COMMENT: War and peace: additional thoughts —Munir Attaullah

The keys to a better future, as always, are to be found in bringing about the right cultural changes. We need to inculcate in the younger generation compassion not passion; magnanimity not hostility; and the spirit of generosity, compromise and moderation rather than insularity, hatred, and aggressiveness

I think I need to expand somewhat on my column ‘War and peace’ (Daily Times, April 28, 2010). After all, one cannot do justice in one short column to this great issue that has attracted the attention of the finest social philosophers and historians over the ages.

And then there was the feedback from readers. In particular, it was suggested that I had forgotten something basic: that in the ultimate analysis, human motivations stem from passion, not reason. Others thought the answer to the conundrum I posed lay in the quality of leadership, and that the success of the modern European experiment is to be explained largely by that simple fact.

Of course, only a fool would deny the important role both these factors have played in that historical drama of mankind that is war and peace. And they remain of crucial importance in most parts of the globe even now. However, the question I really wanted to address was, are there sufficient reasons to believe (hope?) that in this theatre, as in many others, one can dimly perceive the emergence of new paradigms that will, in due course, overturn the old historical realities? And my way of testing the validity of this thesis was to examine those pockets of excellence and best practice we can presently discern, as models of what the future may eventually hold for the rest of us.

My conclusions were positive. But not because human nature has changed, or some nations have suddenly been blessed with a new kind of visionary leadership. Conflict itself has not been — and cannot be — miraculously banished. But the modes of conflict avoidance and resolution have become more sophisticated than the old blunt instrument that was war.

And economic and social advancement seem to bring with them a new type of political leadership, more concerned with the nitty-gritty of everyday mundane domestic issues than the articulation and implementation of some grand national vision. Such an absence of ‘great leaders’ in modern societies should be seen, paradoxically, as a boon rather than a tragedy. For sophisticated societies more or less run themselves, and the problem with ‘great leaders’ is that all too often they are the one’s who make the great mistakes. And those can be horrendously expensive.

So let me add some flesh to these bare bones of my argument. Historically, the rousing of emotions and passions was vital in stiffening the sinews for bloody hand-to-hand combat. But what use are such psychological props today when an unseen enemy has the potential to annihilate you from miles away? For advanced societies, war with each other is now genuinely no longer an option. So what role can there now be for national passion?

Germany and Japan have consciously demilitarised; and countries such as Brazil have forsworn nuclear weapons even though they have the necessary capability. And China has made no military effort to reclaim Taiwan. It is also no accident that advanced societies are making strong and conscious efforts — though not always successfully — to curb the politics of hate and envy. Japan has not only publicly apologised to the victims of its aggression but, for all its deep wounds as the only nuclear victim, bears no ill will towards the US. Has even Russia not recently admitted to the gruesome Katyn massacre and apologised to Poland for that atrocity?

Even as recently as the end of World War I the spirit of hate and revenge was a powerful factor in international politics. Didn’t the Allies, at Versailles, ignoring the advice Lord Keynes set out in his prophetic booklet — The Economic Consequences of the Peace — impose such harsh reparations on Germany that another war was all but inevitable sooner or later?

Contrast that with the generosity of the Marshall Plan that put Europe swiftly back on its feet after World War II. And say what you like about the concept of foreign aid — sure, there is much there to be critical about — it remains undeniable that on balance it reflects a type of thinking unheard of hitherto in the long history of inter-state relations. Let us not underestimate the power of modern economic inter-dependence as a promoter of peace. Is the US not the biggest investor in China, and Japan the biggest investor in the US?

Despairing of corrupt and inefficient governments, many people in less advanced societies yearn for a powerful and charismatic leader to lead them to utopia. But such a yearning, more often than not, stems from a latent desire for the nation to recapture its past and lost ‘glory’, — mythical or real — rather than a yearning for the general welfare of the people. But the age of such a type of leader is over. In the last three to four decades, how many such leaders of advanced societies can you name? They are now a rapidly diminishing breed in modern societies and a mistrusted, unwanted commodity. To borrow an analogy from the world of big business, mature societies need talented and efficient managers at the helm rather than the dashing and mercurial entrepreneur brimful of passion.

Before the Industrial Revolution, wealth was about land and its agricultural and mineral bounties. The struggle to control this source of wealth was at the root of most conflict, for the easiest way to increase your wealth was at the expense of others. Today, the wealth of a nation is rooted in the innovative skills and enterprise of its people. And the best way to increase your wealth is to increase the purchasing power of others to enable them to buy the products and services you are peddling. Wealth creation, not usurpation, is the name of the new game.

The keys to a better future, as always, are to be found in bringing about the right cultural changes. We need to inculcate in the younger generation — through education and the personal example of leaders — compassion not passion; magnanimity not hostility; and the spirit of generosity, compromise and moderation rather than insularity, hatred, and aggressiveness.

Let us not romantically aspire to be the lonely predator eagle. An ant-like society is a better role model.

The writer is a businessman. A selection of his columns is now available in book form. Visit munirattaullah.com