Introduction to IR by:Hadaitullah baqri Yugo Baltistan
- 1. Chapter One What is international relations, it is the relationship of many factors, variables which come together to give us meaning to event and situation in international politics. International relations involves, human rights, diplomatic relations among states, humanitarian assistance, bilateral relations, war, conflict resolution, peace talk, peacekeeping, sport competition among countries and many more that shows how countries interact. International relations basically tell about geopolitics and geo-economics. Geopolitics is how geography influences politics and politics affects geography. It sometimes involves dispute over territory which might result into conflict or war. It also involve territorial expansion, human rights, arms races, drug smuggling, refugees and ideological conflict like the problem between the Hindu and Muslims that resulted to the partition of the India into the states of India and Pakistan. Geo-economics is how geography influences economics and economics affects geography. It sometimes involves dispute over trade, intellectual property right, economic development, Multinational Corporation, industrial policy. It also involves economic relations that are not always resolve with violence or war. Realism equals to power politics Realism is the theory that wants to maintain the status quo. It believes in the state system, and sees the state as unitary actor in international politics. The realist believes every state is always looking for its survival; therefore every state would want power for its survival. The urge for survival leads to struggle, competition, fear, insecurity and combat among states, hence a state of anarchy arises. According to the realist, an anarchical situation is when there is no central government to forcefully maintain order among states in the international system. Hegemonic power is believe to be the only solution to the state of anarchy. Therefore hegemony is the capability of a state to influence other states to follow certain rules. This could be diplomatic, political, economic or cultural power. Realist see in every state national interest as their primary interest that is the protection of their sovereignty that is the protection of the state from insecurity, being influenced and dictated to by another state. The process of protecting and avoiding insecurity threat leads state to maximization of power. Idealism equals to Alternative to power politics Idealism can simply be understood from three points of view (three schools of thought) actually, idealism is based on morality as a theory of international politics.
- 2. The first school of thought believes that states are like individual. This idea is based on the view of David Hume and John Locke that human being is not always bad as the realist believes. They believe that goodness lies in man, while custom shapes human behaviour and orientation. Hence, it can be said that human being is the prisoner of his society, because he lives by the norms, rules and regulations (social construct) of his society The second school of thought believes that states are not as bad, struggling to get power or troublesome as hold by the realist, rather failed state are the ones that portray bad behaviours. Autocratic states are always bad and wanting to go to war. This is why they say democratic states will do not always go to war, although that statement is debateable The third school of thought believes that states could share certain value among themselves; there could be cooperation, goal and aspiration, interaction among state which could result into international institution. This is one of the reasons why idealism is called an institutional theory. It is as a result of this 3rd school of thought that such institutions like (League of Nations, United Nation Organization and other regional organization such as SARC, EU, AU, and ASEAN) came to being. Marxist Critical theory This theory speaks about how the Marxists view international politics. They believe that the present world order is a world of the capitalist, which has created the have and have-not, and a structure based on market-value affairs (commodity) It is the belief of the Marxists that capitalism wanted to control the market and maximise on the potential of the masses for their own benefits. That is capitalists are always looking for opportunity to exploit the masses. They also see international politics as the creation of the capitalist, such that the state system has been formed in order to exploit peoples’ raw material at low cost and sell at high price, which is can be termed as imperialism. So what they are saying is that the concept of nation- state is the product of capitalism. This capitalism system according to the Marxist further brought about the structure of dependency. Dependency theory is blamed on capitalist imperialism, which divided the world into three world system. These structures is known as Core or the advance industrial countries of Western Europe and America exploiting the semi-periphery known as the developing countries (partially industrialised countries) and the periphery countries which are known as the underdeveloped countries with little or no industrialization. Welfare state concept is a bridge between the capitalist and the workers. Socialist as well as Marxist believes that such a state (welfare state) will break down the class system which was created by capitalism. In the welfare state everyone will be almost
- 3. equal, as resources of the state will be evenly distributed and there will be little difference between the rich and the poor. Feminism is the theory that tries to express the subjugation of women’s role in international politics. It basically wants to show that women have also played significant role in the making of international politics. It is wrong to put in the background role of women, since there are female prime ministers, president, queen and decision makers. It believes that the whole interpretation of international relation or world politics is masculine, meaning that it is male-centred. It is the definition of men only without any reference to women active participation. Postmodernism is another school of thought in international politics that question the whole of international relations as the definition of the world by certain scholars according to their own view. It is believe that all views are equally invalid or incorrect. Meaning that the international relation has multiply reality, no one should try to define it only in certain way. There could be many meaning to a particular thing, the whole is multi-dimensional. This theory goes along with the Traditionalist theory which believes that international relations can not simple be understood from graphs, history and simple facts that we table, rather the understanding of international politics can come through interdisciplinary approach, that is bringing in ideas from different disciplines, field of studies. Constructivism believes in the objectivity reality but without any law other than change is constant. Chapter Two Everyone loves to claim that he is civilised and modern in his behaviour, but the question is what is really modern and civilised. Behaviour or attitude that appears modern or civilised to particular people might not be modern to many others. The word modernity is a relative term that can be defined according to one’s view. However, modernity or modernization is a changing phenomenon in politics, economics, socio-cultural and technology. The culture of a particular people becomes acceptable as civilization when such culture attains development and advance in politics, economics and technology. This gives the reason why certain civilizations have been adopted because they were modernised. Many nations and civilization have passed away but fell and disappear because they could not develop as expected. The Chinese civilization, India, Ottoman Empire, Kingdoms in Africa all could not dominate the world as the modern Europeans
- 4. were able to dominate the world simply because they lacked necessary, effective and efficient technology to subjugate the rest of the world. Europe became a modernised world due to its technological advancement, although this advancement was something gained after many years of wars, conflict and disunity. In this way one can say that development or modernity is something that comes gradually (Evolutionary). Europe became modernised during the age of humanity, an age that human reason was seen as the most important thing. Before the time, Europe was under the influence of religion, so they believed religion made them underdeveloped, therefore it is better to abandon religion for rationality. The Chinese empire was a very wide empire which lasted for many years under various leaderships. However this empire was faced with series of problems which made it lack the ability to conquer the whole or large part of the world. It was faced with domestic problem of the Mongol invaders; as a result the Chinese emperor stopped all ship from navigating further for new expedition. The emperor became concerned with the territorial integrity of China, therefore his power became restricted to China and its surrounding. In the same way, the Ottoman Empire was strong militarily, it expanded into the heart of Europe, but along the line the leadership lacked efficient rulers who can bring Ottoman leadership to the rest of the world. It military power was inefficient to subjugate the whole of the world. As a result, but empire could not rule the whole world as the Europeans later did. The rise of the Europeans as strong people can be linked to the series of war fought within Europe. Europe became the strongest continent due to war; simply war can not make someone strong, but during these wars scientific technology of warfare were developed. Thus, weapons, ships, artillery, gunpowder was modernised among the Europeans giving them edge over others, and the capability to conquer the rest of the world. One cannot forget that Europe had a very wide and strong empire known as the Roman Empire. Roman Empire ruled a large part of the world due to its modernised way of leadership. It has great military power, good political structure and sound diplomatic system. However, Roman Empire fell due to what is known as hegemonic overstretch, meaning that Roman Empire became too wide even for the Roman emperor to control. Along with that there was domestic disunity among the ruling elites in Rome so tat also contributed to the fall of the empire. Feudalism, a system that organises people into rigid political, social, and economic classes in which land ownership and power is always with small elite within the society. It was this system that operates in Europe, where large majority of people have to work on the farmland of the landlord, elite and powerful ones of the society with little benefit. Under this system, the society is structured into four caste or class systems, whereby there are the nobles, merchants, priests and serfs (masses). There is no movement
- 5. from one class to the other, especially from the serf to other classes, although nobles, merchants could turn to a priest. The priesthood class is headed by the Pope. Under feudalism, the king though exist but a weak king, whose power is nothing to talk about, the feudal, landlords are stronger and powerful than the kings till the 15th century. The pope and the feudal lords control the affairs of Europe, leaving behind the kings. The lords and merchants were in-charge of trade. Western Imperialism As it was mentioned above that war contributed to the development of Europe, and its capability to rule almost the whole of the world, this development or period in Europe was known as the age of renaissance, it was a rebirth of learning, whereby new ideas came to life, new scientific discoveries, development in arts and technology was seen around Europe. This age was known as age of humanism, where human reason should be the centre of everything, human being should be able to fulfil his creative and economic potential with his own reason and ability without any interference of God. It was a shift form God-centred Europe to Human- centred Europe. As a result of the new technology and knowledge of navigation European started to search for raw materials and resources across the world, therefore both trade expedition and imperialism started. Imperialism is simply the conquest of one people by another people through force. At the stage the Kings were very much involve in the expedition because it was profitable. Most of the kings want huge wealth, therefore they supported imperialism and more importantly the kings were also involved in the wars because war brings wealth and occupation of more land. In this way, there was a good relation between the kings and the merchants. It was during that period privatization of colonialism started with the stamp and consent of the king. Europeans believe the rest of the world that is not ruled by Europeans belongs to them. In this way they always say that the rest of world is “No man’s Land”. Most importantly, if the land is not Christian, therefore it belongs to European to Christianised. The existence of gunpowder, naval ships, and canons obviously aided western imperialism. Emergence of European Sovereign Nation-State It has been mentioned earlier that modernisation always take step by step process, meaning that it is evolutionary. In the same way, European modernization process took stage by stage process. During the modernization process, Europe got to a period known as Reformation, an attempt to reform Catholic Church in Europe,
- 6. which brought about religious and political confusion. It was a period that saw the thirty years war between Catholics and Protestants (1618-1648). The question should be asked why the war. For a long time in Europe, the pope was very strong under the Catholic Church dictating the affairs in Europe. The Catholic Church was in-charge of interpretation of the Bible and many other religious duties. Most people believe the Catholic Church was oppressive, cheating the masses and exploiting. Hence group of people came up to contest the legality of the Catholic Church, this contestation then resulted to 30years war. The contest was sponsored by Martin Luther, who wanted new interpretation of the Bible and belittle the power of the Catholic Church, in way to give religion freedom to the exploited masses. After the war ended in 1648, Europeans met at Westphalia to sign an agreement known as the treaty of Westphalia. The treaty has its idea on the view of a French philosopher Jean Bodin. It is important that we know the major agreements of the treaty and the legacy of the treaty for Europe and the rest of the world. The treaty has four major achievements. (a) The recognition of sovereignty of each state, that is no state must interfere in the affairs of another state. (b) Every king has the right to rule over his territory without any interference and can determine his own religion. (c) Every state should be considered independent from other state and must be seen as equal to all other states. (d) The end of pope’s power and the recognition of the king and the fall of feudalism. Hence, the end of the war brought in a new change in Europe, feudalism was shifted for absolute monarchy, that is the absolute power of the king ruling with all powers anyone to challenge the king. Hence one can see it is just a shift from one powerful to another powerful (from feudalism to absolute monarchy). At this stage the kings had alliance with the financiers for greater trade expedition, more so there was development in technology which helped in warfare and imperialism. This period also brought about Urbanization, as many people started moving into the urban area since there are no more feudal, landlords to work for. People were search for work in the urban areas to get job for wage. Political Revolution It is no doubt that soonest after the 30years war, Europe came under absolute monarchy rule which only lasted for (1648-1789). It was clear that the kings were as powerful and oppressive as the former feudal landlords. Therefore any stage came up when political philosophers in Europe made attempt to contest the absolute power of the king, so that there would be political freedom and equal representation of the people. This period was known as Enlightenment, a period for development of political philosophy in Europe, which emphasised on popular political participation of the people. It was a period that gave birth to democracy and openness in governance in Europe. The enlightenment broke the power of the king and brought about democracy which was supported by the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity. The political
- 7. philosophers of then spoke against the absolute power of the kings, they wanted the masses to be given appropriate share and recognition. During this period, there was huge literacy rate in Europe so therefore many people came to know what the political philosophers were saying. There was lot of printing press house across Europe. This period also contributed to the development of nationalism in Europe. Obvious nationalism is the by-product of urbanization as many people were associated themselves with their urban areas and demanded for their rights. On the whole, there was political revolution from monarchical absolute rule to popular sovereignty, whereby power was shifted from monarch to the people, which can be termed as democracy. Economic Revolution Europe’s economy changed as a result of many factors, among which was the existence of economic thoughts that changed the direction of economic interaction and the industrial revolution. What is industrial revolution; it is the change of mode of production from subsistence to industrial production, that is the production of larger quantities of goods whereby there is surplus and more profit is earned. It is the start of industries in Europe, whereby Europeans constructed industries for labour, and people had to work in the new industries. Adam Smith was a prominent economic philosopher who gave the idea for large production, although there were other economists. This economic revolution can simply be said to have come in the shape of the industrial revolution. It resulted in the demand for raw materials by the European and that also contributed to colonialism and later years imperialism carried out by the Europeans in Africa and Asia. The industrial revolution started in Britain, but the question is that why it commenced in Britain and not other part of Europe. The reasons for that are not far fetched. (1) Britain has a systemic agricultural practice, whereby landlords were able to engage in large-scale production, in this way, the production was in surplus able to feed the population as well as supply the factories. (2) Britain before the industrial revolution has had a trade revolution, such that the British had good trade network both nationally and internationally. Before the industrial revolution, British merchants and ships have succeeded in creating trade network around the world, and the influence of British merchant cannot be denied. In this way, Britain was able to sell its industrial product around the world. (3) The British had taking the lead in bring together scientific knowledge and trade together, hence during the industrial revolution the government helped it scientists to develop and facilitate the industries so that Britain could maintain leadership among the Europeans. The economic/industrial revolution brought about new life in Europe, it resulted to population explosion as many people were moved from the rural areas into the urban towns and cities, therefore there was overcrowded in the towns and cities.
- 8. Secondly, the economic revolution put away people from their homes, before the revolution many worked as farmers beside their homes but the industries demand people to leave their homes for the factories and industries. Thirdly, it brought about the situation whereby people have to leave closer to their factories, thus new accommodations came up and network of trains were made to convey people from long distance to their factories. It was this economic revolution that further resulted to more scientific discoveries within Europe and made Europe for head and giving the power to maintain that economic influence over the rest of the world till today. Western Imperialism’s Second Wave The second wave of western imperialism was no different from the first only that it was carried out by same and different powers. It was an aggressive scramble and partition for land outside Europe. This period was different to the first period because Europeans had became powerful and more industrialised so many European countries found themselves in Africa and Asia fighting over land and resources. One thing should be clear they this wave of imperialism was seen as the rule of the superior over the inferior known as social Darwinism. Europeans believed they have to Christianized the people of Africa and Asia and also make them civilised, however they major intention was the exploitation of these continents. The World Wars The power and technological advancement of the Europeans coupled with their colonial expedition triggered two wars in Europe and across their colonies. The 1st war happened because of geopolitical reason and the assassination of duke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. After the war which had caused lost of lives and properties the Europeans went to a treaty in Versailles known as the Versailles treaty where fourteen points of Windrow Wilson was tabled and the creation of the league of nations came to life. The Americans were not part of the 1 st war and did not join the League of Nations because the US senate refused. The League of Nations was created to maintain peace but that could not be realised, hence the 2nd World War came to being. It was the display of Germany, Japan and Italy on one side and other powers like Britain, France, USA, Russia and China on one part. The war ended with the defeat of the Germany, Japan and Italy and the treaty of Potsdam which brought about the new international organisation commonly known as United Nations. The war ended with the fall of European powers like France and Britain and the new power of USA and Russia, and the a new destructive weapon known as nuclear weapon which was firstly used on the Japanese by the USA during the 2nd WW.
- 9. Totalitarianism and Fascism, these are authoritarian system of government that is state-centred that is the state is in charge of the state affair. It monitors both private and public lives of the people. It is also leadership-centred as the people have to see the leader like a demi-god. Such a state if repressive as the people do not have freedom of religion, speech, association and the media is always government censored. It is also a nationalistic system of government where the people are made to love their country so much that they must not dislike the country or hate the leaders. The state is fully powerful and can do whatever it like with the citizens. Germany under Adolf Hitler and Italy under Benito Mussolini were prominent countries that practice these systems known as Nazism for Germany and Fascism for Italy. Another face of such system is communism established in Russia by V.I Lenin and later modified by Joseph Stalin. Chapter Three We are always faced with three different words but always used to mean the same thing, which in reality have different meanings. Culture, tradition, and civilization seem to mean the same thing, but in practical terms one should not see them as the same. Tradition is a sort of knowledge which is gained from one generation to other. Tradition can simply mean norms, values which are agreed upon by certain people within certain period and later transferred to coming generation. In this way one can say that tradition which the inherited values we often get from our predecessors. Culture is a broad term which carries with it, human history, tradition, language, social, political and economic behaviour of certain people. Culture is the big picture that describes people and makes them different and distinctive from others. There could be Pantan, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh culture, and at the same time there could be culture which carries the way of life of the whole sub-continent. However, you can see that there are differences between Pantan, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh cultural life, this meant that they share different tradition because they have lived differently for several years. The development of culture into a well defined system is what could be called civilization. Civilization is the modernization which is reflected in a certain culture, that is when certain people develops their political, socio-cultural, economic, and technological behaviour such that it catches the admiration of others and more
- 10. importantly having ability to influence others people way of life. Then such a cultural development is what is known as civilization. The Arabian culture became a civilization simply became they were able to modernise it and it had influence on other, so does the western culture which later developed into a world civilization known as the western civilization. But we have to know that before a culture could turn into a civilization it passes through various stages, it is evolutionary from one stage to the other. Ideology could be creed, doctrine and belief which have be planted in our mind in order to maintain certain structure or system. In Islam, the belief in one God and other aspects of five pillars is an ideology that is geared to sustain our belief and being a Muslim. Ideology is an instrument often used to maintain the continuity of certain system, without an ideology system cannot survive. Every system you might have thought of such as capitalism, socialism, communism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and many other have the ideology driving them. This simply means set of belief that adherent of the system must hold and live with. Nation is a political term which is used for classification of people within certain boundary. Simply a nation has be defined as a unique term used for people sharing common tradition, heritage, culture, history, language, living in certain territory for several years and believes they are part of a certain ideology. For instance one can see a lot of nations within the geographical boundary called Pakistan. There are Pantans, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh all believe they are nations. Before the coming of colonial ruling in various parts of Africa and Asia, people were fragmented as nations or ethnic groups, but these colonial rulers merged many of these nations together in what are today countries. However, this merge have serious caused problem because these fragmented nations coming together believed they are not the same, hence that resulted in conflict seen all over the world. State is a political entity having a territorial boundary in a certain geographical location, with considerable people (population), governmental structure, being economically viable to cater for the welfare of the people and having the status of sovereignty which keeps the state from external influence, that is the state is independent to determine its own administration and no external government can dictate for it. The concept of state is a modern term which had its origin from the Westphalia treaty after the 30years war in Europe between the Catholic Church and Protestants. If you could remember that the treaty brought about sovereignty of state in the shape of the king and its territory. It should be noted that many a time state and government are interchangeably used as the same. The state cannot function without a government and there would be no government without a state. Nation-state is the outshoot of the Westphalia treaty which gave sovereignty to state. It is a modern term which was transported from Europe to other parts of the world during and after colonial period. One can say that nation-state is the result of the merge we discussed above. This is a situation whereby many nations within a
- 11. geographical location were brought together as one, so that they can share one state feature. The mean that a nation-state could be one or many nations coming together as a single state, leaving behind their differences for a common goal. The formation of Pakistan as a country is a lucid example of how different nations of Pantan, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh and Bengal came together to form a country known as Pakistan. On the whole a nation state is a sovereign state whose sovereignty is recognised by other nation-states. Socialization is the process of making a person part of the society. It is a process whereby newcomers be it foreigners or adolescents are taught the norms, values, tradition and regulation of the society thereby making them fit for the society. It is a way of making a citizen politically conscious of his society, economically and culturally aware of the demand of the society. Socialization does not happen by itself but follows certain processes and manner, in this way there agents of socialization. The family or home is the 1st agent of socialization at home children learn political lesson such as being respectful to elders, leadership and follower-ship, parent show their children leaders and political figures on the TV a way of intimating them with politics. The home socialises the children on what the society demand of them, hence making them fit for the society. Peer group is another agency where socialization takes place. Age-mates meet, discuss, exchange views and share ideas among themselves. During this interaction socialization takes place as different people come with knowledge learnt from their various homes. In this way, one can learn from his age-mate or peers, however it could either be positive or negative. The school is another agent of socialization that tries to shape the orientation of people towards the demand of the society, that is being socialized. The school is an avenue where lots of things are taught and learnt. It touches all aspect of human lives; it could be seen as a continuity of what is taught at home or among the peers. The school is a formalise agent of socialization, most especially theoretical socialization is taught in the school, hence the recipient put in to practice at home, among peers and during interaction with the larger society.
- 12. The religious institutions are also part of the socialization agents that obviously put into practice lessons of socialization. Religious leaders and home gives practical knowledge especially political aspect of socialization. Governmental institutions and the mass media are other agents of socialization where both visual and audio aspect of socialization comes to us. The importance of these agents cannot be underestimated. Government institution gives direct political, economic and socio-cultural lessons which are like compulsory for all government workers to comply with. Likewise, the mass media plays significant role in socialization from various angles, socialising the general public at every moments of the day throughout the year. Subculture is a representation of smaller cultures within the bigger society that is the existence of certain cultures which are part of the society. For instance the United States of America might be a nation of English, yet there are various other subcultures such as the Latinos, Hispanic, African-Americans, Koreans, Chinese, and Asians. Actually the bigger culture in the USA is the English culture, but the composition of certain groups of different races or ethnic groups coming into America with their own culture makes America a multicultural society. Yet looking from the bigger English culture, the existence of those foreigners and their culture is termed as subcultures within the USA. Supranational culture this is the opposite of the subculture as it is the bigger culture which brings together certain people. For instance, Western culture, Asian culture and African culture are supranational cultures in which many nationalities can claim linkage. Even though, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese might be different yet them share same Asian culture, so does people from Africa residing in USA or UK might come from different part of Africa yet they share certain common African value. Nation building the process by which a government attempts to build and develop the economy, political system, and common identity of a nation-state. I think it should be clear at this moment that the coming together of many nations to form a nation-state often cause problem and disturb as mentioned above. Hence, most government after gaining independence tried to build the country into one entity where people of different ethnic group will see themselves as one. Such that Pantans, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh would call themselves Pakistani then saying they are Pantan, Punjabi, Balochi and Sindhi. Nation building demand government to make the people see themselves as brothers and make them understand that their unity is necessary for the oneness of the country. In the same government would try to evenly distribute the national wealth among the people with discrimination. Multinationalism is the existence of two or more distinct nations, each with a large population, existing within one nation-state. Before 1971, the west and eats
- 13. Pakistan were leaving together as Pakistan. Actually both regions are of different nations (Bengali, Pantans, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh) all having considerable population within their locations. Hence their existence before 1971 makes it a multinational country. However, the distinction of language and other factors resulted to the breakaway of East Pakistan into the formation of Bangladesh. Yet the existence of Pantans, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindh as Pakistan makes it multinational country. Nationalism and Internationalism The concept of nationalism is a feeling which we have, or claim to belong to certain nation. It is the identity which we claim so that we can be seen different from others. It is the love of one’s country, whereby we would want the progress of our country over other countries and our national interest becomes our greatest desire. In the world system, states obviously relates among themselves which of course brings about interdependence. Interdependence is the situation whereby states relies other each other for progress. State (A) gets something from state (B) and (C) gets from (A and B) since a state cannot have all the resources or materials needed for it growth hence it need the help and support of others. This sort of system or relationship could be termed as internationalism, the cooperation of countries in the international system. However due to national interest countries seem to sometimes prefer nationalism to internationalism. Internationalism is seen by smaller state as advantage for bigger state, because they benefit more from the system. Chapter Four
- 14. Power and the wealth of Nations The question we must ask ourselves, is there any relationship between power and wealth, such answer could be answered as our studies goes forth. Power, if we are asked what power is, it is very simple that we always give the answer as strength, military forces, economic strength and many more. Although all these are elements of power of in international relations Power is refer to as the ability to influence others to do what they would not like to do and it is the capability to enforce one’s will on other. In this way influence could be made through military, political, economic strength and any other ways of influencing others against their will. Politics is s relative term that could mean different thing to many people. However on a simple term, it is the process of distribution power among interest group. It is also the ability to manage, organise both human and natural resources in a particular political community. There is a great deal of relation between power and politics. Since we have said that to influence others against their will is power, then the process of influencing others is politics. In today’s world, states play politics among themselves in order to satisfy their national interest. National interest is the primary aim and objective of every country that would like to achieve and would not allow anything to stop the achievement of these objectives. The more power a country can use always show its influential status, and the more power a country has will tell how its politics will be played. Power Assertion There are certain ways in which countries uses power and show their influence among other countries. In international politics, countries show their power through diplomacy. Diplomacy is the ability to bargain well with another state such that one’s state interest is not fully affected. Diplomacy is a give and take process; it is a process of compromise. There could be political, economic, socio-cultural diplomacy. State also shows it power through threat. The more powerful a state is, the more its ability to give threat. Threat is the situation of insecurity, it is the ability of a state to make another state feel fear and to refuse other state from doing its will, desire and intention. Threat can come in three different ways. (a) Threat could be by compelling another state to do certain things. (b) Threat can also be through deterrence that is telling a state that if you continue to carry on with your desire then you should expect certain consequence. (c) If the state after been compelled
- 15. and deterred, yet the state still wants to carry on with its desire then defence comes up. Meaning that the powerful state defends itself against the other state. Another way state shows it power is through logic and bribe which is party of diplomacy. Such that a country might be promised by a powerful country that if it dances to a particular tune then certain amount of money will be given to it or the powerful state will help the other state to achieve certain international status. We have to know that before a threat can be considered as threat it must have three basic elements that is communication, credibility and capability (3c) It is international tradition that state must communicate to other state directly or indirectly about it security concern. Communication can come in the form of showing military weapons, telling other states that you have certain weapon such as North Korea tested nuclear weapon and Iran making military exercise. Credibility is to make other state see the threat as credible. Before a country’s threat could be considered as threat it is when other states considered it credible that is believable, trustworthy and undisputed. However the communication and credibility of the threat will mean nothing is the country does not have capability of making threat. Therefore no state will considered a threat except when they know that the state is capable to making threat and causing harm. Military Alliance, because state feel insecurity and feels threatened, such situation makes state to seek for protection. One of the ways state considers is military alliance. Small states go in alliance with big power, such as the alliance of Pakistan with the USA, India with Russia. At the beginning of the cold war, Western Europe went into alliance with the USA under the treaty of North Alliance Treaty Organization (NATO) to curtail the spread of communism. Russia also formed military alliance with Eastern Europe known as Warsaw Pact. Military alliances have certain advantages such as it ensures security, it relieves military burdens, it makes state get military technologies and it gives prestige. In the same way, it gives certain disadvantages such as losing part of state’s sovereignty, military burden and hatred from other states. One thing should be clear that state considers their national interest before going into alliance. On a final note, threat can be avoided through many ways such as through military alliance, being isolated from world affairs and through self-help that is helping oneself, because not all time other states will give help. Nature of Power: Power could come in various forms as mentioned above, it be come through politics, economic, socio-cultural and technological strength. Through all these forms
- 16. countries power are measured. But we have to understand that power is a relative term as mentioned above. The scope of power differs from country to country. What a certain country considers as power might not be power to another country. For example, if China considers having 30 bombs as power it might not be power to the United States having 100 bombs. So power differs from region to region, country to country, continent to continent. It is also good to know that power is not easily measure unless it is used. You cannot call yourself a soldier until you go to war, or call yourself good teacher without teaching. Prerequisites of Power: Under the studies of international relations, power is seen as tangible and intangible. Tangible powers are those elements of power that we can see which are visible. Examples of tangible powers are military power, natural resources, Gross National Product (GNP) Geographical size, population, and technology. While intangible powers are those elements that can also influence but could not been seen, meaning that they are abstract in existence. Examples on intangible powers are national cohesion that is if a country is united such that the people are not divided simply because they are of different ethnics, they can influence other with such national cohesion. Political will, culture, institutions, prestige of a country, mass media (propaganda), education, secret agencies, religious institution are all elements of intangible power which a state can use for influencing others. The rich part of the world did not become rich just like that, but it was as a result of their power they were able to gain such wealth. If we can go back to history, it will be clear that it was the power of the Europeans that made it easy for them to conquer Africa and Asia and take away their resources. These resources contributed to the wealth of these colonial powers. Similarly, the concentration of power in Europe due to many events such as reformation, renaissance, industrial revolution all gave the Europe and North America economic and political power. Without power there could be no global wealth concentration in certain place. Ranking of Powers It is obvious that power is relative; therefore power is ranked in accordance to certain parameter in international politics. Since we have known that certain prerequisites must be present that we call power, it is in the same way, with these prerequisites power is ranked. The ranking of power goes forth the great power, regional or middle power (Germany & Japan) and small power. The great powers have nuclear and conventional power, the five superpowers; their power can be extended all over the world. Regional or middle power also conventional military power that is limited to their region. All the countries are small powers in their right because they often influence certain event. Consequently, one can say that the power is measured by the national military budget, political will
- 17. for exerting power, and GDP. We always think that the most power country is the country that has the largest military force and power and such country can always win a war. But events have shown that military power and force does not always determine who the win will be. Example of Russia in Afghanistan showed that the mighty does not always win, equally the problem faced by the United States in Vietnam, Britain war with Argentina also shows that winning a war is not determined sometimes by military strength. This situation is so because weapons have now become a globalised thing, there is big market for weapon all over the world, so third world countries also have weapon and that could make them give threat. Since power does not necessarily means military force or weapons, there are some elements of power known as Soft power that could also be used by countries to win a war or influence other states. Soft power simply means the power that necessarily does goes with military forces or weapons such as mass media, culture, education, and diplomacy. Smaller powers which are represented by the third world countries have managed to face the power of strong countries through various measures. Smaller powers have used the weapon of nationalism, international organisation (UNO) mass media, and modern weapon to stop any aggression of big states. Balance of Power is the distribution of power or acquisition of power by state in response to aggressive states. It is the configuration of power in a certain manner. (Balance of power could mean the process of having certain power in order to stop other states from threatening or causing fear, in that the state becomes save and equal in power.) Hence balance of power is a situation whereby there is equality of power among states. For instance balance of power can come in the form of alliance, buying weapons or gaining diplomatic strength. India was the most powerful in the subcontinent after it tested it nuclear weapon, thereafter Pakistan also tested it own weapon. Such a situation is called balance of power. In international politics, there is polarity of power, a situation of power distribution to create equality among states. After the 2nd World War, the world operates bipolarity (power was balanced and shared between USA and Russia, Capitalism and Communism) Multi-polar is the situation where there is more than one power and uni-polar is where there is just one single power. The Nuclear Power The nuclear weapon came to existence during the 2nd WW when the USA used the weapon on Japan in order to stop the war, show the rest of the world that it is the most power and a beginning of a new warfare. The nuclear weapon was monopolised by the USA but later other countries got the technology and the world became a nuclear world.
- 18. The existence of the nuclear power means that state would assure themselves of mutual destruction (Mutual Assured Destruction. MAD). The nuclear weapon obviously has it advantages and disadvantage. Since its existence the world has not gone to a large war like the world wars because it destruction is much. It has also leads to arm race among states. Arms race is the process whereby states compete to get considerable power for themselves so as to be saved from external aggression. An example of this was the situation between Pakistan and India. Geo-economics power Another source of power is the geo-economics power. The economic power of a state tells the amount of influence such state can exert. Geo-economic power was created from a long time process. Europe and North America became geo-economic power as a result of certain development in their region. Geo-economic power gives leverage over other. It also permits rich countries to gain advantage of comparative advantage than the poor state. Chapter Five What is foreign policy and why we need it Foreign policy is the systematic plan, intention, aspiration, and ideals of nay country on how to deal with its neighbours and the world entirely. Foreign policy tells us the nature of a country, it political position, its economic intention and how a country view others. Foreign policy is the strategy of a country which will be used as tools to deal and interact with foreign country. Foreign policy often carries the cultural, socio-political and ideological beliefs of a country. Foreign policy is needed because every organization needs a systematic plan if it must survive and achieve its aim. In the same way a country needs foreign policy so as to organise itself for the future and the present. Foreign policy usually include short-terms and long-terms plans of a country. Secondly we need foreign policy so as to understand how to deal with other country. Thirdly we need foreign policy in order to identify our immediate aspiration, aims and objective. Fourthly, foreign policy is needed so that a country can know ways to achieve a better position in the international affairs. Lastly a country needs foreign policy so that other countries
- 19. will understand it, and know how to deal with the country without and confrontation. What is the role of national interest in foreign policy making? Since foreign policy is a vital aspect of a country, which of tells us the kind of governmental system, political culture and economic position a country has. Many countries around the world always place the making of their foreign policy on national interest. Hence the role of national interest in the making of foreign policy is very much important. Firstly, every country makes policy that will suit it and make it achieve its interest most. That is every country foreign policy is set towards achieving and protecting the sovereignty of the country. Since we have no that all countries in the world puts their sovereignty first before any other thing. So therefore protection of sovereignty is part of national interest. Secondly, no state wants to discontinue itself, therefore it is part of national interest that a state must continue its existence. In this way if a country wants to make foreign policy it must be for the survival and continuity of the country. For instance when USA requested the help of Pakistan on Afghanistan, it was in Pakistan national interest to support itself and see to the continuity of Pakistan than helping its brothers in Afghanistan. Thirdly, national interest tells in foreign policy in that all countries want survival and struggling among themselves, therefore it is only wise to do things that will favour one’s interest than making others get over one. Fourthly, national interest in foreign policy explains the fact that a government have the interest of its citizen at heart, because most citizens want their government to make policy that will favour their country. Lastly, the influence of national interest can be seen in foreign policy as every country wants to be prestigious among other states and want mutual respect, therefore when making foreign policy country will consider what is good for its national interest and its prestige and honour among other countries. What does a state want to achieve through its foreign policy?
- 20. Firstly, a state would want to achieve international prestige and honour with its foreign policy, because a state is like an individual who likes that everyone respects him and give him honour. Secondly, foreign policy brings about achievement of national interest to a country. Thirdly, a state makes and maintains certain foreign policy in order to seek for the good relation with other countries; it might be for economic or political interaction. Fourthly, a state will be able to place itself among like minds with its foreign policy and that could lead to cooperation among states. For instance if a country has policy which shows good democratic principle then country with similar policy will make friend with such a state and that will further enhance mutual interaction and friendly atmosphere. Fifthly, a state can either make alliance or enemy through its foreign policy, for instance during the cold war period, Pakistan foreign policy was directed to the west and that made the USA to make Pakistan a member of the SENTO and CENTO group. Sixthly through foreign policy a country can aggressively, systematically carry out its long and short term plans. Lastly, a country’s foreign policy makes the country understand how others feel about it, because very country’s foreign policy at particular point time gets reaction from the neighbouring states or the entire world. Do we need research in foreign policy? Every aspect of international relations has shown a great deal of research potential, and foreign policy is not an exemption. So therefore research is needed on foreign policy. One, research becomes essential because it makes us further understand the nature of state behaviour within the international system. Two, it gives us the opportunity to comprehend why state changes their intention, behaviour at every stage and brings us to the junction of understanding state’s past, present and future. Three, with a research in foreign policy student of international relations can further grasp the up and down, reasons and importance of foreign policy. Four, a research in foreign policy can brings us to the junction of identifying the similarities and difference among states pattern of foreign policies. Five, a research in foreign policy
- 21. will help policy makers sharpen their understanding of the world, arguably predict the future and allow them interpret the past to comprehend the present. Six, a research in foreign policy help decision makers to make the best of option when making foreign policy and that will reduce the numbers of making mistakes. More importantly, it helps to broaden the understanding of government institutions and see how non-state actors often influence the making of foreign policy. Lastly, foreign policy research opens a wide range of opportunity to a country to understand other countries, to be able to see lot of alternatives when making policies and behave in accordance to international value. How foreign policy is developed? Foreign policy is not just the making of policy makers or group of people sitting in the government office rather it is a combination of many factors. Making foreign policy include public opinion that is knowing the standpoint and view of the general public about certain things so that the citizen would not be offended if the policy latter back fire. It has also be clear that a country develop its foreign policy based on the prevalent political culture of the country. This political culture is further enhanced through political socialization, which includes the family, peer groups, school, religious institutions, government institutions and the media. All of these play important role in the development and making of a country’s foreign policy. Secondly, foreign policy is developed on the basis on the government in a country; the system of government in a country influences the development of foreign policy. For instance, the Central Asia region had passed through 70 years of Communism and that has greatly influence lives in that region, hence after independence they were still under the influence of their past. Thirdly, the style of government also matters, be it democratic or autocratic. Fourthly, a country develops its foreign policy through prevalent ideology, the ideology (Islam) with which Pakistan was created has great influence on its foreign policy. So does the ideology of Zionism also affect the foreign policy of Israel with its neighbouring Arab countries? Fifthly, the history and tradition of a country also contributes to
- 22. the development of foreign policy. For instance the idea of freedom and democracy which the founding fathers of America built the country has always one of the most important elements of American foreign policy. Chapter 8 Why nation goes to war or stay in peace War is a phenomenon that can be understood from many dimensions, simply because human characters and behaviours cannot be understood from just one factor. A person can act in a certain way due to many reasons and factors. In the same way, people or state goes to war for many reasons. People or state can go to war due to demographic reason that is because of having large population, due to certain foreign policy adopted by a country, due to history law, religious reasons or because of environmental or political reason, even it might be due to economic and socio-cultural and ideological reason. It is important to know that no country will go to war if the country does not have the intention or feelings that it will win the war. Most of the times we tend to fight somebody or our friend because we know we can defeat the person. War has always been fought between neighbours and always based on interest. Many countries see war as way to resolve issue that is with the use of violence. This is why some thinkers
- 23. continue to ask the question if war will ever end and if man continues to make weapon then war cannot end, because weapon is meant to be use for violence. According to Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) war is a continuity of diplomacy which involves the use of force and such force does not have limit, since most time we fight to destroy the opposite person. Historians have seen that war has been a phenomenon that has been with man since the creation of earth; hence war should be understood from certain viewpoints. Political Scientists have come to explain war and why nations go to war based on three levels. Levels of Understanding War: Human Nature and Nurture: It is believed that human being by nature is mad, fearful, competitive and always struggling to get the best. Doing this would mean to struggle with others, hence struggling or competition might result to conflict and ultimately fighting (war). Therefore, we are made to believe that human being is naturally a war animal. Hence it means that someone might love to fight due to his inborn character. Secondly, human being becomes warring and loving to fight according to the environment he lives. A person that lives in a community where fighting, trouble and problem is always the way of life would definitely have the instinct of fighting. This means that he would adopt the system of life which he is used to. In the same way, someone might be peaceful if he lives in a peaceful home, society and grows up among peaceful friends. What this is telling us is that the environment with which we are used to often influence our style of doing things. So therefore, someone would like war and fighting if he is used to fighting in his home, or as a result of his inborn character of loving the best only for himself and wanting to struggle with others. On this basis of this understanding, social scientists believe Social Darwinism operates in human society, meaning that one group wants to dominate the other group. A particular group wants to survive at the cost of other group either by fighting or eliminating them. It is equally believed that due to misperception among human beings, states, and communities the end result has always been war and often an escalating. The whole idea behind this is that if we fail to understand each other or try to accommodate other opinion we might find others in problem and conflict. Hence listing to others view and trying to bridge communication gap can help to reduce war. Therefore misperception of others view, opinion and idea should be avoided because that has always been part of the reason why we fight and war among ourselves. State level Secondly, on the state level which explains why state goes to war? State as well as ordinary human being goes to war and fight based on the below discussed views.
- 24. Ideology: Many states have fought due to ideological reason; Christians and Muslims fought themselves due to ideological reason. The west under the leadership of the United State of America went to cold war with the Soviet Union (Russia) due to ideology. Pakistan and India have continued to show hatred to each other due to ideology. The Serbs in the Balkan region have tried to establish themselves over other group due to ideology. So it is simple to know that countries have went to war (Israel and Palestine) due to ideology and that explains why human being will continue to fight themselves if ideology still remain a something important to them. Nationalism, Separatism and irredentism: Many independent states got their independence through war with the colonial masters. Nationalist struggle has always come with force, for instance in most of the French colonies independence was obtained through violence. Equally the division of East and West Pakistan was not easy with the 1971 war. Furthermore, we have seen that war happens within a country or countries due to the feeling for separation (Pakistan and Bangladesh) are a good example. It was believed that India assisted East Pakistan to gain its independence from West Pakistan, hence that we tell us that the hatred between (Pakistan and India) would remain, and that also speak of the issue of Kashmir which has been one of the major issue between Pakistan and India. Hence, to gain land (like Kashmir) or to separate from a country is part of reasons why state goes to war with its neighbours or even within itself. Civil war is another example that tells us the infighting in a certain country. Many a times, people go for civil war for national unity, that is to bring a particular part of the country trying to separate back. Equally civil war is fought for national disunity; this kind of civil war can be divided into two. First, civil wars whereby rebels try to capture the government is known as (state control war) that is the rebel wants to control the state. Second, civil wars whereby certain part of the country wants their freedom or seek independence to form their own separate country is known as (state formation war)this kind of civil war occurs in failed state that is country that is not politically stable. Another reason why state goes to war is due to Economic interest groups in a certain country. In many of the developed country where they have powerful military complexes and industries that produce weapons for export such industries would like to sell their products (weapons) and by that they could influence the government to go to war so that their products could be used because they will gain huge money from it. The military industry in the United States is a very good example that has influence on the government and that explains the war in Iraq because it favours the industry. Secondly, there are many people (economic interest group) that gain from war, for this reason they would always like war because with that they can make lot of profit.
- 25. International Level International System Furthermore, it is believed that the structure of the international system can also influence war. Since the international structure is known to be anarchical where there is no central government, whereby states can act on their own wish. Such a system man feels could make state goes to war when they feel it is in their advantage. However it is has been noted that no state will go to war if it has no feeling of winning the war. Balance of Power and Arms Race States can also go to war due to insecurity. If there is tension between two countries whereby one if fearful that the other is building store of weapons, then the fearful will also try to get weapon so as to balance the situation. This sort of insecurity leads to what is known as arms race. Hence arms race and insecurity goes together and explains why state might go to war. So war can occur if one state intends to balance the power of the other state. Hegemony Stability State can always go to war for hegemonic stability. This means that if a particular state is the most powerful that does not want other states to balance or overpower it. Therefore it would like that all states comply to its wishes. So in order to stabilise it hegemony it might sometimes go to war as necessary measure. This hegemony stability is often in the strengthening of one’s economic and technological power. Alliance, Interdependence, Security communities and War State can also go to war if they belong to certain security community or in alliance with a powerful state. Since one is a friend to powerful people, that might influence one to misbehave, and that also relates to states if they are in alliance with powerful state or belong to a security community. Alliance and security community often have the rule that if a state among them is attacked, it means all other states of the alliance will stand against and fight the attacker. This is an example of collective security which many security community and alliance holds. International morality and War On this aspect, we are made to understand that the international system does not appreciate morality, instead it is interest that matter most to every state (State national interest) On this basis war has always been one of the international features due to lack of morality, that is respecting others or thinking about the damage war can cause. This leads us to the situation people see war as part of justice (just war). Some states believe that war is just and right if it is used to wash away world
- 26. problem. For instance the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are seen as just war because it is used for fighting terrorism and sending away tyrant rulers. Democracy and Development Lastly, since we have known why state goes to war from the three levels of understanding that is human, state and international levels. Yet some people argue that war can be reduced if certain things are practiced. For instance, if all the countries in the world are democratic, hence there would be no war, because democracy does not go for war. They believe that democratic country respect people lives and would rather go for dialogue, compromise and diplomacy than going to war. Secondly, it is also believed that development reduces the spirit for war. A rich country will not want war because that will destroy its development and progress. Hence if all countries are developed war will become a thing of the past and more importantly the more interdependence the world is the more war will be reduced as nations have strong cooperation among themselves, friendly and do not want war. Chapter 9 Cold War Consequence of the Cold War…… (As explained in the class)
- 27. Chapter 10 Nuclear Weapon A remarkable landmark was set in the art of warfare at the tail end of the Second World War 1945, when United States for the very first time set an indisputable message to both allies and foes that it is at the topmost of military power. This landmark event was portrayed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki scenarios; it was a
- 28. new episode and phenomenon in the theatre of warfare. It is very much apparent that the dawn of nuclear weapon in the history of human warfare meant a total destruction as was the case in Japan. Secondly, the presence of nuclear power and weapon did pave the way for a massive consequence in warfare, as its use is both consequential and devastating. It also follows that the dawn of the weapon was geared towards achieving an ultimate goal, that was to stop the Second World War from the Japanese end as the flame and strength of the war was going beyond expectation. Thus, it worth submitting at this juncture that the utility of the nuclear bomb was rational. Firstly, using the bomb eliminated the emotion, will, morale of the diehard Japanese known for their courageous and uncompromising will on battle-front. Hence, the bomb silenced their will and showed the strength and effectiveness of the bomb. Secondly, winning a war meant demoralizing the opponent and total victory; on that note, the bomb used by the US was an exhibition of military strength and new style in the art of warfare. Thirdly, it was also meant to bring about the earliest possible surrender of the Japanese, and an end to the long and costly war. Fourthly, Japan became the testing ground for the US to portray the level of her advanced technology and more importantly to sending a signal to its Soviet rival. The US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki gave the Soviets still more reason to distrust and suspect the intentions of the United States. Each point of disagreement was magnified, each misunderstanding became a weapon, and each hostile act was positive proof of the other side’s evil intention.1 The end of the Second World War opened a new chapter as the nuclear age began with the use of the new weapon of unprecedented destructive power, a weapon that signified a magnificent product of pure physics.2
- 29. The rationale behind the nuclear age and it utility was that the bomb was meant to enhance a shock value. Evidently, the nuclear age brought in more problems for man as greater health related problems were incurred, lot of destruction humanly and materially. The long time consequence of the war cannot be underestimated, as the use of the weapon was questioned and tons of blame was shouldered upon the US for bringing alive such weapon. As the world drew the curtail of the Second World War and the dawn of the nuclear age, conflicting interests crept up between the two Super Powers. Without any iota of doubt, the United States maintains an edge over the Soviet on the premise of the new technology of nuclear weapon. By that, both the Soviet and other European nations became resentful with the feeling of threat, and ultimately joined the wagon of nuclear powers. A nuclear race began which of course turned the pages of history into a nuclear deterrence world. Perhaps it is mentionable that the dawn of nuclear deterrence (race) sealed the door to a more devastating and destructive war, as was witnessed in the 2nd Word War. However, prior to the attainment of new technology by the Soviet, Europeans and other latecomers, the United States did maintain and control a monopoly of this new atomic technology through secrecy and monopoly of nuclear raw materials. That period could be depicted as an era of domination by the U.S. Washington was and not at any particular time ready to share it’s military and nuclear technology with anyone even its closest allies. That of course is a propensity of making itself superior above others. In order to affirm its hegemony of nuclear technology, the United States sought the establishment of an international organisation that would control the acquisition of new technology by other nations. Since the use of the nuclear weapon buttered the hatred and mistrust between the Super Powers, it is no doubt that the Soviet would not accept any hegemonic posture of the US in that respect. Hence, the Soviet Union demanded that the United States
- 30. unilaterally destroy its existing stockpile prior to the creation of any international authority.3 Impact of the Nuclear weapon on international Politics 1, Deterrence, the nuclear weapon create an atmosphere of deterrence that is to make other state fear consequences of attacking. States measure the cost and benefits of going to war since nuclear war was so powerful and could cause serious damage. So the nuclear weapon deter states from fighting or going to war as in the case of Pakistan and India after both countries got nuclear weapons. No state ready to lose. 2. The nuclear weapon facilitates interdependence among states, since no state wants to lose and wants war, hence they would rather have a good relations by fostering economic, socio-cultural and political interaction. We have mentioned that industrialised countries where development is taking place do not fight to war among themselves. 3. The nuclear weapon helps to save the world from eliminating civilization, because of the destructive nature of the weapon which can cause serious and unthinkable damage. Hence by having the weapon the international system was saved of eventual elimination of world civilization. 4. The nuclear weapon as a result of its nature helps to reduce the tendency of wider world like the 1st and 2nd World War where many lives and properties were lost. We cannot say that seen the nuclear weapon there has been no war, but the scale of these wars were not as wide as the 1st and 2nd World War. 5. The new weapon also brought about a new style of warfare into the international system that is strategic and tactical warfare. It is a mutual assured destruction (MAD) meaning that if war comes up with nuclear weapon in use there will be massive destruction which is quite different from the kind of war before the nuclear weapon was invented. 6. The nuclear weapon brought about institutionalization of weapons. Due to its nature the nuclear states and other non-nuclear states came to the agreement that a
- 31. regime should be institutionalise that will monitor the nuclear technology such as the Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and International Atomic energy agency (IAEA) 7. The new weapon also strengthened the concept of balance of power in the international system. 8. It also contributed to the arms race, whereby states want to get weapon to protect themselves because they feel unsecured. Pakistan became insecure when India got her nuclear weapon so therefore Pakistan also raced to get the nuclear weapon and that created a balance of power but also increased arms race. 9. The nuclear weapon brought about discrimination in the international system, simply because some countries have the technology and some do not have, hence a nuclear technology monopoly. So it is this monopoly that pushes other have-not countries to want to acquire the weapon as Iran and North Korea are accused of wanting nuclear weapon.
- 32. Chapter 11 The changing Nature of War It has been established why human being goes to war as explained by the three different levels of understanding war. One has no doubt in his or her mind that warfare in the present age has changed remarkably. The style and tactics of today’s war is very much different from the kind of war fought in the olden days with crude weapons. In today’s war there is more destruction which could have never been thought of in the past. As observed above that the dawn of the nuclear age which brought in the nuclear technology and nuclear weapon made today’s war very much sophisticated and destructive. Hence what is war and how could be describe war. Before going into definition we have to understand that war can be as a result of civil strife, struggle resulting to what is usually called civil war. It could also be a struggle against colonial rule, leading to war of independence. In the same fashion, war could be as a result of conflict of ideology as seen in India-Pak partition in 1947. It is very much easy to witness war if there is nationalist struggle. More familiar to us is the war between states often called interstate war. According to a research called out by Michigan University, an estimate of 1000 persons or causalities was identified as the number which would determine that a conflict has turned into war. However such an estimation is non-binding it could be differ to others understanding of war. Yet we can still accept it as a parameter to determine a war. Hence what is war: War is an aggression involving the use of violence, weapon, and combatants often between or among states. The development attained in warfare is primarily as a result of technology, coupled with the availability of resources and capital investment. Hence there would be no war, without violence, weapon, combatant, technology, resources and finance. However we have to quickly register a fact that today’s warfare has moved beyond border, it could be intercontinental or global. It is no more war among Europeans,
- 33. Asians or Africans. Today’s war technology can move war beyond border. Secondly, advance communication, transportation have equally enhanced today’s war. Before 1945 most of the wars had been on the European soil as well as in the continent of Asia and Africa. But by the end of the 2nd World War, European ended their war due to the destruction incurred. There was a big shift after 1945 such that most of wars happen to take place in the third world countries but that was so because after the 2nd World War most the colonies started demanding for their independence which often times result to war. Even after attaining independence these independent countries find themselves in civil wars as result of the bad colonial arrangement which divided the people and make them hate themselves. Sometimes it is argued that democracy doesn’t go to war, that of course might be right yet we have seen that many democracies had gone to war. Perhaps America which claims the leader of the civilised war and democracy had gone to several wars: Lebanon (1982-84) Grenada (1983) panama (1990) Persian Gulf (1990) Somalia (1992) Haiti (1994) Bosnia (1990s) Kosovo (1999) All of these wars were to protect American interest, that explains that regardless of the type of governmental system, there could always be war if national interest is in question. Modern war in strategic studies is characterised as 3CI (communication, control, command and intelligence) all of these are essential in modern warfare. In view of this, today’s war has become mechanised with weapon which are hi-tech operated and mechanical. It also involve the use of the computer as we have seen in video game, perhaps in order to disrupt the communication system of an enemy computer virus is used.
- 34. Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16