Peace and Conflict Flashcards
Positive definition of peace
The absence of war
Negative definition of peace
Not only the absence of war, ‘but also the presence of the conditions for a just and sustainable peace, including access to food and clean drinking water, education for women and children, security from physical harm, and other inviolable human rights.
Conflict
When individuals have different values, opinions, needs, and/or interests.
Violence
- Infliction of physical harm
- When states mobilise their military forces
Political Violence
- Hostile or aggressive acts motivated by the desire to affect change in the government.
e. g. guerilla warfare, insurgency, terrorism, rebellion, revolution, rioting and civil war
Summary of Afghan War
- 9/11 attacks
- Osama Bin Laden responsible
- Taliban refused to hand Bin Laden over
- US launched airstrikes
- Other countries joined the war
- Taliban quickly removed from power, but their influence grew back
- Since then the US and allies have tried to stop Afghanistan’s government collapsing and to end deadly attacks by the Taliban
How much did the Afghan War cost financially and in terms of human lives lost?
$2 trillion
240,000 lives
How is the Taliban still so strong?
- £1.2 bn/year
- mostly from drugs
- taxing people who travel through their territory, businesses like telecommunications, electricity and minerals
Balance of power theory
If one state becomes stronger, that state will take advantage of its strength and attack weaker neighbours. This provides an incentive for those threatened to equalise the odds against more powerful states, either individually or by joining each other in a defensive coalition.
What is internal and external balancing?
Internal balancing is increasing your own power
External balancing is making alliances (economic or military) and cooperation.
3 ways to balance power
1) Bandwagoning
2) Buck-passing
3) Blood-letting
Bandwagoning
- Align with a stronger, adversarial power and concedes to the adversary to become their partner.
- e.g. Britain bandwagoning with the US.
Buck-passing
- Instead of trying to prevent a potential hegemony’s rise, it passes on the responsibility to another state.
How does Mearsheimer argue buck passing can be done?
1) Good diplomatic relations with the aggressor in the hope that it will divert attention
2) Maintaining cool relations with the buck catcher so as not to get dragged into the war with the buck catcher and as a result possibly increase positive relations with the aggressor, e.g. if a state doesn’t speak up in the UN for fear of attraction bad attention from stronger states.
3) Increasing military strength just enough to deter the aggressive state with the increased risk and encourage it to focus on the buck-catcher.
4) Facilitating the growth of the power of the intended buck catcher. Difficult to do in practice.
Blood letting
If a state is an enemy with both the aggressor and the intended buck catcher, it can use a strategy where it causes two rivals to engage in a conflict while the baiter remains on the sideline.
Bloodletting is a further variant of this where a state does what it can to increase the cost and duration of the conflict, to damage them more and increase the its own relative power.
