Introduction
Time progressed along with man, and in the 21st century, weapons of both single and mass destruction appeared. However, machine guns, pistols, and nuclear and chemical weapons are no longer designed to feed a man and one’s family but to harm other humans. An international war is the most terrible thing in the world that humanity can face. Although war usually occurs with the development of totalitarianism, many unfairly blame weapons for the emergence of this phenomenon. However, I think weapons are not to blame for international wars. I take a realist standpoint, according to which the responsibility for them lies not with the machine but with an anarchic system, which, if weapons were banned, would generate other ways of starting wars.
Clausewitz’s Trinity
Once considered a vital source of ageless strategic thought, Karl von Clausewitz’s theories have recently come under attack due to changes in the nature of war, especially in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His theories are thought-provoking, but his work on danger can no longer be applied everywhere in modern growing methods of warfare, such as international insurgent terrorism (Chang et al., 2022). Modern theorists have discredited Clausewitz’s theories about the dangers of weapons as invalid and of little value in today’s study of modern warfare (Kennedy-Pipe, 2010).
Throughout history, the war has progressed in different stages and was caused by different factors; it is currently in the fourth-generation war. In this form of war, advanced armed international forces face difficulties in order to be technologically inferior to their opponents. However, weapons are not a decisive factor, unlike guerrilla warfare, terrorism and campaigns focused on attacking and undermining public support can pose quite a significant security threat.
Modern Warfare
From the point of view of modern warfare, the trend of further invasion of weapons into the sphere of culture manifests itself in modern social transformations, leading to the transformation of intercultural interaction into an international confrontation of ideals, values, and worldviews (Jervis, 1978). In my opinion, these changes significantly affect the modern appearance of the war. The paradox lies in the fact that even powers with huge military potential have turned out to be unable to ensure their security today. According to modern warfare, the concept of security has ceased to be synonymous only with the power of the offensive and defensive potential of states (Hoffman, 2019). This proves that weapons are no longer the root cause of war.
Realism
In my opinion, the most logical and correct attitude to weapons seems to be understanding the war in political realism. Realism claims to have an original understanding of war, which distinguishes it from empirically-oriented studies of wars and other schools of international relations theory (Kennedy-Pipe, 2010). Unlike the former, political realism avoids formal definitions, focusing on understanding the causes and essence of war.
War is the most intense manifestation of this constant struggle and, therefore, cannot be permanently eliminated from international relations. From this understanding of war, a normative conclusion can be drawn that weapons are not the root cause of war, unlike the existing anarchic system (Deal et al., 218). Realism is more aware of the difficulty of regulating the use of weapons than Clausewitz’s Trinity and modern warfare (Mastanduno, 1999). In addition, realism points to the dangers associated with political moralism and the criminalization of war when considering weapons as the root cause.
Conclusion
I think a weapon is not dangerous and does not cause wars. For legitimate owners of firearms who comply with the rules of their operation, its dangerous properties are useful. Since the weapon is only a mechanism, it is incorrect to talk about the danger of weapons in isolation from a specific situation. According to the realist approach, the war does not occur from weapons but from some of their owners, who are part of an anarchic system. They exploit the dangerous properties of weapons for illegal purposes, causing international confrontations.
Reference List
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Deal, N. M., Mills, A. J. and Mills, J. H. (2018) ‘A modern warfare in the making of a commercial airline’, Management & Organizational History, 13(4), pp. 373–396.
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Jervis, R. (1978) ‘Cooperation under the security dilemma’, World Politics, 30(2), pp. 167–214.
Kennedy-Pipe, C. (2010) Cold wars: Themes and trajectories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mastanduno, M. (1999) ‘A realist view’, in Paul, T. V. and Hall, J. A. (ed.) The international order and the future of the world politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-27.
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