2. Part I: War & Peace Definition(s) of war Types of wars & warfare
Causes of war
Objectives of war
Normalization & naturalization of war
War as meaning & communication
Sources of social warfare

3. Definition(s) of war Organized violence among states or groups
Collapse of social order within a society
Sustained hostility among warring parties (“Other”)
“Continuation of politics by other means”
Conflict between opposing principles
An enduring condition upon which states are founded

4. Types of wars & warfare World wars Interstate wars
Intrastate wars (why increase in #?)
Civil wars
Social warfare
Asymmetric warfare
Invasions, interventions, pre-emptions
Counter-terrorism as global war
Africa’s “World War”

5. Causes of war War is “unnatural” & can be eliminated War is “natural”
Theories of pacifism
Institutional agreements & constraints
War is “natural”
Humans are inherently violent & aggressive
Social institutions are rooted in war (“social nature”)
States in anarchy are bound to fall into war
Technology emerges from war and fosters war
Geopolitics makes us do it (Heartland Pivot)
General, permissive & proximate causes
Each war is unique in combination of causes

6. Objectives of war Societal safety via elimination of threats
Occupation of lebensraum
Conquest of land & resources
Domination in social struggles
Ethnic cleansing
Cultural-ideological struggle
Economic growth & development

7. Normalization & naturalization of war
War is normalized through
Education
Media
Language
Civic rituals
War appears to create social solidarity
Solution to internal conflicts and fragmentation
Protection of the nation and its culture & traditions
Instill civic virtues in the people
But war is uncontrollable (“fog of war”)

8. War as meaning & communication
Hedges sees war in terms of its meanings
War as myth is powerful belief system
It fills an ontological void in individuals & societies
It offers great crusades for great social goals
War fulfills deep psychological needs
War & threat of war can be communicative
Deterrence as signalling through threat
Military parades as indication of determination
Nuclear “Horror strategy”
Nuclear “Risk strategy”

9. Sources of social warfare
Pits dominant groups against subordinate ones
Ethnic or nation-based division of labor
Limited opportunities for power & wealth
Systematic discrimination
Political & economic transitions challenge this
Subordinate groups acquiring wealth & visibility
Cultural changes throughout society
Dominant group sees social threat
Social struggles break out & can turn violent
Social warfare is neighborhood warfare
Reasons for increase: end of Cold War; “ancient hatreds”; rapid social & economic changes

10. Part II: The Global Economy
Economy & political economy
Basic concepts in neoclassical economics
Production & commodity chains
Poverty & development
Money, trade & exchange
Economy & war

11. Economy & political economy
Economy involves operation of markets
“Free markets” in capitalism
Direct intervention to control exchange
Markets require rules to operate
Political economy involves political power
Shaping rules governing markets
Indirect intervention to direct exchange
This can provide economic advantages

12. Basic concepts in neoclassical economics
Economic liberalism & capitalism
Supply & demand
Cost & price
Factors of production: materials, technology, labor, etc.
Division of labor
Comparative advantage
Individualism
Individual preferences
Regulation
Trade
Globalization

13. Production & commodity chains
Commodity produced & sold in large quantities
Minimize costs, maximize profit
Low-cost labor & inputs, high value consumers
Intermediaries between producer & consumer
Uneven development in capitalism
World Systems: core & periphery
Reinvestment in production or accumulation?
Transfer of wealth from poor to rich
Travels of a T-Shirt & coffee as examples

14. Poverty & development Causes of poverty: individual or structural?
Distribution of wealth
Highly inequitable between “rich” and “poor”
Global North compared to Global South
Gini Coefficient measures distribution
Theories of economic development
According to Western model (Rostow’s “takeoff”)
Shock therapy
Escaping the “poverty trap” (Mill. Dev. Goals)
Independent trajectory of Asian economies
Subsidies to agriculture as impediment

15. Money, trade, exchange
Role of money: What is it worth? What is its value?
Use value, exchange value, labor value
Money supply, inflation, deflation, liquidity
Interest, investment, rate of return
Int’l unit of money (reserve currency), seigniorage
Hard & soft currencies in trade
Sovereign wealth funds
Speculative vs. real economies
Bonds, securities, shares (“share value”)
Asset bubbles & asset inflation

16. Economy & war Arms production & war as stimulus to economy
Industrial production, employment, circulating money
Arms production & export sales
Electoral distribution of arms production
Economic change as stimulus to war
Cultural divisions of labor
Shifts in distribution of wealth & power
Challenges to state & economic elites
Efforts to stop change; control new income sources
Global military spending
More than $1 trillion/year
U.S. spends more than rest of the world combined