Identity Dilemmas: The Consequence of Identity in Protracted Conflict - Softcover

U.S. Army War College

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1500568287 ISBN 13: 9781500568283

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

This work contends that fear, interest, and honor—the Thucydidean triad—are the primary, underlying causal factors present in most human conflicts. While more than one of these motives may be at work in any given contest, a single motive can and often does outweigh the others. This principal motive must be identified and addressed to truly resolve the conflict in question. The examination advances a security-prosperity-identity framework for analyzing the behavior of states in conflict. It applies the analytic framework to three of the world’s most intractable disputes—Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan, and China-Taiwan—to highlight the weight of the motives at work. The analysis indicates that identity eventually outweighs security and prosperity in the prolongation of conflict. The study concludes that an identity dilemma, in which conflicting identities reinforce one another, develops over time. Based on these findings, it recommends that identity play a more central role in the examination as well as the termination of conflict.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1500568287
• ISBN 13: 9781500568283
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 30