The Size of the Social Unit: Total War

#economics #smallstates #war

There can be no doubt that modern nation states give rise to total war. The market involves peaceful cooperation, and it turns to aggressive behavior when the market is destroyed. A battle fought between small states does not affect the rest of the world. Especially, when that small state is the size of a town. Cooperation can still exist with the rest of the world. As J.F.C. Fuller pointed out, “National armies fight nations, royal armies fight their like, the first obey a mob, always demented and the second a king, generally sane.”

Wars between small states are generally inheritance disputes. In this, there is a clear goal. The fighting doesn’t have to go on forever. Neither can it be afforded, but that is for another article. Modern super states, they fight over vague terms and there is not a clear goal, the fighting can go on endlessly. Contrary to dynastic rule, it can be afforded. Under an inheritance dispute, the war is the ruler’s war and no one elses’. Under modern super states, everyone becomes expendable.

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