vote of no-confidence which was a domestic affair. However, American policy contributed to encouraging the opposition to confront the PTI government with greater persistence. ===============