World Politics and the Evolution of War

by John J. Weltman

Overview

In this comprehensive study, international relations scholar John Weltman explores the many roles of war in world politics. With topics ranging from the development of strategic thought to the effects on war of political and technological change, from the uses of force—and threats of force—to the uses of arms control, from the prominence of war in history to its likely fate in the post-Cold War world, Weltman's analysis offers a detailed, thoroughgoing, and rigorous overview of the subject.

Throughout, Weltman questions a number of widely held assumptions. To the conventional argument that the number of players in the international system determines the incidence and character of war, he responds with evidence that suggesting that the social, material, and intellectual context within which conflicts occur is far more influential. Weltman also questions the prevailing wisdom that democracies are inherently peaceful and autocracies inherently warlike, arguing instead that the propensity to wage war—and the effects of war—are largely the products of prevailing expectations: whether or not war offers a means for the cheap, easy, and decisive accomplishment of a government's objectives. And he criticizes the dominant view that conflict—even violent conflict—is psychologically "abnormal."

Drawing upon the traditional distinction between wars of "attrition" and wars of "annihilation," Weltman sees the trend toward the former—despite the anomalous Persian Gulf conflict—aslikely to continue. While this trend does not suggest the end of warfare (much less the "end of history"), it does imply the localization of conflict and the minimization of the danger of global conflagration. The "new world order," Weltman concludes, will be far from peaceful, but the conflicts that do arise will be slow-burning and difficult to spread. Outside intervention in these conflicts will be costly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801849497
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John J. Weltman's previous books include Systems Theory in International Relations and Challenges to American National Security in the 1990s. He has published widely on nuclear proliferation, the obsolescence of war, international relations theory, and other topics. He has taught at leading academic institutions in the United States and Australia and has held a variety of positions in the foreign policy and national security communities.

Editorial Reviews

An interesting approach to the question of why wars are started.
—Friday Review of Defense Literature

A wide-ranging and intelligent appraisal . . . On the recent past [Weltman] impresses with his balance and powers of observation. He is illuminating, for example, on the way in which geography had a different effect on the stake and the conduct of the Korean War compared to the Vietnam War.
—Geoffrey Blainey, International History Review

From the Publisher

A wide-ranging and intelligent appraisal... On the recent past [Weltman] impresses with his balance and powers of observation. He is illuminating, for example, on the way in which geography had a different effect on the stake and the conduct of the Korean War compared to the Vietnam War.

— Geoffrey Blainey

International History Review

"A wide-ranging and intelligent appraisal... On the recent past [Weltman] impresses with his balance and powers of observation. He is illuminating, for example, on the way in which geography had a different effect on the stake and the conduct of the Korean War compared to the Vietnam War."

International History Review - Geoffrey Blainey

"An interesting approach to the question of why wars are started."

Friday Review of Defense Literature

In the sudden absence of the lodestar by which students of international politics plotted their analysis of war for the past two generations, and in the midst of the subsequent confused milling about, Weltman treats the role of war in international politics as a historical process that was interrupted and temporarily distorted by the cold war. He explores the broad range of influences that have affected the incidence and character of warfare in modern history and applies them to our own time. Throughout he insists on the interaction among the immediate international system, idiosyncracies of individual players, warfare technology, and social organization. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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