War and Ideas

This book collects the key essays of Professor John Mueller on war and the role of ideas and opinions.Mueller has maintained that war (and peace) are, in essence, merely ideas, and that war has waned as the notion that 'peace' is a decidedly good idea has gained currency. The first part of the book updates this argument, noting that as ideas have spread, war is losing out not only in the developed world, but now in the developing one, and that even civil war is in marked decline. It also assesses and critiques more recent theories arguing that this phenomenon is caused by the rising acceptance of democracy and/or capitalism.The second part updates his argument that the Cold War was at base a clash of ideas that were seen to be threatening, not of arms balances, domestic systems, geography, or international structure. It also maintains that there has been a considerable tendency to exaggerate external threats'”currently, in particular, the one presented by international terrorism'”and to see them in excessively military terms.The third section deals with the role public opinion plays in foreign policy, and argues that many earlier conclusions about opinion during the Korean and Vietnam Wars apply to more recent military ventures in the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This part of the book also focuses on the conduct of war itself, and particularly on evaluations of the enemy, a key issue that is often underconsidered by military planners and analysts. It argues that much of what has been called 'ethnic' warfare has been more criminal in nature, and that enemy capacities were much underrated in the Vietnam War and much overestimated in the Persian Gulf War.This book will be of much interest to students of international relations, security studies, foreign policy and international history.ã