War, Terrorism, and the Balance of Power

1. War, Terrorism, and the Balance of Power Ch. 14

2. The Problem in Sociological Perspective • Arms race • Cold war • Why is war common? • An instinct to fight • The sociological answer: societies channel aggression • Sociologists and anthropologists do not look withinpeople. • Conflicts always arise among people living nearby. • What is significant are the norms that groups establish to deal with those conflicts.

3. War is not universal • Although hostilities, aggression, and even murder characterize all human groups, war does not • War is just one option, but not all societies offer this option

4. Why Do Some Groups Choose War? • War • An organized form of aggression that involves armed conflict between politically distinct groups and is often part of national policy • Three essential conditions of war • Cultural tradition for war • An antagonistic situation in which states confront incompatible objectives • Nations move from thinking about war to actually engaging in it.

5. Seven “sparks” that set off war • Get revenge • Dictate one’s will • Protect or enhance prestige • Unite rival groups • Protect or exalt the nation’s leaders • Satisfy the national aspirations of ethnic groups • Convert others to different religious and ideological beliefs

6. The Scope of the Problem • War in the history of the West • U.S. is one of the most aggressive nations in the world • Our growing capacity to kill • Recognize how industrialization has increased our capacity to kill • The slaughter continues • War is a common element in history

7. Symbolic Interactionism • Perceptions and the arms race • United States and Soviet Union spent enormous amounts of money developing weaponry. • Without valid data each had to guess what the other intended. • Guessing game led to an arms race • Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMS) buildup • U.S. officials perceived Soviet plans a certain way • Entire nuclear arms race based on symbolic interpretations of what each nation thought the other would do ―symbols are so powerful that they can take on a life of their own • Perceptions and the “first strike” • Like to think that we always act on facts alone • Really act on our perceptions of “facts,” or how we think things “are” • Scary to think that our lives—and those of the world—depend on correct interpretation of one another’s signals

8. Functionalism • The functions of war • Extension of territory • Social integration • Social change • War stimulates developments in surgical techniques • Long-distance surgery • Economic gain • Other functions • Ideological • Vengeance or punishment • Military security • Increase credibility

9. Multiple functions • No war serves a single function • Functions can change • Functions for the victors • Functions for the losers • War is highly dysfunctional for losers • Losers can also benefit from war • Japan • Functions for individuals • Soldiers and leaders • Dysfunctions of war • Defeat is war’s most well-known dysfunction • Destruction of cities • Death of troops and citizens • Fatherless or motherless children • Decline in education • Bitterness that can span generations • Victor can grow dependent on the exploitation of subjugated peoples

10. Conflict Theory • Three reasons that nations go to war • Resources • Conflict theorists claim that central force in human history is struggle for control over society’s resources • Bourgeoisie • Uses resources to keep itself in power and exploit less powerful • Proletariat • The poor, the workers • Expansion of markets • A military machine

11. The Military Machine Today • Conflict theorists stress today’s military machine has increased the threat of war. • The military machine, the power elite, and the globalization of capitalism • Military has become a permanent institution. • Power elite—top leaders of the military, business, and politics • Today’s business leaders support a powerful military. • World of global capitalism • Protect worldwide investments

12. National Security or Homeland Security • Protection of the nation • Major goals of homeland security • U.S. Military machine is used to advance capitalism around the globe • “War is no longer an interruption of peace; in our time, peace itself has become an uneasy interlude between wars.”

13. Research Findings • What reduces war? • Type of religion does not reduce warfare • Type of government does not reduce warfare • Prosperity does not reduce warfare • Shared religion does not reduce warfare between nations • Common language does not reduce warfare • Education does not reduce warfare • Being “neighbors” does not reduce warfare • Nobel Peace Prize is typically awarded to a citizen living in a war-torn nation

14. The Costs of War • Takes huge toll on humanity • Material costs: money • Lost alternative purchases • For price of one aircraft carrier, could build 12,000 high schools • For price of one naval weapons plant, could build twenty-six 160-bed hospitals • For price of one jet bomber, could provide school lunches for 1 million children a year • For price of one new prototype bomber, could pay the annual salaries of 250,000 teachers • What choice is there?

18. Human costs: dehumanization • Characteristics of dehumanization • Increased emotional distance from others • An emphasis on following procedures • Diminished personal responsibility • Consciences become so numbed that people can dissociate killing—even torture—from their “normal self” • Dehumanization in prolonged conflicts • Long wars come to be viewed as a struggle between good and evil • War exalts treachery, brutality, and killing • Dehumanization by the Nazis and Japanese • Dehumanization by the U.S. Military • Collateral damage: refers to the unintentional murder of civilians during combat operations • When dehumanization fails • If a soldier was unable to disassociate his military behavior from his personal identity, he would live a guilt-ridden existence.

19. Human costs: deaths • War’s greatest cost: lives lost • Total war • Instituted by Napoleon • “No-holds-barred” warfare • Human costs: combat fatigue and PTSD • Combat stress reaction or shell shock • Term used to describe the emotional and physical reaction a soldier faces immediately after combat • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) • Describes the long-term emotional distress a soldier experiences after combat

20. The Military-Industrial Complex • The military as an economic force • Those that specialize in armaments have become a powerful force in the U.S. Economy. • The military–industrial complex • Military and defense industries have become a threat to Congress. • Pentagon capitalism: interlocking relationship between Pentagon armaments and U.S. businesses

21. The growing capacity to inflict death • Profit and employment make it easy to forget that military industries represent loss of human life. • The explosive energy of nuclear weapons is measured in megatons. • One megatonequals 1 million tons of TNT • A glimmer of hope • Disarmament • Act of reducing arms/weapons • A growing danger • Availability of nuclear weapons in the hands of a single individual or a small group • Nuclear proliferation increases likelihood of nuclear weapons use

22. The Possibility of Accidental War • Computer failure • Threat of nuclear attack comes not only from dictators and terrorists • Possibility missiles will be unleashed accidentally • Human error • Obliteration of humanity • October 28, 1962 • Nuclear accidents • Unintended detonation of a nuclear weapon could signal the end of human civilization. • Nuclear sabotage • U.S. Government has assured us and the world that a missile cannot be launched without proper authorization. • The significance of symbolic interaction • To gain an understanding of an event’s meaning, all symbols must be interpreted.

24. Biological and Chemical Warfare • Irony of warfare is that killing with bullets or bombs is considered normal, while killing with gas is deemed abnormal. • Use of biological and chemical agents • Agent orange • The production of these agents • Binary chemical weapons • Shells or bombs in which two benign chemicals are kept in separate chambers • When weapon detonated, the chemicals mix, releasing a lethal agent

25. The treaty with a huge flaw • United States, Russia, and other nations have signed a chemical weapons convention. • The flaw? Biological weapons are not covered by this treaty • Continued research and production • Although major nations have begun to scale back on development of biological weapons, the possibility that terrorists will get some of these weapons still remains.

26. Terrorism • 20 years ago, terrorism was only a theoretical topic. • Political terrorism • Involves the use of threats of war—intimidation, coercion, and violence—to achieve political objectives

27. Revolutionary terrorism • First type: enemies of the state use terrorism in an attempt to overthrow the government • Causes of revolutionary terrorism • Existence of a segregated, ethnic, cultural, or religious minority • Perceptions of being deprived or oppressed • Higher-than-average unemployment or inflation • External encouragement • A historical “them” • Frustrated elites who provide leadership and justify ideological violence

28. Goals of revolutionary terrorism • Publicize the group and its grievances • Demonstrate the government’s vulnerability • Force political and social change • Political theater • Terrorists often want to make public their “cause” • The Oklahoma City bombing • September 11 • A sense of morality • Using neutralization techniques, terrorists appeal to a higher morality in justifying their actions. • Japanese subways―sarin

29. Repressive terrorism • Waged by a government against its own citizens • The Khmer Rouge • Russia • State-sponsored terrorism • A government finances, trains, and arms terrorists • Criminal terrorism • Criminals use terrorism to attain their objectives • Often affiliated with political terrorism • Narcoterrorism • Criminal terrorism that revolves around drugs

30. Nuclear and biological terrorism • Nuclear terrorism • 212 tons of plutonium currently missing from U.S. nuclear facilities • Safeguards remain inadequate • Because damage from nuclear attack would be unimaginably destructive, nuclear terrorists could hold major governments, including the U.S., captive • Biological terrorism • Greater threat • Components for anthrax, smallpox, and plague cheaper to obtain than nuclear weapons

31. Social Policy • Political terrorism • The overarching principle in social policy: • “Don’t give in to their demands, for this encourages further terrorism.” • Giving in to terrorists’ demands only escalates terrorism

32. Ten basic policies • Promise anything during negotiations • Make no distinction between terrorists and their state sponsors • Use economic and political sanctions • Treat terrorists as war criminals • Discourage media coverage • Establish international extradition and prosecution agreements • Develop an international organization to combat terrorism • Offer large rewards • Cut the funding of terrorist organizations • Infiltrate terrorist organizations • Application of social policies • Consistently viewing others as potential terrorists is controversial • Targeted killings • Responsible or suspected terrorists placed on “hit list” and marked for assassination

33. Nuclear Warfare and the Elusive Path to Peace • Mutual deterrence • Using threats and the fear of mutual destruction to prevent the other from striking first • Mutual assured destruction (MAD) • Resulting balance of power • A strange path to peace: a MAD one

34. The Balance of power • G-8: Association of the world’s eight most powerful nations • Sometimes called the New World Order • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) • Three potential policies • Disarmament • Bilateral disarmament • Unilateral disarmament • Developing interlocking networks of mutual interest • Global economy • International law • International criminal court

35. Survival as a mutual benefit • Desire for self-preservation that will prevent the nuclear annihilation of humanity • Best social policies would remove weapons of mass destruction. • Foresee no such policy eliminating these weapons, whether nuclear, biological, or chemical

36. The Future of the Problem • Arms sales and war • Political terrorism • Revolutionary terrorism • Repressive terrorism • State-sponsored terrorism • Russia