What Is The Cause Of War

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‘What is the cause of war? Discuss with reference to the levels-of-analysis problem.’ In Kenneth Waltz’s 1959 book, “Man, the State, and War”, Waltz devises a structure whereby one examines the cause of war by adopting one of the ‘three levels of analysis’. His three principale themes are as such – 1. War as the consequence of the nature of man; 2. As the result of individual states; and 3. As the product of the international system. Professor Avi Shlaim emphasizes the importance of these levels - “In dealing with the origins of wars, as with any other class of international events, it is important to be clear about the level of analysis.” At each level of analysis, different and varied causes of war can be found. However, the levels of analysis poses a broad spectrum when examining the cause of war, as it is likely that each individual conflict will transcend all three levels. I intend to explore, examine and finally answer the lingering question: on what level do we determine the cause of war? Expanding on the first of Waltz’s themes, Mark Zimmerman explains, “The cause of war is our own human instincts and their emotional structures”. This primal instinct is empirically shown through the work of Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees over a period of 3 years. She found that there was conflict between various chimpanzee tribes over territorial disputes. One could argue that as human beings, we are predisposed to conflict – deeming war as an inevitability of our own human nature. Freud saw all human behaviour as motivated by “life instincts”, motivating oneself to seek food or water, ultimately acting selfishly to survive. On one level of analysis, this ‘life instinct’ could be seen through the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq – home to the world’s 2nd largest oil reserves. American economist Alan Greenspan even goes so far as to say: “if Saddam
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