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Going to War

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Going To War

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Going To War
In today’s world there are many wars and rumors of wars. No matter where we turn we are hearing about one conflict or another. Often it make one wonder has there ever been peace in the world. Looking back on history our world has constantly moved from one war to the next. Trying to understand why it is that mankind feels the need to fight one another is not simple to answer. Many reasons have been given as to why war are started everything from religion, expansionism, ethnic cleansing and even in the name of peace itself. No matter what the reason is that people claim to be fighting for when you get down to the basic of it all. In the end people go to war for power and control, even when the purpose or perception to do so suggests otherwise.
To better understand the reason wars are started we need first talk about why people go to war. Matthew O. Jackson and Massimo Morelli wrote (when researching for the book “The Handbook on the Political Economy of War.”) a list of the reason why people go to war. They included the following: religion, revenge, ethnic cleansing and other ideological mass killings, asymmetric information, bargaining failures, first strike advantages and preemptive war. (2009, The Reasons for Wars – an Updated Survey). As complete as this list was I found that often the reason for war was not simply one of the above topics. Often those declaring the wars would use multiple reasons as for the need. This often suggested that they were trying to persuade other as to the need for war. Rather than having a true reason for going to war they are simply justifying their need and building support.
As we look closer into those justifications used as the reason for the war. We can see the multi reason used to help push the cause vary greatly. This is more to give different people a reason to support the

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