Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

(Amelia) #1
What Is War? 267

munitions workers, and eventually, even agricultural workers. Although total war had
always imagined the mobilization of an entire society for war, industrialization—
especially after World War I— made this ideal a real ity. Casualties were horrific: most
belligerents lost 4 to 5  percent of their pre- war population in World War I, and doubled
their losses in World War II. After World War II, total war had become far too blunt
and costly an instrument to enter into deliberately.
This increased devastation and cost may in part explain why since the end of World
War II, interstate wars, particularly large- scale wars between or among the great
powers, have become less frequent; the number of countries participating in such wars
has fallen, and the duration of such wars has shortened. These factors have led several
po liti cal scientists to speculate on whether or not extremely costly total wars like
World Wars I and II are events of the past.
For example, John Mueller argues that such wars have become obsolete. Among
the reasons he cites are the memory of the devastation World War II caused, the great
powers’ postwar satisfaction with the status quo, and the recognition that any war
among the great powers, nuclear or not, could escalate to a level that would become too
costly.^3 More recent scholarship has argued other causes of peace. Joshua Goldstein,
for example, argues that a long decline in interstate war (including total war) is due
to increasingly effective UN peacekeeping operations. Robert Jervis has offered an


From the perspective of the International Security Assistance Force, the war in Af ghan i stan
was a limited one. From an Afghan point of view, however, the vio lence has been total and is
certain to affect the country’s recovery, security, and development for de cades to come.

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