Conflict is part of life and human relations, as it has been through history. It is driven by human nature's fundamental desire for safety, which drives security rivalry through weapons production, pre-emptive defense, and power balance to assure a state's ideological survival. Besides the basic security goal, conflicts also revolve around a community wanting to force its values on another group. Conflicts at the international level differ significantly from other phenomena of international relations as a dynamic social phenomenon. International conflicts have multiple complex components due to the interrelation of their causes and sources, direct and indirect effects, and the different thresholds of purview, severity, and aggression that occur from the conflict. The conflicts may result in detrimental social challenges such as forced migration, long-term refugee problems, infrastructure loss, and high mortality. International conflicts are driven by various motives, including the desire for economic benefits, religious inclinations, civil and revolutionary actions, territorial gain, nationalism, and pre-emptive conflict.
In the history of religion, religious confrontations have played a critical role in determining which ideologies have dominated. According to Haynes (2021), the beliefs founded on religion have culminated in some of the worst levels of conflict. While conflicts can be initiated by different religions fighting against each other, they can also be sparked by various religious orientations, such as Protestants and Catholics warring against each other. Further, various groups have used the promise of a distinct afterlife to instigate and legitimize conflict in the interest of their ideologies. Many of these groups want to achieve a stable society in which to practice their chosen faith. The medieval crusades, which took place during the 10th and 12th centuries, are the most prominent instances of religious strife. Religious conflict, however, continues to exist in current times all across the world. The continuance of radical Islam in the Middle East by militant non-state actors is one notable case of religious-based conflict. Many extreme Muslims believe in pure Islam, a restoration to the Islam that Mohammed observed and advocated. Overall, radicals affiliated with various religious orientations have repeatedly proved their willingness to use conflict to attain their religious goals.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Conflict is also occasionally precipitated by a nation's desire to dominate another's economic resources. According to Tzifakis (nd.), there is a link between retrievable resources and international conflict. Natural resource control and exploitation are implicated in all phases of the international conflict cycle. Firstly, it leads to conflict through unequal resource and wealth distribution. Further, it may lead to the financing of armed forces by the exploitation of high-value resources. Thirdly, parties who undermine conflict resolution and peace accords lose revenue from natural resources. The conflicts are frequent in regions with scarce resources in other regions, therefore, making the region a fighting zone. During the pre-industrial times, a fighting nation's targeted conquests often included commodities such as gold and platinum and animals like cattle and horses. In today's world, the commodities sought to be won through conflict include resources like oil, minerals, and manufacturing materials. The Anglo-Indian battles, which lasted from 1766 to 1849, are a good example of wars fought for economic benefit. The British East India Company fought many Indian states in the Anglo-Indian conflicts. The conflicts culminated in British colonial rule in India, granting Britain full access to the region's exotic and precious resources. The struggle for domination of economic resources has been a significant factor leading to many international conflicts.
Pre-emptive conflict is another significant circumstance that leads to an early escalation of hostilities. In the context of foreign governance and theoretical models of conflict, preemptive war has been a recurring issue (Strauss, 2017). For instance, the precautionary incentive for conflict is found in Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The operational rationale of preventive war is based on the desire to avert the decline of relative dominance in favor of a developing enemy and the potential threats that the shift could provide in the future. Leaders estimate that a war waged early will be less expensive than one fought later after the possible rival has had a chance to improve their military capabilities. However, there is no certainty that the future conflict will be fought under preemptive war conditions. Preventive war is initiated to avoid the mere possibility of a more destructive potential conflict or the potential for the target state to exploit its developing power in a repressive manner. It was also a central factor in the emergence of the first world war and the Japanese attack on the US in 1941. It was also a crucial element in the discourse over the US's invasion of Iraq in 2003 (McNeill, 2018). The preemptive goal was centered on the continued concerns over Iran's nuclear program and discussions over possible policy choices for dealing with it. In this sense, even if a nation wishes to maintain peace, it may need to consider initiating a preemptive war; if it does not attack when the conditions are conducive, it may be assaulted later when the advantage has moved to the opposing side.
Nationalism has a long history of being linked to the most catastrophic international conflicts in human history. In this context, nationalism means a group of people who prioritize their devotion to their ethnic or national group over their loyalty to other countries to demonstrate that their country is superior to others by aggressive subjugation (Bieber, 2018). It is frequently manifested as an infestation. Further, imperialism is interrelated to nationalism since it is premised on the theory that defeating other nations is desirable and grants the victor honor and esteem. Racism can also be associated with nationalism, as Hitler's Germany proved. He started a war with Russia primarily since the Russians, and eastern Europeans were regarded as enslaved or a race that the Nazis considered inferior. Further, the revisionist governments that started both world wars have been studied throughout history as the apex of nationalism's detrimental consequences. Many countries were drawn into the first world war due to extreme patriotism and loyalty for their nation. For example, many pre-war Europeans believed in their country's social, economic, and martial supremacy. As a result, nationalism can enrage entire populations, as many people are convinced their own identity is threatened.
Vengeance, resolution of grievances, or retaliation for a purported offense also plays a growing international conflict. In typical circumstances, where military interventions are increasingly directly challenged, governments can frequently assert that they confront an enemy in a strictly defensive capacity (Stephens, 2019). As a result, the conflict is justified. Nevertheless, this can initiate an ongoing series of reactionary battles that can be difficult to stop. For instance, vengeance has played a central role in the escalation of many European battles throughout history. The Treaty of Versailles, which imposed punitive penalties on Germany, was primarily central to the development of the Nazi communist party and Germany's ultimate domination of Europe during the second world war. Subsequently, President George W. Bush announced war against terrorists after the September 11th assaults on the World Trade Center as a retaliatory action against terrorism. The international conflict began with the occupation of Afghanistan. These defensive battles can be especially contentious when they are begun beforehand, claiming that one nation is attacking another before the other nations attack. For example, the Iraqi conflict began in 2003 with an international coalition led by the United States invading Iraq since Saddam Hussein, the country's leader, was building weapons of mass destruction. As a result, Saddam Hussein posed a threat to neighboring countries and the rest of the world. Defensive conflicts have therefore played a major role in instigating and justifying international conflicts.
The quest for territorial gain has historically been one of the most prominent contributing factors to international conflicts. The expansion in the territory and the resources in that land strongly correlate to a nation's strength, thus boosting the invading nation's security (Kohama, 2018). Russia, for instance, has been involved in illegal territorial claims in Ukraine and Georgia to extend its borders. Accordingly, a country may assert that it has not achieved its natural borders, that such border controls are necessary to restore its security. Therefore, that conflict to expand the nation to its proper scope is often permissible or even regarded necessary. Territorial conflicts, therefore, play a major contributing factor in the emergence of international conflicts.
Internal revolutions within the international system usually result in external confrontations between neighboring countries. Revolutions have both domestic and international implications. It is normal for nations to have ideological disagreements in their boundaries. Intense disagreements often lead to violent revolutions. Domestically, revolutions cause huge changes in a country's political institutions, which impact the country's ties with its neighbors (Von et al, 2017). Revolutionaries can actively export their ideology worldwide by distributing propaganda, supporting revolutionary movements, or even attacking neighboring regimes with military forces. Therefore, revolutions constitute a threat to the current international order as they are perceived as a threat to surrounding nations' sovereignty, prompting non-revolutionary countries to intervene. For instance, the declaration of independence from Britain, founded on the principle of "no taxation without representation," was pivotal in the revolutionary battle in the United States (Passant, 2017, p. 23). To gain independence, the United States had to intensify the conflict to the brink of war to establish a democratic system and develop a stable nation based on their shared beliefs. Internal revolutions, in general, contribute to domestic political upheavals, which might lead to military conflict on a global scale.
In conclusion, civilizations participate in conflicts to gratify their inherent need for security and protection. The latter enables regimes to retain the established order with their favored philosophy, faith, and cultural beliefs. Peoples’ perspective of society directly influences the government and the actions that the nation takes. For instance, nations may constantly be competing for stability through conflicts to guarantee their longevity. The official organization of nations, functioning with the same social implications, may contribute to positive interrelations through adjusting support to make their continued existence possible. One of the effective ways to successfully target the source of international conflict, based on examining human nature's inherent flaws, is to acknowledge, identify, and decipher the human condition and demands that influence humans to fight wars. International conflicts will continue to escalate until people can feel reasonably safe and secure without resorting to violence.
References
Strauss, B. (2017, August 29). Preemptive strikes and preventive wars: A historian’s perspective . Hoover Institution. https://www.hoover.org/research/preemptive-strikes-and-preventive-wars-historians-perspective.
Bieber, F. (2018). Is nationalism on the rise? Assessing global trends. Ethnopolitics , 17 (5), 519–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2018.1532633
Haynes, J. (2021). Religion and international relations: What do we know and how do we know it? Religions , 12 (5), 1–12.
Kohama, S. (2018). Territorial acquisition, commitment, and recurrent war. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific , 19 (2), 269–295. https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcy001
McNeill, D. (2018). Why was Iraq Invaded in 2003? Undergraduate Journal of Politics and International Relations , 1 (1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.22599/ujpir.14
Passant, J. (2017). Taxation and the American Revolution. Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal , 11 (3), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.14453/aabfj.v11i3.3
Stephens, C. (2019, March 2). 10 Cases of International Conflict Caused by Petty Revenge . Toptenz.net. https://www.toptenz.net/10-cases-of-international-conflict-caused-by-petty-revenge.php.
Tzifakis, N. (n.d.). Economic motivations for armed conflict | The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination . Princeton University. https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/386.
Von Einsiedel, S., Bosetti, L., Cockayne, J., Salih, C., & Wan, W. (2017). Civil war trends and the changing nature of armed conflict. Occasional Paper , 10 . https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:6156/Civil_war_trends_UPDATED.pdf
