Asymmetric Wars of Aggression, Politics and International Law

Abstract

This article at first emphasizes the failure of the literature on war to grapple with the humanitarian disasters caused by wars. It also argues that civil as well as international wars that have brought havoc to the non-Western world in the aftermath of the Second World War are essentially the result of two determining factors: first, the rise of political formations in the form of nation-states in Asia and Africa that are conceived as being the very embodiment of the high interests and exalted ideals of the "nation," and, linked to this, a nationalist narrative that has too often precluded minorities; second, imperialistic interventions. The point is made throughout this article that asymmetric wars of aggression have figured as the greatest threat to world peace in the modern era, and, in particular, after September 11 (2001).

Keywords

Asymmetric Wars of Aggression, Armed Assault, Realist Paradigm, Modernization

Citation

Aral, Berdal, “Asymmetric Wars of Aggression, Politics and International Law”, International Relations, Volume 4, Issue 14 (Summer 2007), pp. 39-83.

Affiliations

• Berdal Aral, Associate Professor, Fatih University, Department of International Relations