The Causes of Peace and Conditions of War

Abstract

What makes wars end ("the causes of peace") and what keeps wars from ending ("the conditions of war") has been much less studied than what makes wars start ("the causes of war") and what keeps wars from starting ("the con ditions of peace"). Past inattention to war termination prob lems is variously explained by political scientists' concern with war avoidance, strategists' concern with victory and deter rence, and pervasive doubts that thermonuclear war can be kept from running its full course. Protracted, large-scale, non- atomic asymmetrical war—limited for the major power par ticipant but unlimited for the local, post-colonial minor power —and apocalyptic thermonuclear exchange are the two types of war which mainly concern students of war termination. Although there is brief reference to forces making the par ticipants in thermonuclear war strenuously seek early termina tion, if only to save their cities, the main emphasis is on war termination in large-scale, limited war. The problem is dis cussed chiefly from the point of view of a major power seeking to take a "turn toward peace," eschewing victory but unwilling to accept defeat. Factors favoring termination are discussed in terms of the world political pressures for peace, constraints keeping the two sides from using fully the coercive force avail able, competing high-priority domestic policy objectives, the translation of battlefield results into more realistic expecta tions and moderated war objectives, the continuous calculus of sacrifices still to be made and gains still to be realized, and the problem of making peace proposals which are both understood and acceptable.