Violence and War 1 Flashcards
What are the 6 causes of war?
Human nature Misperception Identity Structure of the international system Modernity Immediate and underlying causes
Interspecific violence is common with what?
Each species having its natural predator and prey
Symbolic violence within a species is explained as part of what?
Natural selection
What has made symbolic violence largely redundant?
Control over the environment and social controls over breeding
What is the only outlet for aggressive instinct?
Actual violence within and between social groups such as nation states.
What is the Judeo-Christian perspective on human nature and war?
Original sin
What is Social Darwinism’s perspective on human nature and war?
Survival of the fittest
What is Richard Dawkin’s quote regarding Social Darwinism and survival of the fittest?
“A predominant quality to be expected in the successful gene is ruthless selfishness”
What is Mitrany’s quote regarding human nature and Chimpanzee wars?
“some will take this as evidence that the roots of aggression run very deep and therefore conclude that war is our evolutionary destiny”
What does it mean to say that human nature is deterministic?
We have no choice
Wars are instigated by who and why?
Political leaders may have reasons for preparing for war but they are unlikely to be explained by a thesis of instinctual drive
What is Niebuhr’s quote regarding violence as learned behavior?
“The man in the street, with his lust for power and prestige, thwarted by his own limitations and the necessities of social life projects his ego upon his nation and indulges his anarchic lusts vicariously”
What is the Frustration-Aggression hypothesis and who came up with it?
Dollard
The idea is that frustration, when it cannot be displaced or relieved, turns into aggression.
According to misperception, wars are the result of what?
Wars are the result of misperception, miscalculation, misjudgment, incorrect information.
Wars are as much the result of human frailty and fallibility as of malice.
Mistaken views of a potential enemy’s intentions and capabilities.
Inaccurate assessments
Failure to judge consequences accurately
According to identity, wars are caused by what?
War by definition is a group activity
‘Us and them’
Social psychology: group behavior differs from individual behavior.
