Interest, passion, (non)recognition, and wars: a conceptual essay

Abstract

This contribution will outline the limits of utilitarian models to the comprehension of interstate war and defend the idea that behind the concepts of interests are always hidden conceptions of (non)recognition between Self and Other. Thus, to pursue objectives such as territorial aggrandizement by war supposes a certain minimization of the ‘Other’ as a simple instrument to obtain something. The hidden normative condition of war underlying the ‘war for oil’ or ‘war for power’ is the framing of Others as inanimate or inferior. Thus, from the point of view of recognition theory, international conflicts are fought when the ‘Self’ holds minimized presentations of Others which are the condition of possibility for the famous war for interest. This article is the first conceptual stage in a larger research project that will examine the basis of nonrecognition, war, and the ‘minimization of the Other’ as a motivation for conflict.