Theories have been used by many researchers to simply describe the conditions where some factor(s) supposedly managed to influence the likelihood of some past international conflict. When it comes to peaceful resolution of conflicts, democracy plays as a vital system that needs to be adopted by all governments. Waltz looks at neorealist theory pertaining to states competition and conflict stemming from life under anarchy conditions as an argument that brings about interstate conflict. The reason for his argument is that the anarchic states must be able to provide their own security, and threats to their security abound (1988, p. 619). It is in such conditions that States way of life is one preoccupied with identifying dangers and counteracting them; meaning that their relations are tense. As such, the actors are suspicious and hostile and such are the actions that bring about arms races and alliances. Furthermore, the neorealist theory asserts that interstate conflict comes about with the existence of archaic domain, where all parties lust for power (Waltz, 1988, p. 620).
The neo-realist theory that has been argued by Waltz also pegs the question of how misreport theory has attempted to argue about the onset of interstate conflict. Joslyn’s article has talked about the Gulf War preference and the information provided has looked at the contributions of false memories to include things like trust in government and media exposure plus the current war attitude (2003). It is through such asymmetric information looking at the countries strength by looking at their differences in things like a country’s armaments, the quality of their military personnel and tactics, political climate, and geography among others. From these rise issues of possibility of bargaining failure as a result of asymmetric information is a solid foundation in a country’s economics and thus, the insights of war come into play.
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In accordance to Joslyn’s information, it is evident that Kull, Ramsay & Lewis, (2003) also look at the misperceptions brought about by the way media report news. It is in their article that information suffices of how some media sources may have made greater efforts to disabuse their audiences. This was with regard to misperceptions they had in order to avoid feeling conflict about having gone to war or the vice versa. However, such variations are presented by the political orientations of the audience between their networks and obtained attitudes (Kull, Ramsay & Lewis, 2003, p. 592). Hence, the differences in media resources reporting played a role in the onset of interstate conflict.
Van Evera (1984) mentions international relations theory that sees the offense strong and this makes states to adopt aggressive foreign policies that help them in exploiting new opportunities and averting new dangers. Secondly, preemptive war rises due to the size of advantage accruing leading to the mobilizing effect that leaves interstate plans hidden. Third, their “windows” of opportunity and vulnerability are widened, which raises their risk of preventive war. It is in such theoretical assumptions that states are forced to adopt more competitive diplomacy styles. Lastly, in such instances national security is threatened and thus, states are forced to put in place tighter political and even military secrecy.
In this discussion, it is evident that theory means logically consistent and empirically falsifiable explanation that is causal of why some events did occur in the past and, given similar conditions, then they will occur again in future. Therefore, in summation it is evident that neo-realistic theory and international relations theory have played a major role when it came to arguments about the onset of interstate conflict. It is widely elaborated of how the theories have presented an environment that triggered the conflict between states and thus, it should be investigated further to find solutions and avert the consequences brought by conflicts.
References
Joslyn, M. R. (2003). The determinants and consequences of recall error about Gulf
War preferences. American Journal of Political Science , 47(3), 440-452.
Kull, S., Ramsay, C., & Lewis, E. (2003). Misperceptions, the media, and the Iraq war.
Political Science Quarterly , 118(4), 569-598.
Van Evera, S. (1984). The cult of the offensive and the origins of the First World War.
International Security , 9(1), 58-107.
Waltz, K. N. (1988). The origins of war in neorealist theory. The Journal of
Interdisciplinary History, 18(4), 615-628.