Skip to content

Give War a Chance

July/August 1999 Published on July 1, 1999
U.S. soldiers at a NATO base near Brcko, Bosnia, March 1998 Juergen Schwarz / Reuters

Edward N. Luttwak is Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Print
Save

PREMATURE PEACEMAKING

An unpleasant truth often overlooked is that although war is a great evil, it does have a great virtue: it can resolve political conflicts and lead to peace. This can happen when all belligerents become exhausted or when one wins decisively. Either way the key is that the fighting must continue until a resolution is reached. War brings peace only after passing a culminating phase of violence. Hopes of military success must fade for accommodation to become more attractive than further combat.

Since the establishment of the United Nations and the enshrinement of great-power politics in its Security

This article is part of our premium archives

To continue reading and get full access to our entire archive, you must subscribe.

Already a subscriber?

Log In