This literature review is designed to examine the justification of war from interpretations of scholarly sources with the intention of highlighting ideas and opinions arising from them. The focus for the review is a case study on the Vietnam War and how it has been seen through a realist perspective. It will discuss the implications of war in terms of power and how these impact on a state’s independence, as well as examining the elements of realism and how they are reflected in association to the events of Vietnam. There is specific attention to the balance of power (Rosato and Schuessler 2011) and how its role is concerned in leading the realist theory. The review also looks at variation on the types of realism. Vietnam has been a highly
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The previous paragraph suggested the reasoning to go to war was due to the need or threat of power. According to Rosato and Schuessler (2011) who state Vietnam would not have the ability to influence other large states because it was a minor power, it seems unlikely this idea of power can be used to give sufficient thought for going to war. There are other concerns arising in terms of communist power if Vietnam decided to support China but this type of relationship has not been seen in the past (Zambernardi 2011), meaning there was less need to be involved. At the time of the Vietnam War there was little backlash, the Cold War was in full swing and America was in favour of the realist theory (Rafshoon 2001, 55). However, despite at the time there was minimal criticism, ones of the most influential people for the 1950s was Morgenthau who was highly against the war (Rafshoon 2011, 55) and who will help to demonstrate why the realist theory did not justify going to Vietnam. Realism is generally not know for attention to morals (Calhoun 2001), illustrating how it strongly focuses on the action of war and less on the consequences of it. Another interesting point is to look at is the South-East Asia region involving Vietnam, the region in terms of realism was not actually perceived to be an area of interest (Rosato and Schuessler 2011). Looking after sovereignty for years to come, Vietnam would need to be the state responsible for this (Rafshoon 2011, 58), rather than a more powerful Untied States. Realism is based on the concept of self-interest (Morkevičius 2015) and by using this as an example for Vietnam and its concern for its own state, the interest in protecting the country should not be conducted by the United States but Vietnam. From these arguments it is growing more evident America went to war in Vietnam by no justified
The previous paragraph suggested the reasoning to go to war was due to the need or threat of power. According to Rosato and Schuessler (2011) who state Vietnam would not have the ability to influence other large states because it was a minor power, it seems unlikely this idea of power can be used to give sufficient thought for going to war. There are other concerns arising in terms of communist power if Vietnam decided to support China but this type of relationship has not been seen in the past (Zambernardi 2011), meaning there was less need to be involved. At the time of the Vietnam War there was little backlash, the Cold War was in full swing and America was in favour of the realist theory (Rafshoon 2001, 55). However, despite at the time there was minimal criticism, ones of the most influential people for the 1950s was Morgenthau who was highly against the war (Rafshoon 2011, 55) and who will help to demonstrate why the realist theory did not justify going to Vietnam. Realism is generally not know for attention to morals (Calhoun 2001), illustrating how it strongly focuses on the action of war and less on the consequences of it. Another interesting point is to look at is the South-East Asia region involving Vietnam, the region in terms of realism was not actually perceived to be an area of interest (Rosato and Schuessler 2011). Looking after sovereignty for years to come, Vietnam would need to be the state responsible for this (Rafshoon 2011, 58), rather than a more powerful Untied States. Realism is based on the concept of self-interest (Morkevičius 2015) and by using this as an example for Vietnam and its concern for its own state, the interest in protecting the country should not be conducted by the United States but Vietnam. From these arguments it is growing more evident America went to war in Vietnam by no justified