Civilizational Epidemiology 1995

                        THE STATE OF WAR PREVENTION:

                        A review of successes & systemic failures

                        thru the human history. 

                             

                              Wasim Khan, MD, MPH

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                              'Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the

                               minds of men that the defenses of peace 

                               must be constructed.' 

                               - Constitution of UNESCO

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                              "Is there a way of delivering mankind from the menace of war?" asked  Albert Einstein in 1932 when invited by the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, - a predecessor of UNESCO, - to discuss a significant issue of his time with a prominent intellectual of his choice.  Einstein chose Sigmund Freud.  Freud's conclusion:  " It is a general principle then that conflicts of interest between men are settled by the use of violence.  This is true of the whole animal kingdom from which men have no business to exclude themselves."1 This answer has since been considered "disappointingly vague in conceptual clarity and misdirected in its normative guidance.” 2  To the misfortune of the whole world, Freud's answer was clear enough for Adolf Hitler: "War is entirely natural, an everyday affair. War is eternal, animal."3  In presence of better normative guidance from Freud,  might Hitler's conclusion have been different? 4 Could it be that a mindset generated by a Darwinian-Freudian frame of reference created the fertile ground for the paranoiac racism of Hitler that eventually lead to World War II and the tragedy of  "holocaust"?  Had the 'culture' assumptions of the origins of war such as those of Rene Dubos been more influential than 'nature' assumptions of Freud, could the disastrous events of mid 20th century have been avoided?  Could it be that the largely misunderstood Darwin's theory of 'survival of the fittest' for the species was influenced by a similar notion of Clausewitz for the nations?5

                             

                              As the world is emerging out of an age of a belligerent world-war system that included half-a-century of a terrifying nuclear threat.  Should the world enter another age of war-mongering before it is too late or shall humanity overcome war this time?6  Experience in this century shows that peace movements are at their most intense soon after major wars such as World War I, World War II and Vietnam war as a reaction to death, destruction and dehumanization but loose momentum as the time goes by.  Is human race finally civilized and vigilant enough to be able to prevent similar wars in future?  In closing years of the tenth millennium of human civilization, at the peak of rationality, sophistication in science and high technology, subtlety of human ideas and an all encompassing compassion for things living, is humanity ready to get rid of this most barbarous characteristic of human civilization? 

CLICK AT  SCRIBD ICON:     TO GET FULL PAPER.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

1.   Freud S.  Collected Papers Vol 22 ed by Strachey James.  Hogarth Press: London, 1960.

2.   Falk RA, Kim SS. The War System:  An Interdisciplinary Approach. Westview: Boulder, 1980.

3.   Genoves S. Is Peace Inevitable? Walker & Co: New York, 1970.

4.   Zur O.  Psychohistory of Warfare:  The Co-Evolution of  Culture, Psyche and Enemy. Journal of Peace Research. 24:2, 125-134, 1987.

5.   Clausewitz  C. On War. tr. Graham JJ.   Barnes & Noble:  New York, 1966.

6.   Anonymous.  Resolution:  From Gulf War to peace and disarmament. World Council of Health Worker Organizations for social Well-Being, Health and Peace. Journal of  Public Health Policy.

     12(3):3978, Autumn 1991.

7.   Ginsberg R. Critique of  War. Henry Regnery Company: Chicago, 1969.

8.   Kotarbinski T. Praxiology: An Introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action.  New York: Pergamon Press, 1965.

9.   Dyer G. War. Dorsey Press: Chicago, 1985.

10. Saracci R. Preventing war. Journal of Public Health Policy. 12 (3) : 265-9, Autumn 1991.

11. Small M, Singer D. International War. Dorsey Press: Chicago, 1989.

12. Bondurant JV. Conquest of Violence: Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict.  University  of California Press:Berkeley,1965.                                                                                   
13. Toynbee A. War and Civilization.  Oxford University Press:  New York, 1950.

14. Lown B. Nuclear war and the public health.  Journal of Public Health Policy. 3(1): 12-21. Mar, 1982.

15. Cassel CK, Jemeton AL, Sidel VW,  Storey PB.  Physicians oath and the prevention of nuclear  war. JAMA.  254(5): 652-4, Aug 2 1985.

16. Sidel VW.  Weapons of mass destruction: greatest threat to public health. JAMA 262(5): 680-2, Aug  4, 1989.

17. Hartigan RS. The Forgotten Victim: A History of Civilian. Precedent Publishing: Chicago, 1982.

18. Hinshleifer J. The Dark Side of Force. University of  California at Los Angeles Department of  Economics Working  Paper; 702, July 1993.

19. Solon LR.  Risks of nuclear power. Annals of Internal Medicine. 92(1): 125-6, Jan 1980.

20. Cortright D. Peace Works: Citizens Role in Ending Cold War. Westview Press: Boulder, 1993.

21. Bender L, Leone B. War and Human Nature. Greenhaven Press: St. Paul, 1983.

22. Coser LA. Some social functions of violence. Ann of Polit & Soc Sc. 346 March, 1966.

23. Gutman, R. A Witness to Genocide.  MacMillan Publishing Co: New York, 1993.

24. Donia RJ, Fine J.  Bosnia Herzegovina:  A Tradition Betrayed.  Columbia University Press. New York, 1994.

25. Dadrian VN. The Anticipation and prevention of Genocide in international conflicts:  Some lessons  from the history.  International Journal of Group Tensions. 18:3, fall 205-214. 1988.

26. Anderson, B. Imagined Communities. Verso: New York, 1995.

27. Sen AK. On Ethics and Economics: Royer Lectures series. Blackwell: New York & Oxford., 1987.

28. Waller RA, Covello VT (eds). Low probability high-consequence risk analysis: issues, methods and   case studies.  Plenum Press.  New York, 1984.

29. Huntington SP. The clash of civilizations. Foreign Affairs. 72:3, 22- 49, Summer 1993.

30. Nasr SH, Leaman O.  Routledge History of Islamic Philosophy. Routledge. London, UK, 1996.

31. Irving TB. The Qur'an (tr). 5:31, p40. Amana Books.  Brattleboro, Vermont. 1988.

32. Mead M. Co-operation and Conflict among Primitive Peoples. Beacon Press: Boston, 1961.

33. Fukuyama, F. The End of the History and the Last Man.  Avon Books.  New York, 1992.

34. Merryfield MM, Remy R. Teaching about International Conflict and Peace.  State University of  New York Press: New York, 1995.

35. Sidel VW. Socio-economic effects of the arms race. Preventive Medicine. 16(3): 342-53, May 1987.       

36. Wesley RC Jr, Sidel VW. Health and socio-economic consequences of excessive military spending  (editorial).  Journal of the National Medical Association. 82 (10): 693-5, Oct 1990.

37. Sidel VW.  The arms race as a threat to public health. Lancet. 2(8608): 442-4, Aug 20 1988.

38. Wright Q. A Study of War. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1964.

39. Wright T, Rodriguez F,  Waitzkin H. Corporate Interests, Philanthropies and the Peace Movement. Monthly Review. 36, 19-36, Feb 1985.

40. Newcombe A.  Some contributions of behavioral sciences to the study of violence.  International Social Science Journal. 30: 4, 750-775, 1978.

41. Dust PC. The Renaissance Pacifists. Peter Lang:  New York, 1987.

42. Mellor JW. and Gavian, S.  Famine: Causes, Prevention and Relief. Science. 235: 4788, 539-545, Jan 30, 1987.

43. Sen AK. Wars and Famines: On Divisions and Incentives.  London School of Economics Suntory  Toyota International Center for Economics and related Disciplines Working Paper. DEP/33, Oct 1991.

44. Nolan P, Sen AK. The causation and prevention of famines: A critique of AK Sen.  Journal of Peasant  Studies. 21:1, 1-28, Oct 1993.

45. Sibai AM, Armenian HK, Alam S.  War time determinants of arteriographically confirmed coronary  artery disease in Beirut, Lebanon.  American Journal of Epidemiology.  130 (4): 623-31, Oct 1989.

46. Huxsoll, DL. Narrowing the zone of uncertainty between the research and development in biological  warfare defense. Ann of  New York Acad of  Sci. 666: 177-90, 1992.

47. Beer FA. Peace Against War. WH Freeman & Co: San Franscisco, 1981.

48. Fatal workplace injuries in 1993: A collection of data and analysis.  US Department of  Labor Bureau  of Labor Statistics. Report 891.  June, 1995.

49. Sidel VW.  The fabric of public health. 1985 Presidential address. American Journal of Public Health.  76(4): 373-8, Apr 1986.

50.  Sidel VW.  Destruction before detonation: the impact of the arms race on health and health care. Lancet. 2 (8467):  1287-79, Dec 1985.

51. Terris M. Epidemiology and leadership in Public Health in the Americas. Journal of  Public Health  Policy 9:2, 250-260, Summer 1988.

51. Alland, A. War and Disease in War: The anthology of armed  conflict and aggression. ed. by Fried M. Natural History Press: New York, 1968.

52.  Alland A. War and Disease in War: The anthology of armed conflict and aggession. ed   by Fried, M. Natural History Press:  New York, 1968.                                                     

53. Armenian HK, Acra A.  From missionaries to the endemic war: Public health action and research at the American University of  Beirut.  Journal of Public Health Policy.  9 (2): 261-72, Summer 1988.

54. Afheldt H.  Political conclusions of the study  'The consequences of war and the prevention of war.'  Journal of Peace Research. 10:30, 259-263, 1973.

55. Thomas CD, Klare MT.  Peace and World Order Studies. Westview Press: Boulder, 1989.

        READ FULL PAPER AT:       CLICK ON SCRIBD ICON.