Introduction
In the history of human civilisation, war and conflict has been a major setback of economic development.In the past one century, United States alone has sent more than 39 million military men to fight different wars globally. Unfortunately, more than 630, 000 of the military men have been killed. More than 1.2 million people have been maimed and seriously injured in the event of war. Each of these solders was or is a person with individual goals, ambitions, dream and real values. The families of the victims of war have suffered physically and psychologically. There have been various causes of war that have seen nations turn against other nation and end up using high-tech weapons and even weapons of mass destruction to fight each other. For example, United States used atomic bomb, in one of the saddest tragedy in the history of war to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The effect of that bomb is even felt today. The victims and people who survived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack war subjected to mutational disabilities that rendered them weak and vulnerable to other diseases such as cancer.The list of wars that have registered more than 1 million deaths is long, from the World War I, World War II, Vietnam War to Iran-Iraq War among others, have resulted to great destruction of properties and infrastructure. This destruction has maimed vital components of economic development in the nations that participated in the war. First, big budgets have been channelled towards facilitating war rather than economic development. Secondly, destruction of properties and life has also weakened the tools that support economic advancement.
Strategies of Avoiding Armed Conflicts
In most cases, war has been used as a means to achieve certain objectives by the parties involved. Some try to solve conflict through invoking forceful measures, which in most cases does not solve conflicts. However, there are different approaches in the modern world that have fostered stable and peaceful coexistence between different nations.These approached have significantly contributed towards peaceful relationships and economic development.
A recent research byBlanchard (2009), whichevaluated the impact of economic interdependence on military conflict based on a wide spread panel data set of 290,040 nation-pair investigation from the year1950 to 2000. The findings indicated that an escalation in bilateral trade interdependence significantly reduces the chances of inter-state military conflict between the two associates. When countries engage in trade treaties and sign vital agreements to work together, they tend to work towards sustaining their relationship (Appiah 51). In so doing, they avoid possible conflicts that might halt the trade between them. For example,in 2015, the United States imported more than 9 million barrels per day of petroleum from more than 87 countries, with main import countries being Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Venezuela. United States relates well with these countries and even supports them in different projects. Such relationships have strengthened over the years as a result of trade between them.
Global trade openness also considerably promotes peace (Hinde 69). Several researches have shown thatintensification in global trade openness would significantly reduce the chances of military conflict as it leads to apparent increase in bilateral trade interdependence. The reason behind this upsurge is the fact that an open global trading market will prevent a state from starting war against any trading partner because other trading parties in global trade prefer to do business with peaceful associates.
Collaboration and conversation plays a significant role in promoting global (Hinde 124). Collaborations between countries and international corporations have brought a new sense of tranquillity and understanding between different nations. For example, in the bid to end rivalry between Israel and its neighbours, a bold initiative was launched in 2002, the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization (IPSO), a collaborative platform launched to gather scientists from both parties to pursue common projects. The objective of creating such institutions is to promote peace through collaborative interactions between fighting parties. Great corporations such as Microsoft, Samsung, and Apple among others are collaborating with other corporations in regions which are considered rivals to build trust and understanding these nations. Also, cold war can be averted through intercommunity collaborations in different events and celebrations. Communities can work together for common good and even organize tournaments and other creative events that can promote peaceful collaboration.
Artist and movie makers have also significantly contributed towards fostering a peaceful world. Artist of war have created vital records of the events of war through drawing to remind people of the havocs of war. They use their creativity to come up with pictures that depict certain events of war to promoted peace and understanding among different groups. Disastrous effects of wars such as World War I and II were extensively brought out by artists to remind people of what might come along if they engaging in another war. Artist such as Paul Nash, Christopher Richard, Sir William Orpen, and Henry Moore were among the artist who brought out the World War I and II as the most disastrous event that ever happened in the history of global war and conflict. Movies such as The Great Escape, Platoon,Full Metal Jacket, Schindler’s List, The Enemy at the Gates, Pearl Harbour, We Were Soldiers, Downfall, Hotel Rwanda, and Lone Survivor among others have captured important events in real wars. These movies portray great destruction of both human and infrastructure and clearly bring out selfishness and ignorance as the main causes of war. From these examples, people can learn from previous events of war and avoid such occurrences.
Post-war trauma among the victims of war can also help in promoting peaceful relationships between nations. Stories narrated by survivors and victims of war portray war as the most tragic mission planned by mankind out of ignorance (Ghobarah et al 24). In the event of war, soldiers and innocent civilians are murdered and others injured or maimed. These situations subject the victims to new paradigm and great suffering after the event of war. Some are paralysed while others are subjected to physical disabilities that derail their capabilities subjecting them to abject poverty and depression. Retelling stories of war through survivors can significantly help ovoid its occurrence in future.
The essence of technology in promoting peaceful relationships between nations has been debatable. Majority feel that technology has positively contributed towards peaceful coexistence while other feels that it has encouraged waramong nations. Different military technologies are such as airplanes, warship, arsenals, tanks, drones, satellites, supercomputers, and GPS among others are all array of the modern high-tech battlefield. The most basic question that we should ask is what is the significance of all these high-tech tools of war? They must have been created to establish certain purpose, without which they would not have been fashioned. Regrettably, some nations want to test their high-tech tools in a battle field, including most lethal of them, such as nuclear weapons. There have been tensions among different state as a result of great technological advancement. United States have collided more often with China and North Korea as result of high-tech tools of war.
According toVan Creveld (2010) “technology shapes warfare, not war” (7). War has distressed almost every condition known to human history. Warfare is the means through which war occurs. It is what can be termed as manoeuvre of armed forces in the battle field or the clash of arms. It involves what military experts call operations, whether or not the conflicting forces actually release their organized violence on one another. Essentially, many categories of group violence, from street gang fights to global terrorism, may reveal some or all of the features of warfare without even extending to this definition of war, but more often than not these violent confrontation use instruments of war (Van Creveld 14).For example, sea and the air warfare were not even possible before the 20th century. However, in the 21st century, air warfare ranges from tactical bombing to close air backing of ground troops to dog combats for air superiority to even pilotless drones that ferry the eyes and ears, and occasionally the ordnance, of operators hundreds of miles away. The United Statesand Israel boasts of missile defencetechnology that can stop the unstoppable, an intercontinental airborne missile.Air warfare differs significantly from marine warfare, not because the approach and tactics of war in those realms differs, but because aircrafts differ from sea vessels. And, undeniably, both differ from land tanks and space rockets and satellites. Each technology shapes, profiles, circumscribes, and administers a new kind of warfare.
Conclusion
Therefore, as conveyed in the paper, globalisation encourages peace through two main channels: firstly, from the increased benefit peace holds for economic interdependence and secondly, fromnationscollaboration and integration into the international market, regardless of the proportions of trade with each trading partner.Hence, economic interdependence can significantly reduce the motivation to provoke a bilateral conflict.Creativity is also a significant approach that can be used to promote peace. Movies and pictures created based on past wars can help retell the fateful stories of war in order to avoid it in future. Additionally, technology is a significant factor that can promote peace but at the same time support warfare. Considering all these factors can amount to significant efforts in ending and avoiding armed conflicts.
Work Cited
Appiah, Anthony. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. , 2006. Internet resource.
Blanchard, Lynda-Ann, and Leah Chan. Ending War, Building Peace. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2009. Print.
Ghobarah, Hazem Adam, Paul Huth, and Bruce Russett. “Civil wars kill and maim people—long after the shooting stops.” American Political Science Review 97.02 (2003): 189-202.
Hinde, Robert. Ending War: A Recipie. Nottingham: Spokesman Pr, 2008. Print.
Van Creveld, Martin. Technology and war: From 2000 BC to the present. Simon and Schuster, 2010.