# is war inevitable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352 "2003-03-26T18:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![luke\_warm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@luke\_warm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luke_warm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/1 "2003-03-26T18:55:58Z")
do you believe that it is possible to create a world order in which armed conflict ceases to exist? do you believe that mankind is evolving, or could evolve toward such a situation? or do you believe that in order to have peace, you must prepare for war? ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingwithChickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SwimmingwithChickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingwithChickens)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/2 "2003-03-26T19:31:21Z")
I believe that the nature of man is to hate those that are different or unknown. Fear is a large component of this hatred. Is it right? Not morally (unless it is instinctual) but this seems to be the course of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![anewthought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@anewthought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anewthought)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/3 "2003-03-26T19:40:48Z")
Man will not be without war until after our salvation. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/4 "2003-03-26T21:40:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by luke warm \* > \*\*do you believe that it is possible to create a world order in which armed conflict ceases to exist? do you believe that mankind is evolving, or could evolve toward such a situation? > or do you believe that in order to have peace, you must prepare for war? \*\* I’m glad you threw in a reference to evolution. I believe that humanity _as we know it_ cannot ever be totally peaceful. I’d go so far as to suggest that if humans ever do become peaceful the world over – and maintain that status over a long period of time – that the human animals scientific classification should change from _Homo sapiens sapiens_ to _Homo sapiens pacis_. It would be humanity’s most fundamental and profound change ever. ---
**Author:** ![luke\_warm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@luke\_warm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luke_warm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/5 "2003-03-27T18:38:08Z")
does anyone know of any instance of a democratic nation making war with another democratic nation? i’m not personally aware of one. if all nations were to become fully democratic could this go some way towards eliminating armed conflict forever? ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/6 "2003-03-27T20:09:44Z")
**does anyone know of any instance of a democratic nation making war with another democratic nation? ~ \* Luke Warm** \* Hmm…good question Luke Warm… up until now France has pretty much behaved. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/7 "2003-03-27T21:10:12Z")
The UK declared war on Finland in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-war-inevitable/164352/8 "2003-03-27T22:18:01Z")
> [@](#): > > does anyone know of any instance of a democratic nation making war with another democratic nation? i’m not personally aware of one. if all nations were to become fully democratic could this go some way towards eliminating armed conflict forever? This strikes to the heart of the matter. While Captain Amazing’s example proves it’s not an absolute, it’s still a pretty good rule of thumb. Democracies institute fewer wars. And when they do go to war, it’s almost invariably against non-democracies. The reason for this is that contrary to popular opinion, people - at least in modern times - are not really war-happy. In order for a democracy to go to war, it needs to have the support of its people. No one person here can start a war. Since people don’t take war lightly, that means there has to be a pretty good reason. If our nation war run by a dictatorship, though, all it takes is the whims of that one dictator. And the funny thing is, dictators tend to not be the nicest of people - they kinda have this power fixation. So when you put all your power into one person, who wants to obtain even more power, what do you get? War au gratin. So that leaves us with a pretty clear recipe for peace - get rid of dictatorships. Peacefully if possible, by force if not. (And if anyone says “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity”, I’m going to hunt them down and give them a colossal wedgie.) Once the dictatorships are gone, things will improve. Nations run by dictatorship are poorer than those run by democracy (hey, why should an all-powerful dictator give anything to his people, when he can keep it for himself and his cronies?). More freedom + more wealth = less war. Of course, it’s not as simple as going in and whacking all of the nasty despots in the world. People used to a society run by brute force won’t convert to a two-party representational government overnight. And there’s no guarantee that some democracy somewhere won’t suddenly decide it wants to invade its neighbor, but I’d say it’s pretty darned unlikely. The biggest danger, then, would be poorer democracies slipping back into dictatorships. So, is war inevitable? I suppose so, in the sense that I doubt there will be a date past which we never see any war ever again. But that doesn’t mean we are inherently a warmongering people, or that things can’t get a lot better than they are now. And considering how recently modern civilization has been introduced to the human species, I think we’re makig good progress. Jeff