Goldstein in his book Winning the War on War brings out a contrary opinion concerning the twentieth-century war. Specifically, he contests the claim that twentieth century was one of the bloodiest in the record. He argues that the wars were smaller in scale and fewer in number contrary to what many had reported (Goldstein p. 5). He analyzes the negative and positive effects of peacebuilding and peacekeeping considering the way United Nations (UN) has made a lot of strides in trying to reduce war proliferation in different member nations. He explains that this has been achieved through giving the peacekeeping forces political support and proper equipment. He argues that war should be thought of ranging from small to large, ceasefires to peacekeeping treaties and from disarmament to consensus. Therefore, Goldstein greatly attributes the reduction of incidences of war to the establishment of United Nations, which has significantly reduced the worldwide prevalence of conflicts (Goldstein p. 44).
The book has several positive aspects in that it looks at preventive aspects of war. Goldstein recommends that peacekeepers should be deployed long before the war even erupts rather than trying to control it when it has already occurred. Although he acknowledges that empowering United Nations is the best strategy in addressing the war issues, he still brings out the failures of the organization in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Angola. He attributes these failures to underfunding and failure to seek a genuine consensus between the concerned parties. In all the successful missions there was consent from the concerned parties whereas in the failed missions some parties did not give a genuine consent. Furthermore, Goldstein clearly outlines the major areas of improvement as far as war is concerned. First, the United Nations need to learn by interconnecting the culture of their own personnel or peacekeepers with that of various countries where they are going for a mission. It means that the peacekeepers must understand the culture of the country where they are going for mission, and they must be willing to do even extraordinary things which are beyond the conventional military activities (Goldstein p. 105). Secondly, United Nations must be adequately funded so that they can hire enough personnel and buy the latest equipment to bring peace in the nations experiencing war. Also, he highlights that United Nations needs reforms and complete restructuring especially the UN Security Council that is at times biased.
On the other hand, the book also has weaknesses in that it only focuses on one aspect of winning the war on war, use of United Nations. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to win the war on war. For example, there are very effective local mechanisms of resolving conflicts which do not involve use on military force. Sometimes peacekeeping forces may hurt innocent local populations while trying to restore peace. It is clearly known that UN Security Council is composed of powerful nations thus making it non-inclusive (Goldstein p. 115).. Some nations may be opposed to peacekeeping because of the biased nature of UN. For example, last year Burundi experienced post-election violence but did not consent to UN peacekeeping. In such situations local mechanisms such negotiations are necessary. Therefore, the book is less comprehensive and should have looked at the complex nature of war and recommend the use of other local conflict management techniques instead of focusing on UN alone.
Goldstein addresses various issues in the book key among them being the fact that 20th century was not as bloody as many have branded it. He points out that the initial 15 years of the 19th century was blighted by Napoleonic wars. It was then followed by Taiping Rebellion whereby millions of people died. In China Yunnan province more than five out of eight million people died in the same century due to Muslim uprising. Other wars that claimed lives of many include Boer War and the U.S civil war. The magnitude of these wars was higher compared to those that happened in the 20th century (Goldstein p. 6).
He further explores through recorded history that over the years humans have improved regarding preventing and terminating warfare. The key reason being the creation of United Nations that oversees the peacekeeping process. Specifically, in chapter three he explains the creation as well as the evolution of UN exploring the first peacekeeping mission established in Palestine in 1948 describing the organization as a supervision organization. The peacekeepers had been given two key instructions to follow: they were not to be armed and were to be neutral (Goldstein p. 43).
Also, Goldstein highlights failures and successes on UN. He specifically highlights the failed missions in Somalia, Bosnia, Angola and Rwanda. The key contributors to the failure were the lack of adequate training, lack of peacekeeping personnel and underfunding. He also highlights the four successful UN missions; Mozambique, Cambodia, El Salvador and Namibia peacekeeping missions. The successes were majorly contributed by consent of the involved parties. The nations that did not consent did not support the mission (Goldstein p. 136). The book further takes the readers through growth and development of the peacekeeping process in UN. The author explained disarmament, disbandment and reintegration programs, reforms in the security sector as well as the involvement of women in the peacekeeping activism. He says that these movements have shaped the peacekeeping laws and policies thus transforming the world so that war is no longer the tradition as it used to be.
For people who believe that war is good and natural part of the society, Goldstein explains that sometime back slavery was thought in the same light. Cannibalism, as well as human sacrifices, was also thought to be necessary but today such practices are extinct. Statistics shows that between 2004 and 2007 the interstate wars were not reported. Contrary, the civil wars were very common in the 19870s and 1980s. On the reasons why the world is not becoming more peaceful, Goldstein argues that due to technological advancement most cases are reported instantly unlike in the past. Therefore, although the world is becoming more peaceful, each case of war or violence is immediately reported making it look like there is no progress. However, Goldstein warns that even though civil wars have reduced it is important to acknowledge the warning signs that may lead to war. Particularly one should be cautious with territories that have large populations, undemocratic neighbors, low economic growths, low incomes, politically unstable and war-prone (Goldstein p. 292). According to him, there is proven connection between political repressions and increased cases of conflicts. He also refutes claims that wars and conflicts are linked to religious differences, colonial history, income inequality or intergroup hatred saying that there is no clear evidence proving the same.
Another key and the controversial aspect that the author of this book addressed is the structure of United Nations Security Council. He suggests that the council should be expanded, or the rules changed instead of trying to improve it through consensus among the great powers. He says that the main reason the UN has the much smaller budget is because of the council's failure to restructure power. He compares that US military is roughly the same size as the United Nation's peacekeeping force, and it gets about 100 times higher budgetary allocation (Goldstein p. 309). He predicts that with increased budget, the peacekeeping UN will be able to up its intelligence unit and manage to deploy peacekeepers in areas suspected of violence even before it occurs. It will be much cheaper to take these preventive measures instead to containing the war.
I would rate Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide eight on a scale of ten because even with its flaws it manages to bring a different narrative of the current status of the war in the world. Goldstein's arguments are based on factual evidence as well as reality. I will recommend this book not just to my friends, co-workers or family members but to everyone interested in understanding wars better. The author takes the readers through historical records citing wars that have occurred in the past comparing them with what is happening today. The main ideas are comprehensively explored. Through this book one understands the main reasons behind the establishment of United Nations, the reforms that it has undergone and its current status. One also gets the chance to understand the successes and failures of UN together with the underlying reasons. It is good to understand war to fight it effectively. Generally, there is a decline in the incidences of war although it is not noticeable due to improved technology that has led to increased reporting.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Joshua S. Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide. New York: Dutton, 2011. Print.
