Why Nations Fight: Past and Future Motives for War

Why Nations Fight: Past and Future Motives for War
ISBN-10
1139490133
ISBN-13
9781139490139
Category
Political Science
Language
English
Published
2010-09-02
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Author
Richard Ned Lebow

Description

Four generic motives have historically led states to initiate war: fear, interest, standing, and revenge. Using an original data set, Richard Ned Lebow examines the distribution of wars across three and a half centuries and argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, only a minority of these were motivated by security or material interest. Instead, the majority are the result of a quest for standing, and for revenge - an attempt to get even with states who had previously made successful territorial grabs. Lebow maintains that today none of these motives are effectively served by war - it is increasingly counterproductive - and that there is growing recognition of this political reality. His analysis allows for more fine-grained and persuasive forecasts about the future of war as well as highlighting areas of uncertainty.

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