Conflict And Loss Of Identity Since Long Peace

IDENTITY AND CONFLICT Name Class Date According to the Social Identity Theory, group identity causes self-help systems. Interactions create identities, and one’s social identity reflects their social groups. Intergroup and interpersonal processes are different, explaining why group behavior is at times not in the best interests of all the members of the group. The relationships between states in international politics function pretty much like human relationships. The ability of a human brain to assess a situation and know how to fight for their interests has been preserved by natural selection, and can be extrapolated to groups. According to coalitional psychology, it is natural for elevated individuals to team up in order to maintain their status quo, and may oppress the weaker members to achieve this. Identifying with a certain favorable group creates a positive social identity. This need for positive identity together with comparisons lead to intergroup competition and discrimination. This in turn coupled with fear, historical myths, and power results in intergroup conflict. In his analysis of Identity in Anarchy, Jonathan Mercer notes that state identity cannot be separated from egoism. He also notes that the competitive self-help feature of international politics is not necessarily an aspect of anarchy. On the contrary, anarchy is as a result of other-group help system since neither identity nor interests exist before interaction. The desire for a positive social identity leads to competition, which could result in conflict. In his paper, The Spoils of Conquest, Peter Liberman tries to explore the importance of conquest in the modern world. To achieve this, he compares two schools of thoughts. Realists who believe that conquest pays, and the liberals who believe in the economic futility of modern-day conquests. However, the article concludes that modern day conquerors have somehow made conquest pay. In the state of nature and in the absence of international sovereign bodies, every state seeks to protect its interests. This is the self-help system. States may also seek absolute gains from friendly states when there is no likelihood of war or relative gains when war is probable. A state can also seek to help or exploit its weak colleagues. On the other hand, international politics lack strict enforcement of laws, hence the interests of all the members are not necessarily met. This leads insecure states to focus more on who gains more, than on whether there is mutual benefit. Competition among states for economic and security reasons result in conflict. Conflicts and wars also arise between states for honor and revenge. However, cooperation can be struck between states with different heritage as is the case with the European Union. Though cooperation does not necessarily solve the self-help system issues, it definitely avoids conflict and war. From the readings, it can be established that unlike the conflicts and wars of the past centuries, which were majorly ideological, modern day wars are caused by the quest for identity. The wars of the past, such as the great French revolution were about building the nation. Today, most of the wars are about who belongs to the nation, left versus right, homosexuals versus heterosexuals, immigrants versus locals, as well as other gender and religious identities. National and religious traditions are back in full swing as leaders try to exploit them to stamp their legitimacy. Russian orth...