War and Peace through liberal lens

“Eastleigh is our umbilical cord. You must arrest anyone who is spoiling Eastleigh — even if he is Adan Barre’s brother. Those who are detonating explosives in Eastleigh should do it elsewhere.”-Majority Leader, Aden Duale (“Duale in tight spot over Shabaab attack and his 30-day list”, 2015).

I have retrieved the above quote from the online archives of the Daily Nation, a leading newspaper in Kenya. Wars have been with us for ages so much that there are those who have theorized it as part of human nature. Realist thinkers like Hans Morgenthau in his ‘politics among nations’ all the way to Kenneth Waltz’s ‘theory of international politics’ believe the world system is anarchic with no central government thus states must help themselves more so militarily because war is inevitable.  But is war really inevitable?

Although inter-state wars have reduced and that partly due to liberal policies of democracy, transnational relations, complex interdependence and institutionalism which I will elaborate later, the world is without doubt engaged in the global war on terror. The United States in Afghanistan, Russia in Syria, Turkey in Syria, France in West Africa and Kenya in Somalia among others are all in a battle against these non-state actors.

Whereas realists believe all disputes are eventually solved by war, some of these wars have lasted for years without end in sight. After 18 years, the United States is yet to defeat the Taliban and are now opting for a peaceful resolution and Kenya’s ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ that has so far lasted for 9 years has not really protected the state from Al-shabab attacks at home and in Somalia. However, when you hear influential figures like Duale who is of Somali decent talk about the need to protect Somali traders in Eastleigh from business losses as a result of terror attacks then from a liberal perspective I see trade through transnational relations. What if Kenya opened her markets to Somali traders? How about democratic institutions?  Do the Somali in Kenya feel well represented and valued? Are there injustices that have to be dealt with? What if Somalia was a liberal democracy?                

In his master piece ‘perpetual peace’, Immanuel Kant opines that republican states are likely to be more peaceful to each other hence the democratic peace theory we know of today. According to Jackson and Sorensen (2007), the argument is not that democracies never go to war but that democracies do not fight each other. This is due to peaceful conflict resolution because citizens who control their governments will generally not support war against another democracy, democracies hold common values leading to a ‘pacific union’ as articulated by Kant and finally peace between democracies is made stronger through economic cooperation and interdependence. The existing peace between liberal democracies in western Europe and North America is a key aspect of the democratic peace theory. This is something that both Kenya and Somalia can emulate and probably incorporate the terrorists of today.

Then there is the aspect of transnational relations which as per James Rosenau is the process whereby international relations conducted by governments are supplemented by relations among private individuals, groups, and societies that can and do have important consequences for the course of events. There are many different types of actors not just national governments as we saw recently a group of Kenyan legislators hold private talks with the Somali president over simmering tensions with Kenya or several American companies vowing to adhere to the Paris climate pact despite President Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement. It is believed within the liberal circles that relations between people are more cooperative and more supportive of peace than are relations between national governments. Transnational relations among activists helped bring about the Mine Ban Treaty-this international campaign ended up winning the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 1997.

Transnational relations eventually lead to complex interdependence in that people and governments are affected by what happens elsewhere by the actions of their counterparts in other countries. Thus, a higher level of transnational relations between countries means a higher level of interdependence (Jackson & Sorensen, 2007). This has become clear in the current corona virus crisis whereby actions of the Chinese government to suppress early warnings by medics has turned out to be a costly mistake leading to loss of lives across the globe and economic mess. Yet despite all these, states have not entirely closed their borders to global trade. Wars are costly and with less benefits especially after the end of the cold war leading to several countries turning to foreign trade to achieve prominence such as Japan and Germany which are referred to as ‘trading states’. Increased interdependence tends to discourage violent confrontations between states and that is probably why Kenya has not gone to war with Uganda over Migingo Island.

It is along these lines that Joseph Nye has emphasized the importance of soft power which is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes you want, this power can be used by states and all actors in international politics like Non-Governmental Organizations or International institutions.

Although there is a lot of debate how effective international institutions are, we cannot deny the fact that strong institutions can enhance cooperation among states thus Woodrow Wilson’s vision of transforming international relations from a ‘jungle’ of chaotic power politics to a ‘zoo’ of regulated and peaceful intercourse did not die with the League of Nations. Wars are a result of weak institutions; it is therefore important that we focus on strengthening organizations like NATO or the African Union rather than tearing them down.  It is well documented how in 1962, both the United Nations Security Council and the then Secretary General U Thant played a great role in averting a possible nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis. Needless to say, we have seen how the World Health Organization despite credible criticism has done its best to coordinate global response towards the fight against corona virus.

In summary, liberal ideals of democracy, transnational relations, complex interdependence and institutionalism can help enhance peace or rather reduce wars among states. However, liberal thinking on war and peace has not gone unchallenged especially by the realists who in their pessimistic view of human nature contend that we are in an anarchical system which leads to self-help as states arm themselves against potential enemies eventually leading to war and that cannot change. They also add that economic interdependence is not new and what we are seeing now is a response to the devastation caused by the two world wars with the second one happening when the League of Nations existed. Neo-realists are critical of the importance liberals attach to institutions arguing that in as much as states cooperate through institutions, they do so in their selfish interest, at the end of the day the strong will always prevail in international relations. There have been reports that China has arm-twisted the World Health Organization when it comes to reporting on the corona virus and the delay in declaring it a world pandemic.

Nevertheless, we cannot rule out liberal ideals as an alternative to pursuing peace since wars have their limits in resolving international disputes and life is not all about military security. I started with a quote and I will end with one;

"Let the strivings of us all prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.”-Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of South Africa.