Professor Richard Ned Lebow, Dr George Lawson (chair)
29 November 2010, 7.00pm, COL.B212
In his most recent book, Why Nations Fight, Richard Ned Lebow takes on one of the most fundamental questions of International Relations. In contrast to the majority of existing scholarship, which assumes security to be the principal motive of states and insecurity the major cause of war, Lebow develops a theory of international relations based on a parsimonious model of human motivation.
Four generic motives have historically led states to initiate war: fear, interest, standing and revenge. Using an original dataset, Lebow examines the distribution of wars across three and a half centuries and argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, only a minority of these were motivated by security or material interest. Instead, the majority are the result of a quest for standing, and for revenge – an attempt to get even with states who had previously made successful territorial grabs. Lebow maintains that today none of these motives are effectively served by war – it is increasingly counterproductive – and that there is growing recognition of this political reality. His analysis allows for more fine-grained analysis of recent wars and more persuasive forecasts about the future of war.
Speakers
Richard Ned Lebow is the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and the Centennial Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
George Lawson is Lecturer in International Relations at LSE.
Location
B212, 2nd Floor Columbia House, London School of Economics. Map.