Micro and macro theories in political science focus

INTRODUCTION Countries exist to interact with other nations and farmings in the international arna. Thus, no country or nation is an island unto itself. As a gist of this, isolation from international activities bring to passs very impossible. In the course of interaction countries tries to net income advantage over other countries, and this has been the rump of b divulge and disagree musical composition military groupt. somewhattimes, if this is not by rights handled it will lead to disturb.Scholars from different academic disciplines view as posited patchy causes of contend. Thus, the bulky debate over why contend occurs has been barbeled from different dimension. For the historians, scholars homogeneous A.J. P. Taylor famously described narrate of contends as being like traffic accidents. But this approach has been criticized in the view that some leaders of presents make conscious finis in embarking in contend and this is not accidental. For the Psych ologist, human beings, especially men are inherently violent.This violence displacement where a person transfers their grievances into yield and hatred against other ethnic groups, nations, or ideologies (Wikibooks 2005). Other psychologists argue that the affable unbalanced defer of men who rule and control a nation, meld with their human temperament has been the basis of the event of war. This school argues leaders that test war much(prenominal) as Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin were mentally abnormal screening process, such as election, could prevent these types from coming to power, war would end. (ibid.).The Anthropologists see the fact of war as a fundamentally cultural, learnt by nurture earlier than genius. The Sociologists have Plethora of opinion in seeing the occurrence of war. Some see war as the product of domestic conditions, with and the taper of aggression being determined by international realities. Others that differ from the tralatitious approach argu e that it is the determination of statesmen and the geo policy-making situation that leads to war. The Economist argues war plunder be seen as an outgrowth of economic competition in a chaotic and competitive international arranging.Having looked at the diverse and divergent viewpoint from which these scholars from different discipline has posited as the cause of war, this write up tend to look at the governmental aspect of why war occurs. As a result of this, various theories in the semipolitical scientific discipline field would be applied to enumerate the mind behind the occurrence of war.DEFINITION OF TERMS Political science has been described as a hospitable umbrella for many disciplines all connected somehow with the operations of brass or people acting in relation to political science.According to Alfred Cobban, as quoted in Oyediran (19983), Political Science is a devise invented by university teachers for avoiding that dangerous eccentric politics without achievin g Sciences.Thus, political science is that social science discipline that examine to study government and how politics that has to do with the use of power, rule and sureness in any human relationship is being conducted.The study of political science, the normative and the positive approach is adopted while scholars, such as Plato and Aristotle sought to identify the characteristics of politics, their causes and effects, leaving aside moral judgements about their rectitude or badness. Therefore, it is seen that mannerrn political scientists adopt a positive possibility to issues that pertain to the field of study, hence, what ought to be. (Robert Dahl cited by Gerring, 20052).THEORY Theory is be as abstraction from the real world in order to bemuse explanation to phenomenon. Thus, theories beget explanation to the relationship that exists between variables. Theories are tried and true hypotheses that are generally accepted it is used through known facts to give an explanatio n to the unknown.WAR War can be defined as conflict that arises from disagreement, which result into military combat and the end results which is destruction of lives and properties.War can be orderified into cultivated wars and foreign wars. Civil wars, are those wars that occur at bottom a nation or a state as a result of the emergence of factions that are loyal to an identified group. A common example of complaisant war in contemporary time is the civil war in Liberia in the 1990s, between late Samuel Deo faction and Charles Taylor faction. other typical example of civil war is the 1967 to 1970 civil war in Nigeria, between the Federal troop and the Biafra faction that seek to secede from the Nigeria Federation.Foreign war is war that involves combat between or among supreme nation or states. Example of this is military personnel War 1 and World War II.In new-made times the war between Iraq and Kuwait, and the US Allied absorbs in the 1990s.Another discrepancy of war i n contemporary political world is the cold war that had existed after the world war associated with the bipolar axis of rotation i.e. the eastern bloc and the western bloc. This cold war is unlike the real combat war where physical and military combat is carried out, but it has to do with war in international arena, that pertains to foreign policies and international pacts and agreement, that tend to be contended forThis cold war has made many countries to support either of the two factions. But, some countries, like in Africa adopt a different stand, the Non Aligned Movement is act as the foreign policies in these black nation. The cold war perfectly collapse in 1989, this brought an end to the bipolar structure of the international system.POLITICAL THEORIES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF WAR Political theories on the emergence of state can be utilized to explain the occurrence of war. Here, the Hobbessian theory of state and the labor theory are readily applicable to why nation read in war.The Hobbissian theory postulated by Thomas Hobbes, explain the human state of existence in what he called the state of record. According to him, nature has made man so equal in faculties of the body and straits and though there be found one man sometimes manifestly significanter in body or of quicker mind than some other is not considerable as that one man can championship to himself any benefit to which another may not possess as well as he (Hobbes, 1946).The equality of man here factor they tend to nurse the uniform intakes and desires, ends and the comparable hope. But the uniformity of aspiration tend to be evoke problem since the resources e.g. power, political influence, is a hardly resource that can not go round every body. Thus, it become problematic when two persons desire the same thing, which they cannot both obtain, they are plausibly to become enemies and constantly will seek to destroy one another.In applying this scenario to sovereign states, the scarc e resources that each state seeks to obtain for itself, this brings about competition and eer lead to the emergence of war, if such competition gets to the extreme and the level of margin becomes unbearable. According to Ighadola (2000 12), human competitiveness for status symbols are al focusings characterized by fighting where this happens outside the preview of any settled and civilized state, the testify of the state of nature comes to the fore boldly.The state of nature as stipulated by Thomas Hobbes, is the time when men lived without a common power to keep them in check i.e. every man is a government and law unto himself, there is no formal contract to the establishment of state and government. In state of nature, war of every man against every man was the perceptual condition of human relations. Thus, man is brutal and exhibited a bitter tendency towards those around him. It is also argued that, War, as Hobbes used the concept, did not unavoidably denote actual fighting , rather it meant the disposition to fight (ibid)Man in the state of nature did not engage in perpetual warfare, he was only perpetually inclined to fight to acquire what he desired and to encourage what he already possessed. The inclination in man to be vulturous in competition and fight is moderated by the fear of death. Thus, the disposition to fight to is further heightened by the absence of modify authority. In the international political arena before the emergence of international organization like the join Nation, the broke out of World War I and the emergence of World War II, is as a result of absence of a fast(a) rudimentaryized International authority. The League of Nations collapsed as a result of the second gear World War. This led to the emergence of the United Nations that is acting as a exchangeized authority in the international arena, in preventing the outbreak of conflicts among nations or states.Another angle of the Hobbessains theory sees Mans selfishness and self- seeking nature ensures, without a superior restraining force, the condition of the state of nature that would remain permanent. This results in a threat to the condusive actualization of human potentials and insecurity. In applying this to the emergence of wars among nations, it is seen that the selfishness and self-seeking nature of some nation has prompted them into encroaching into the rightful possession of other nation. In order to defend their possession, these other nation would recourse to protect itself by engaging in war. Most times, this has been the base of war among nations.Thus, Hobbes has proffered a centralized authority that is imposed in one individual as a solution to avert this state of nature, so as to prevent the brutish and aggressive nature in man, and thus, reducing the outbreak of war.Critics have pointed out that Hobbes advocacy of absolute power puts a hole in his argument. The central authority or sovereign should operate the law made, fairly and equitably among the people not absolute authority in one man. Thus, central power is advocated that is democratic, in place of the sovereign swayer of Hobbes. This is because the sovereign ruler is taken from society and has its own selfish desire, which could lead to autocratic rule, i.e., he cannot be outside society and therefore cannot be above the law. (ibid15).Another political theory that can be use to advocate for the emergence of war is the Marxist theory. Karl Marx theory concentrates both on political and economic perspective of the state. In his view, the society is branchd into two main classes, i.e. the bourgeoisie and the proletariats, and this has always been the driving force behind conflict in society and its associate social change.Marxist theory of war argues that all war grows out of the class war. It sees wars as imperial ventures to enhance the power of the ruling class and divide the proletariat of the world by pitting them against each other for unrea l ideals such as nationalism or religion. ( Wikibooks, 2005).Marx and Engels posited in The German ideology that with all the mischiefs contradictions and crisis inherent in the capitalist mode of production, the proletariat bears the entire burden without enjoying its advantages, they become isolated from society. Having been driven to the wall, they are forced into the most decided antagonism to the other class because an alien man is a revolutionary man. (Marx, et al, 1977).Hence, Karl Marx see wars as a earthy outgro9wth of the free market and class system, and will not disappear until a world revolution occurs. According to Ighodalo (200020), the expectation of Marx is that the destruction of the capitalist system would lead to the end of class antagonism, since the basis of it property ownership would have been eliminated thereby creating a classless society where all give match to his/ her ability and receive according to his/ her needs.Another theory of the evolution of s tate that can be applied to the reason why war occurs is the jampack theory. This school of thought holds that the state is a creation of conquest and obsession of the light-colored by the strong. The state was seen as evil because it was a way of oppressing the poor. However, German writers of the 19th century, contended that force was an essential attribute of a state. (Oyediran, 199819). The Force theory can really be adduce as a basis why war emerge between nation.Countries that are strong and have mighty military force had in the past annexed weak countries to themselves. They succeeded in doing this by embarking on war with them. In 1939, Finlands decision to resist the invasions and annexation aggression of Soviet led to the Winter War. though cases of invasion and annexations that did not lead to a war abound such as the U.S. led invasion of Haiti in 1994, the Nazi invasions of Austria and Czechoslovakia preceding the minute World War, and the annexation of the Baltic S tates by the Soviet Union in 1940.CONCLUSION The different Political Theorist has directed their argument on the reason why war occurs, even though not in the same tone and direction, the fact that the selfish interest and self- seeking nature of man and government, has been identified as a major reason why war has been a recurrent factor in the international arena. Even internally, where civil war occurs within the boundary of a country this has retained the same causal factor. The fact is traceable down line immemorial of historical war among nations.Furthermore, the scarce resource, such as power has been a basis for the eruption of conflicts among nations, since these resource cannot go round, it tend to be conflictual.REFERENCESAkhakpe, Ighodalo, (2000), Leading Issues in Political Thought. Lagos A- Triad Associates Publishers & Printers.Gerring, John (2005), A Normative Turn in Political Science? Boston University Department of Political Science.Hobbes, Thomas (1946), Leviath an Oxford sweet basil Blackwill Ltd.Oyediran, Oyeleye (1998), Introduction to Political Science. Lagos-Wikibooks (2005), International relations The Causes of War https//en.wikibooks.org/wiki/International_RelationsThe_Causes_of_war. (3rd August, 2005)