Why do some groups persistently fight each other while other groups rarely engage in warfare? Why do nomadic peoples rarely fight wars, but settled peoples do it rather frequently? One practical explanation is that war is not innate to humans. It has nothing to do with satisfying desires to defend tribal honor. Land and its resources are the causes of war. Wars begin when one group infringes another group's rights to property or when one state sends its military to occupy the territory of another state. If the invaded group/state is unwilling to relinquish control of its territory to the invader, the invader is compelled to implement martial means to accomplish its lofty goals. The value of the territory is inconsequential, but the invaders usually prefer to seize land that brings them wealth.
Another explanation is that misdrawn or artificial state borders often create multi-ethnic states where the groups involved are unable to settle their disputes peacefully. To encourage peace, developed states give these war-torn regions vast amounts of foreign aid. Although the idea of foreign aid is a very noble one, the process of distributing it has many difficulties. It is estimated that only approximately 15% of foreign aid arrives at its intended destination. That may be part of why so few "foreign aid helped me" stories are reported. The only way to end poverty and war in undeveloped states is for the solution to come from within the impoverished or war-torn society. None of the most advanced industrial states attained their status as a result of foreign aid programs. They attained that status from many years of sweat, agony, sweat, and persistence. Despite this fact, many Western politicians tend to believe giving money to undeveloped countries that lack infrastructure or governments will help the beleaguered peoples of the afflicted state. This logic explains why the US continues to give Afghanistan and other states known to harbor terrorists millions of dollars of aid each year despite the declared "war on terrorism".
Another explanation of the source of war is the deliberate exclusion of the general population from engaging in academic pursuits. The governments of most rogue states prefer that their subjects endure low standards of living. They know the more anachronistic the West thinks their countries, the fewer investors they will attract. The fewer investors they attract, the lower the level of external scrutiny of their internal policies. Considering that most of these rogue governments seized power from freely elected governments or provisional regimes, their goals are obvious: They like power, and they want to keep it as long as they possibly can. Keeping out foreign investors and restricting market forces are two ways to attain that goal. Rogue governments prefer to inflict misery upon millions of people than to relinquish their illegally gained authority.
