Machiavelli Preemptive War

Political philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli stated, “there is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.” This quote accurately shows the attitude that the international community, led by the United States, is coming to adopt. The idea that war can’t be avoided and still lead to a beneficial outcome for the nations concerned. This can be transcribed into modern terms roughly into the idea of preemptive war. Preemptive war is defined as a war that “occurs when a state that is about to be attacked decides to strike first at its enemy and thus disrupt the impending attack” ("Preemptive War"). However guidelines for what counts as an impending threat or attack that would justify a preemptive strike is incredibly subjective.

Realism: “a theory of international relations that emphasizes states’ interest in accumulating power to ensure security in an anarchic world; based on the notion that individuals are power seeking and that states act in pursuit of their own national interest defined in terms of power” (Mingst, p. A24). This branch traces its history back to renowned political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli. The basis of Machiavelli’s political philosophy relies on whether human nature is innately good or bad. Machiavelli believes that all people are innately bad and that morality, religion, and philosophy should have no place in politics. This is a drastic change from the medieval Christian thinkers that came before him. Stemming from the idea that all humans are evil, Machiavelli’s political theory is basically that the end justifies the means. Since all humans are innately evil humans must act in a way that protects themselves. Machiavelli himself was an opportunist as the tone of his various works swing as different people are in power. In this way, he truly follows his self-professed political theory since changing ideas or authorities went towards benefiting his own position and

In many of these cases, the line between preemptive and preventive wars grow thin, since what justifies a direct threat. During the Cold War, the threats both ideological and in firepower lead to numerous proxy wars throughout the globe as well as a nuclear arms race that rocketed up the number of deadly nuclear weapons on planet earth. This idea of deterrence by nuclear arms is especially prevalent in 2018 with President Trump broadcasting US military and nuclear might to threaten world leaders, as well as the global importance of the situation with the North Korean missile programs, and the Iran Nuclear Deal that President Trump recently back out