John Choe

NO, war is not inevitable.

Carl Von Clausewitz famously said that "war is an extension of foreign policy by other means," which assumes that wars are discrete events that are marginal to the operation of modern states and international norms. However, wars and the monopoly of violence are central to the formation of nation-states after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Indeed, philosophers like Michel Foucault would argue that peace is an extension of war by other means. Mass murder and genocide only appear to be aberrations when Europeans kill their own or terrorists fly an airplane into the World Trade Center, but have been a historic lived reality for much of the world's people. Police brutality, surveillance, and violent control over public space in New York City only appear to be aberrations when reporters witness the eviction of Occupy Wall Street protestors and video is broadcast via YouTube. But for many low-income people of color, violent social control is a built-in part of life in modern America.

War is not inevitable. But the way to eliminate war is to fundamentally change the nature of our society.