A rational war can be considered as one in which the parties involved have already considered the risks and costs associated with it but still go ahead to take part in that particular war. However, other views war as an irrational act of passion. For all the motion of the battlefield, the premeditation of war is a rational process consisting of careful and deliberate and calculations (Nilsson, 2017).
Various arguments are in support of the fact that war is rational. For instance, if a particular leader or state view the total cost of the war as being less than the total cost of any available alternatives, then they choose to go ahead with the war. There are also leaders who act in the interests of their states- they believe that the expected benefits of war outweigh the projected costs, regardless of how unfortunate they can be. Such leaders and states may decide to start wars for various strategic reasons and with reasonably rational decision-making processes.
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Most of these states may choose war for gains such as security, wealth, and power. In most cases, they engage in these particular wars while maximising utility in the face of systemic constrictions as well as opportunities. Other reasons for going to war may be to protect the territory of a particular state as well as the state's resources.
There is one major alternative to a rationalistic theory of war; miscalculation and misperception. States may start wars for non-strategic motivations as well as distorted strategic calculations ( Reichenbach, 2016) . This can be due to various factors such as; ancient hatred domestic politics, militarism organizational and bureaucratic politics. In conclusion, rational actors can at time go to war when it is against their own will. This may happen in such cases as internal pressures within a particular state.
References
Nilsson, M. (2017). Causal Beliefs and War Termination: Religion and Rational Choice in the Iran-Iraq War. Journal of Peace Research .
Reichenbach, H. (2016). Rational Choice Philosophy as “Scientific Philosophy”. The Philosophy Scare: The Politics of Reason in the Early Cold War , 91.
