Why Wars Are Fought?

Why Wars are fought?

History of mankind is tainted red with the blood of so many people who were killed and who died during innumerable wars that the mankind have fought. The origin of war making dates way back in history and is as old as the evolution of human race.
My argument is that man is inherently violent in nature and it is the wars which bring us to the systematic pattern of government and the current world system in which we happily live. War making defines the winners and losers, rulers and ruled, oppressors and oppressed, kings and kingdoms and above all, the world structure. Continuing with this frame of reference I believe that although there are countless implicit and explicit reasons behind war making and innumerable answers to why wars are fought but one single driving force behind wars is the acquisition of power. It is the lust for power which enables man to play the deadly game of war in order to gain enough power that could establish an unchallengeable authority over those against whom he inflicts the war.
International relations, international conflict studies and study of human race in view of war and conflict provide us with extensive studies and theoretical framework to observe and analyze the pattern of war making. These studies and theoretical work help us in our quest for finding out the reasons behind war making and to critically evaluate the role of power in war making.
The foundational theories of international relations provide us with the initial basis to build up the argument of inherent role of power in wars. Realism as a theory offers an explanation of the world structure and provides an explanation to how and why wars are fought. The hard core realists like Kenneth Waltz argued for a fact that power is at the heart of conflict and war. With states as unit of reference Waltz argued that to ensure their survival and safety states strive hard in an unending quest for power. As world system’s constituent units, states are...