Power politics has existed for thousands of years and has been a fundamental part of social relationships. It has been used by countries to expand their territorial dominion, change international policy and improve the economic standing of the citizenry. It has been used over and over in the Middle East for thousands of years and continues to be used today.
Despite this, the modern world seeks to infuse the traditional realm of power politics with a moral paradigm. Countries have a duty to their citizenry as well as the citizens of other countries to act in a certain fashion. It seeks to incorporate the moral code that has been reached in a consensual fashion by all the nations of the world through a variety of institutions including the World Court at the Hague, the United Nations and numerous international organizations. This is a very worthy goal since there are many countries that offend the moral consensus and should be censured in some fashion.
This moral code, however, is not adhered to in most cases since the overriding concerns of nationalism, security and freedom from outside control tend to overshadow the advantages of a moral code. Nearly every country on this planet has not adhered to the moral code in some way. Israel, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United States and Russia are all among the countries that have violated the moral system as it is currently implemented.
The United States regularly disregards the decisions of the International Court of Justice at the Hague; China regularly detains those who oppose the government in power; Iran, Iraq, Israel and Syria are regularly accused of human rights abuses. These actions are all wrong and are denounced by many. They do not, however, change the fact that the world system in which we live cannot force the offending country into changing its behavior without going to war. War appears to be the only way in which offending countries are taught their moral lessons.
That is not to say that I think war is an inevitable part of the world system. It is not. War can be avoided through the honest brokering of disputes between individuals and nations.
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