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Why Nations Fight :

Lebow, Richard Ned,

Why Nations Fight : Past and Future Motives for War / Richard Ned Lebow. - 1 online resource (318 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Apr 2016).

Four generic motives have historically led states to initiate war: fear, interest, standing, and revenge. Using an original data set, Richard Ned Lebow examines the distribution of wars across three and a half centuries and argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, only a minority of these were motivated by security or material interest. Instead, the majority are the result of a quest for standing, and for revenge - an attempt to get even with states who had previously made successful territorial grabs. Lebow maintains that today none of these motives are effectively served by war - it is increasingly counterproductive - and that there is growing recognition of this political reality. His analysis allows for more fine-grained and persuasive forecasts about the future of war as well as highlighting areas of uncertainty.

9780511761485 (ebook)

U21.2 / .L386 2010

355.02/7