Why Are Big States More War Prone Then Small ones

“War! Huh! Good God y’all! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” (Springsteen). Contrary to the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen, there is a purpose to war. The world has many different states and nations, and not all have similar interests; and when the interests of two or more countries conflict with one another, war is a possible outcome. War is no stranger to any country in the world, but some countries are much more experienced in the art of war then others. There are many reasons to wage a war, but the one that can explain the reason why big states are more war prone then small ones is the need for more power.

In today’s world, there are many big states that engage in wars, however, none as big as the United States of America. And with the power that comes with being a big state, comes the need to wage wars for even more power. There is an old drag racing adage that applies to the world of international relations; “too much power is not enough.” Taking this into consideration, one would expect smaller states to wage wars much more frequently in order to establish themselves as a world power, and larger states to engage in fewer wars as they are already established as a strong world power. However, the one hegemonic power, the United States, has waged numerous wars despite the fact that it is considered to be the most powerful nation in the world. Since World War II, the United States has been engaged in ten military conflicts (Declaration of war by the United States.). It is the urge for more power that drives nations such as the United States, who already control its fair share of resources and commands a formidable role in the balance of world power, to continue to wage wars.

The realist approach would consider that the international system is anarchistic and each state in the system is driven to advance its national interests and gain more power for itself. This would explain why smaller states would want to engage in war to establish themselves as a world power. However, these smaller countries and just that, small, and have difficulty in amassing both manpower and economic backing to fund constant wars. While larger states such as the United States of America have the military power and the economic power to continue to wage wars to further their agenda. Since the last declared war, World War II, the United States has been involved in ten congress authorized military conflicts. Of these ten, eight were tools to spread the American political structure to other nations in the world.

The first of these military conflicts was the Korean War. Following World War II, the nation of Korea was split along the 38th parallel, with the northern portion going to the Soviet Union and the southern portion going to American control. When North Korea attacked South Korea in an attempt to unify the nation under communism, the United States responded by sending troops to stop the communist threat from spreading. This is the first example of America engaging in wars to further its agenda of spreading American democracy throughout the world.

In another attempt to stop communism from spreading, the United States authorized in secret the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in order to overthrow Fidel Castro. Although this invasion failed, it set the stage for the further involvement of the United States in the fight against communism. The following conflict was located in Vietnam. Once again, America came to the aid of the side fighting against communism. Using the foreign policy theory named the Domino Theory, which stated that if one southeast nation were to fall to communism so would the rest, the United States justified its role in what was truly a civil war. The next conflict in which America was involved in was the invasion of Grenada. The former government was overthrown in a bloodless coup d'йtat and a Marxist/Leninist government was put into place. With Cold War starting to heat up, America invaded Grenada and within a few days, overthrew the Marxist government and a new government was