Polarity and Nationalism in the Great Power Wars
World Politics Paper 1
Yue Wang
War is the side-product of gregarious life. Conflicts, loathing, lust, love, primates fought each other for food and territory since ancient time and this instinct continues to be seen in the present day. The motivation of war is ambiguous, and there does not exist a universal reason which could explain every single war. Aspiration, security dilemma, self-centeredness, as what classic realism would state, wars are basically resulted from the imperfect taproot of human nature, but in the words of Hans Morgenthau, the role of nationalism is also outstandingly significant, which was proved by two world wars. On the other hand, structural realist Kenneth Waltz believes …show more content…
The assassination of Austrian prince Archduke Ferdinand ignited the war but which probably was used as a disguise for the eagerness of dominance and prestige. “War occurs because there is nothing to prevent it”(Waltz), and European countries were struggling to survive and seeking for greater power, gaining territories from other states was the most efficient way to guarantee the power expanding. United Kingdom created Pax Britannica since 1815 and its hegemonic stability was not declining until World War I. While the previous hegemonic power was weakening, the polarity was gradually approaching to the most precarious power distribution, unbalanced multipolarity(Mearsheimer, 2001), and became the origins of World War …show more content…
On the surface, Russia and China are the bipolar powers in Eurasia, but specifically speaking, they are the hegemonic powers in those two regions: Eastern Europe and Asia. Eastern Europe and Asia have their own unipolar power distribution, which makes great power war unlikely to happen according to the theory of Mearsheimer. However, Russia and China reared in different ways. While Russia is more aggressive concentrating in military development, China is more focusing on economic development rather than consistently propaganda military force. Moving to the issue in the South China Sea, a war is unlikely to be declared, especially when “At least six states or political entities are engaged in territorial disputes with China, three of which are close strategic partners of the United States”(Thompson, 2009). Countering the U.S is not a wise decision for a country which is growing economically, particularly it is about break the distribution of capabilities and leads to a great power
World Politics Paper 1
Yue Wang
War is the side-product of gregarious life. Conflicts, loathing, lust, love, primates fought each other for food and territory since ancient time and this instinct continues to be seen in the present day. The motivation of war is ambiguous, and there does not exist a universal reason which could explain every single war. Aspiration, security dilemma, self-centeredness, as what classic realism would state, wars are basically resulted from the imperfect taproot of human nature, but in the words of Hans Morgenthau, the role of nationalism is also outstandingly significant, which was proved by two world wars. On the other hand, structural realist Kenneth Waltz believes …show more content…
The assassination of Austrian prince Archduke Ferdinand ignited the war but which probably was used as a disguise for the eagerness of dominance and prestige. “War occurs because there is nothing to prevent it”(Waltz), and European countries were struggling to survive and seeking for greater power, gaining territories from other states was the most efficient way to guarantee the power expanding. United Kingdom created Pax Britannica since 1815 and its hegemonic stability was not declining until World War I. While the previous hegemonic power was weakening, the polarity was gradually approaching to the most precarious power distribution, unbalanced multipolarity(Mearsheimer, 2001), and became the origins of World War …show more content…
On the surface, Russia and China are the bipolar powers in Eurasia, but specifically speaking, they are the hegemonic powers in those two regions: Eastern Europe and Asia. Eastern Europe and Asia have their own unipolar power distribution, which makes great power war unlikely to happen according to the theory of Mearsheimer. However, Russia and China reared in different ways. While Russia is more aggressive concentrating in military development, China is more focusing on economic development rather than consistently propaganda military force. Moving to the issue in the South China Sea, a war is unlikely to be declared, especially when “At least six states or political entities are engaged in territorial disputes with China, three of which are close strategic partners of the United States”(Thompson, 2009). Countering the U.S is not a wise decision for a country which is growing economically, particularly it is about break the distribution of capabilities and leads to a great power