Why nations fight : past and future motives for war
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Bibliographic Information
Why nations fight : past and future motives for war
Cambridge University Press, 2010
- : pbk
- : hbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. 248-287
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
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.
Table of Contents
- Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction
- 2. Theories of war
- Part II. War in the Past: 3. Theory and propositions
- 4. Data set and findings
- Part III. War in the Future: 5. Interest and security
- 6. Standing and revenge
- Part IV. Conclusion: 7. Conclusion
- Appendix: data set.
by "Nielsen BookData"