Causes and Effect of War

The causes and effect would be discussed in a two-fold form focusing on the
Economic causes and implications of war as well as the psychological causes
as to how human beings commit crimes during war and its effect on them.

A. Economic
a. Cause
Looking back at history, wars were waged to conquer territories and
increase power and money in the form of taxes. Later on, this desire for
power and money would still be vital in forming an economic
mentality whereby States wage wars against each other to gain an
economic upper hand, among others, to provide better for their
countries. A timely example of a possible conflict and threat is the
recent rise in tensions over the disputes in South China Sea. If China
gets to claim the territories it deems as theirs, they get exclusive use
of that part of the sea and the natural resources included therein.
Another example is the rise of WWII when Germany, after WWI, was
poor and was lacking in resources to support itself. Thus, the rise of
Nazis with the promise of an economically stronger Germany.

b. Effect
For countries like the U.S., wars waged such as WWII, benefited its
economy. But as some economists claim, the positive effects of
increased military spending were outweighed by longer term
unintended negative macroeconomic consequences. Adverse effects
show either immediately or soon after, through higher inflation, budget
deficits, high taxes and reductions in consumption or investment. With
a more recent scenario, in the recent Saudi-Iran confrontation, it is
expected that both countries have an increase on its military spending
including on the part of its allies. Yet, the threat of war also increased
geopolitical1 risks that affect investment, tourism and trade in an
already fragile region.

B. Psychological
a. Cause
Human beings are not born as aggressors. The development of human
beings and their psychological structure is affected by their
environment and experiences. In relation to war crimes and how
individuals are able to commit said crimes, there are three (3)
important concepts that would play a part. First is Dehumanization
whereby a particular person, race, culture, etc. is treated or viewed as
less than human. Second is Authority as a coercive influence and
1 Geopolitics is defined as the study of how geography and economics influence politics and the
relations between countries.
 something susceptible of abuse as shown in Milgrams experiment and
Zimbardos prison experiment. Lastly is a childs development of
Social Behavior acquired through observation and imitation.

Dehumanization is a psychological process where ones opponent is

viewed as less than human and not deserving of moral and legal
consideration. By dehumanizing an opponent, the value of ones
negative act diminishes thus guilt does not instantly play a part in
ones psyche. Some examples of dehumanizing acts/perceptions that
played a part in war crimes are that in the Nazi Era, jews were depicted
as rats in the film The Eternal Jew. Another is during the Rwandan
genocide, Hutu officials called Tutsis cockroaches that needed to
be cleared out.

In Milgrams experiment, Milgram wanted to investigate whether

Germans were particularly obedient to authority figures as this was a
common explanation for the Nazi killings in World War II 2. It was
concluded that ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an
authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being.
Obedience is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.
People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize the
authority as morally right and/or legally based.3

In Zimbardos experiment, he wanted to investigate how readily people

would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing
exercise that simulated prison life.4 His participants were male college
students. In his findings, Within hours of beginning the experiment
some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and
sadistic manner, apparently enjoying it. Other guards joined in, and
other prisoners were also tormented. When the experiment was cut
short due to the escalating abuses being made by the guards, the
participants were interviewed to see what their insights were. Most of
the guards found it difficult to believe they were capable of brutalizing
other humans the way that they did. Prisoners, on the other hand,
could not believe that they responded in a submissive, cowering, and
dependent way. 5

Lastly, in Banduras Bobo Doll Experiment, children aged between 3

and 6 years old were used as participants. Some were made to watch
adults being aggressive towards a doll and others were not. In the
results, those children that observed an aggressive model made more

2 https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html
3 ibid
4 https://www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html
5 ibid
 imitative aggressive responses than those that were not shown any. It
was concluded that children learn social behavior such as aggression
through the process of observation learning - through watching the
behavior of another person.6

b. Effect
War in itself is a very traumatic experience. All parties present in the
combat zone such as soldiers of both parties and the civilians present
get affected with the turmoil present in their surroundings specially if
horrific experiences were seen first hand. Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) is just but one of the psychological effects that one
would experience after undergoing immense trauma. Symptoms would
be extreme nightmares, flashbacks, fear, jumpiness, and hopelessness.
The basic human right of these people to quality of life is adversely
affected and is hard to recover if proper treatment be not imposed as
usually is the case.

6 https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html