The CST is delighted to be inviting Dr. Mike Martin, Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, to deliver a talk entitled 'The biology of war: why do we fight?'m for the next instalment of their Highlight Speaker Series.
Abstract:
Following the First World War, institutions were established to ensure that another similar global conflict could never break out. However, the following years have been marked by another world war as well as major conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Central America, Colombia, the Balkans, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria to name but a few. As armed conflicts continue to dominate the international political agenda, is there a need for a new approach to achieving peace? And are the reasons that people still go to war properly understood?
Mike Martin argues that morals, religions and ideologies, rather than causing violence, actually help in limiting warfare by facilitating humans to build larger social groups. He will present the case that all too often ideas and values are used to justify or interpret warfare but in reality it is subconscious desires, shaped by millions of years of evolution, that drive people to fight and, what is more, enjoy doing so. He concludes by asking what this means for traditional conflict avoidance, counterterrorism and conflict resolution policies?