Interstate War

Shaping the Modern World

Interstate wars have shaped the modern world, contributing some or all of the motivation for such phenomena as the colonizing of the New World, the sale of the Louisiana Territory to fund the Napoleonic Wars, both European and Japanese imperialism, and the formation of the United Nations, to name just a handful of examples, the absence of which from the modern world is unimaginable. War was endemic for many, maybe most, prehistoric communities: Our early ancestors were in a constant state of war, around which many rituals developed and from which many cultural institutions were derived. Raids by warring tribes distributed goods in much the same way trade routes did, and abductions, whether of women to take as mates or men to take as prisoners of war, prevented the community's gene pool from becoming stagnant. The evolutionary role of war—whether we are possessed of an instinct for it, and to what extent our genome has been shaped by it—is an area of great interest and few conclusions. That there is no agreement on the motivation behind war is a problem too little [Page 547]discussed, especially in the public sphere, where it is hidden by louder discussions about the motivation for and justness of any specific war.

Modern warfare is, at least in theory, bound by the international laws of armed conflict, which include the agreements of the Geneva and Hague Conventions as well as other treaties and customs. For instance, noncombatants and anyone not engaged in hostilities are supposed to be protected; for this reason, certain strategies of attack that result in significant civilian casualties, such as the destruction of dams, are forbidden. Attacks must always be directed at military targets. The killing or torturing of enemies who surrender is forbidden, and captured prisoners must be treated humanely. The wounded and sick must be cared for, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent must be allowed to provide medical aid and humanitarian relief. Some of the requirements of the laws of armed conflict are much older than the Geneva and Hague Conventions, such as the tradition of the white flag as the flag of truce. The United Nations and other international bodies exist to enforce these laws and to seek prosecution of war crimes.

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