Wars End Research Articles

Why wars end: some hypotheses

Many books, both scholarly and popular, consider how wars begin. There has also been a large number written on the question of limiting war in general and creating peace. Yet the question of how specific wars end has received far less attention. Except for memoirs and historical accounts of final battles and peace negotiations, it is difficult to find more than a handful of general works on war deescalation and termination.

How Wars End: The United Nations and the Termination of Armed Conflict, 1946-1964. Sydney D. Bailey

<i>How Wars End: The United Nations and the Termination of Armed Conflict, 1946-1964</i>. Sydney D. Bailey

BOOK NOTES

Adams, F. Gerard and Jere R. Behrman, Commodity Exports and Economic Development; The Commodity Problem and Policy in Developing CountriesAnderson, Lacelles and Douglas M. Windham (eds.), Education and Development: Issues in the Analysis and Planning of Postcolonial SocietiesBailey, Sydney, How Wars End: The United Nations and The Termination of Armed Conflict, 1946–1964Balinski, Michel L. and H. Peyton Young, Fair Representation; Meeting the Ideal of One Man, One VoteBarfield, Claude E., Science Policy from Ford to Reagan: Change and ContinuityBarnett, Larry F., Population Policy and The U.S. ConstitutionBish, Robert L., Governing Puget SoundBlair, Roger D. and Robert F. Lanziolloti (eds.), The Conglomerate Corporation: An Antitrust Law and Economic SymposiumBrams, Steven J. and Peter C. Fishburn, Approval VotingCarp, Robert A. and C.K. Rowland, Policymaking and Politics in the Federal District CourtsCigler, Allan J. and Burdett A. Loom is (eds.), Interest Group PoliticsThe Conservation Foundation, State of the Environment, 1982Crecine, John P. (ed.), The New Educational Programs in Public Policy; The First DecadeDilger, Robert J., The Sunbelt/Snowbelt Controversy: The War Over Federal FundsDoig, Jameson W. (ed.), Criminal Corrections: Ideals and RealitiesDunkerley, Harold B. (ed.) with Christine M.E. Whitehead, Urban Land Policy: Issues and OpportunitiesEhrenberg, Ronald G. and Paul L. Schumann, Longer Hours or More Jobs: An Investigation of Amending Hours Legislation to Create EmploymentFeld, Alan L., Tax Policy and Corporate ConcentrationGreenberger, Martin, in collaboration with Garry D. Brewer, William W. Hogan and Milton Russell, Caught Unawares; The Energy Decade in RetrospectHartland‐Thundberg, Penelope and Morris H. Crawford, Government Support for Exports; A Second Best AlternativeKatz, James Everett and Onkar S. Marwah (eds.), Nuclear Power in Developing Countries: An Analysis of Decision MakingLinn, Johannes F., Cities in the Developing World; Policies for Their Equitable and Efficient GrowthLloyd, Christopher (ed.), Social Theory and Political Practice: Wolfson College Lectures, 1981Lovett, William A., Inflation and Politics; Fiscal, Monetary, and Wage‐Price DisciplineMagat, Wesley A. (ed.), Reform of Environmental RegulationMashaw, Jerry L., Bureaucratic Justice; Managing Social Security Disability ClaimsMoe, Ronald C., The Hoover Commissions RevisitedRegan, Tom and Donald Vandeveer (eds.), And Justice for All; New Introductory Essays in Ethics and Public PolicyRothman, Harry, Rod Greenshields, and Francisco Rosillo Calle, Energy From Alcohol: The Brazilian ExperienceSorley, Lewis, Arms Transfers Under Nixon; A Policy AnalysisStifel, Laurence D., Ralph K. Davidson, and James S. Coleman (eds.), Social Sciences and Public Policy in the Developing WorldStone, Alan, and Edward J. Harpham (eds.), The Political Economy of Public PolicyStorey, James R., Older Americans in the Reagan Era: Impacts of Federal Policy ChangesWeisbrod, Burton A., Economics and Medical ResearchWhisnant, David E., Modernizing the Mountaineer: People, Power, and Planning in Appalachia

To End War: A New Approach to International Conflict by Robert Wolto (Pilgrim Press; xx + 755 pp.; $25.00/$12.95) - How Wars End: The United Nations and the Termination of Armed Conflict, 1946-1964 by Sydney D. Bailey (Clarendon Press; Vol. I xxi + 404 pp.; $89.00. Vol. II xxxii + 715 pp.; $98.00)

To End War: A New Approach to International Conflict by Robert Wolto (Pilgrim Press; xx + 755 pp.; 12.95) - How Wars End: The United Nations and the Termination of Armed Conflict, 1946-1964 by Sydney D. Bailey (Clarendon Press; Vol. I xxi + 404 pp.; 98.00) - Volume 26 Issue 8

Negotiating Peace: War Termination as a Bargaining Process

This work draws on insights from the experimental and theoretical literature on bargaining to provide a much-needed comprehensive treatment of the neglected subject of how wars end. In a study of how states simultaneously wage war and negotiate peace settlements, Paul R. Pillar argues that war termination is best understood as a bargaining process.Originally published in 1983.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Searching for Peace: Vietnam &amp; the Question of How Wars End

Contemporary American political science has dealt too little, too late (the late 1960's), and generally too weakly with the question of how wars end, Thies argues. Theorists of the 1950's-1960's are grouped into: limited war theorists, who tended to see warring nations on the analogy of rationally calculating individuals; those concerned with ending wars quickly; and those applying game theory to the Vietnam war. Thies carefully criticizes each approach. A fourth group is more sensitive to domestic political and bureaucratic considerations, but their work tends to focus on one side to the neglect of: the interaction between two sides required to end a war, and the assumptions of each side's leaders about the other side's intentions. The essay combines helpful analysis of the literature with knowledgeable commentary on the efforts to end the war in Vietnam. One hesitantly suggests that it may be useful next time.

JOBS FOR THE ALL‐AMERICAN BOYS

It is hard to fix on a date when the Vietnam war started. It will be equally difficult to decide when American participation ended. Most wars end with a massive demobilization of troops, a decline for war‐related industries, and a surge in consumer‐spending. Yet America's defence companies could foresee the diminution of the Vietnam war as early as 1968, and made their adjustments early.

How Wars End in Latin America

Wars have ended in Latin America since 1850 in various ways. Until 1948 most of them ended on the victors' terms. Before the establishment of the Pan-American Union in 1889, the victors' terms received no international sanction; the three significant conflicts between 1932 and 1942—the Chaco, Leticia, and the Marañón—were concluded by military triumphs by Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru, but in all three instances internationally mediated settlements cloaked the military decisions in decent guise.

The War Spreads

Perhaps it is no more than a truism to say that wars either end or they spread: an endless war is a spreading war. But at least it is a truism which should not be ignored or forgotten. In his speech of November 3rd, Nixon talked about ending the war in Vietnam, but the policies he opted for were in fact designed to prolong it indefinitely. There should therefore be no surprise that now, just a few months later, the war is spreading and gives every evidence of continuing to spread.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

How Wars End

An analysis of the problem of war termination is presented in this article. A number of hypotheses put forward to date are examined, including both descriptive and analytical hypotheses, concerning the form of war endings, the duration of warfare, and the processes which play a part in bringing hostilities to an end. Suggestions are offered concerning classification of wars, classification of war endings, and relationships between the two. Questions of procedures used in peace treaties", which appears to be true of large-scale international wars in the twentieth touched upon but not elaborated. Among the descriptive hypotheses considered is the widespread notion that "most wars end in peace treaties", which appears to be true of large-scale international wars in the twentieth century, but not true of colonial, civil and revolutionary struggles. A number of hypotheses concerning "termination points" in warfare are examined, including Klingberg's military indices (battle casualties and population losses, size of armies, etc.); Coser's "markers" (capture of a capital city or charismatic leader, reaching of a boundary, etc.); and Galtung's views on termination points. Analytical hypotheses, on how hostilities are brought to an end, are seen to be influenced by at least one of four underlying assumptions: (1) that wars end in "victory" or "defeat"; (2) that war termination is a matter of rational calculation by the adversaries; (3) that war endings are determined by laws of history or of mass behavior, to which both of the preceding are more or less irrelevant; (4) that war endings are determined by past events and present conditions, with little regard for perceptions of the future. In discussing hypotheses influenced by the first assumption, such as Calahan's assertion that "war is pressed by the victor, but peace is made by the vanquished," a classification of conceptions of "victory" and "winning" is offered. Under hypotheses of rational calculation, we examine particularly Porsholt's conflict formula and Wright's escalation formula, and their application and modification in the context of war termination. Deterministic hypotheses and the influence of past-mindedness (vs. perceptions of the future) are touched upon but not examined. In conclusion, an effort is made to construct a war-termination formula for heuristic purposes. A set of nine variables influencing war termination is proposed, and some relationships between the variables, and ways of describing them mathematically, are briefly discussed. The need for further historical research on war endings is emphasized

Victory in Modern War

O'Connor attempts three main things here: (1) a discussion of the variety of meanings attributed to the term "victory"; (2) a survey of how various war endings from the American Revolution to contemporary wars of national liberation measure up to these conceptions of victory (what did " victory" mean in each case to the belligerents? did the outcome constitute "victory"?); and (3) a discussion of various factors influencing the outcome of warfare today. In treating these subjects, O'Connor provides the reader with some two dozen definitions or conceptions of victory; about the same number of different observations concerning war aims, changes in war aims, and their role; and some six dozen circumstances or factors influencing the termination of wars. In addition, he offers a variety of generalizations about how wars end which may serve as subjects for further investigation.

Portsmouth 1905: Peace or Truce?

White offers an unstated challenge to studies of how wars end by maintaining that war and peace are a continuum in the struggle for power, that both are "equally inconclusive", and, by implication, hardly distinguishable from each other (or not distinguishable in ways White regards as significant). White provides nevertheless a brief but very clearly stated sketch of the relationship of military situation, costs and domestic pressures to changing war aims and peace conditions (especially for Japan) in the process of terminating the Russo-Japanese war. The role of the mediator (President Roosevelt) is touched on briefly in the context of giving aid to Japan by facilitating the negotiations. Thus White offers support to a suggestion of Morris that mediators are generally interested and their role "mischievous" (in this case, from the standpoint that the political outcome is more important than the cessation of armed hostilities).