Saturday, November 12, 2005
The Relationship between War and Diplomacy
In his article “Power and Persuasion” Frederick Kagan addresses the issue of how diplomacy and war are related. Many people in the world believe that military action is nothing less than the failure of diplomacy; however, Kagan points out in his article that diplomacy without force will not work. As an example of this Kagan uses the fact that North Korea has ignored all diplomatic attempts by the United States to prevent them from creating nuclear weapons because, the attempts have not been backed by military force. Without the threat of military force Kim Jong Il has no reason to comply with U.S. demands because there is no threat to him. Kagan, though, does warn that military action cannot be successful without diplomacy. He uses Napoleon as an example of this. Napoleon’s military succeeded in defeating almost every opponent that they encountered however, because Napoleon failed diplomatically the other European powers began to fear him and created coalitions that succeeded in completely defeating him. In Kagan’s opinion in order for diplomacy to be effective it must be backed by a demonstrated willingness to use force. In addition, when force is used in order for a lasting peace to be attained several conditions must be met. First, the military action must be decisive enough to deter the enemy from wishing to engage in another war. Second, the victorious power must be willing to give peace terms that are acceptable to both sides involved and to the rest of the world in general. Finally, the country that wins the war must also remain engaged with the country it defeated in order to repair and restore the country and in this way to win the respect and even support of the defeated peoples. A great example of such diplomacy is the rebuilding of Europe and Japan after World War Two when the victorious Americans set out peace terms, and provided economic support that were acceptable to Germany and Japan and caused them to forgo another war. Such support also helped to transform the former enemies into strong friends.
Keegan is right. All too many people think that diplomacy can settle any dispute and that war is always unnecessary. However such an attitude reflects a profound lack of respect for the lessons that history holds for us. During the 1930’s diplomacy that was not supported by military force failed to appease the ambitions of Hitler and the resulting conflict lasted for five years and cost the lives of millions of people. The use of military force early on may have prevented Hitler from starting the war but, because Britain and France were unwilling to risk war they inadvertently created a larger one. This does not mean that war is always the answer to international problems however, we need to realize that military force is sometimes necessary to keep the peace before it is too late.