WHY DO NATIONS GO TO WAR - by Adams Aliyah

From the ancient empires to the modern states, war has being a constant and inevitable feature of the international system. This has raised questions on why counties go to war repeatedly which resorts into violence and devastating consequences. War itself is not an action of the modern world rather it has being in existence for centuries among empires. According to Thucydides an ancient Greek historian, “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. This quote simply emphasizes how a state's power often determine the outcomes in international politics. In this article, there will be a brief examination on the political, economical, ideological and psychological causes of war. The international system is anarchical in nature and there is no global government above the states. Each state has its own power and sovereignty, so therefore states rely on themselves for defense and survival. The major factor causing the nature of war is often fear and mistrust among states which eventually compels them to war inorder to survive. Nations that sticks to the realist form of power, often seeks alliances with powerful countries inorder to protect themselves from possible defeat from another state. Looking though the international structure in the 19th-20th century, NATO which included countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Latvia etc joined hand with the United States inorder to seek protection against Russia. In the middle east as well, it could be seen that counties such as Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates also established alliance with the United States inorder to defend themselves in the most powerful way against regional threats from counties such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan. Other countries such as North Korea choose to stick with China inorder to gain more power against South Korea, this could also be examined as a regional threats likewise South Korea made alliance with the United States in return to keep her defense up and strategic. Natural resources, trade routes and a state's marketing strategy also caused war and international conflict because Nations tend to fight for their economic interest. In a world where each country is desperate of natural resources, an attempted of intimidation may occur from a powerful state to a weaker state filled with natural resources. An instance is sighted in the recent mayhem in the Eastern region of Africa- Sudan. A group of government in the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with an unauthorized government in Sudan caused a devastating and brutal killing in the Sudanese region due to it's abundance in gold.Right here, it is seen how natural resources has triggered international conflict. Also in the Franco-siemese region, there was an international conflict which turned out be a war between Thailand and Cambodia whereby there was a dispute of land that connects the borders of these two countries. International conflict, not necessarily war has being seen in cases such as Nigeria and the Bakasi peninsula, and also Nigeria and Chad's dispute over Lake Chad. War is a feature of the international system that is largely unavoidable and it continues to evolve. It can be most times avoided through diplomacy and negotiations, the interference of state and non state organization inorder to bring peaceful collaboration among the states. This enhances dialogue, cooperative and mutual understanding between states.

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