Learning from conflicts

Not only does War studies help prepare better defence professionals but also diplomats, human rights workers and academicians.

When thinking of war, the first thing one may picture is military action. But looking into past conflicts and identifying their triggers, features, and impact can help bring about a better future. Today, the world’s geopolitics demands a discipline that informs individuals about global conflicts and their causes. War Studies is one subject, which helps create better defence professionals, diplomats and global changemakers. It provides an opportunity to understand politically motivated violent areas at the domestic and international level. The development of society has, and will continue to be, intertwined with and shaped by warfare and other kinds of politically directed violence. It is central to social, political and economic development. Today, warfare within inter-state relations is still critical, given the potential impact of modern weapons’ destructive capacity. There are the broader threats to security born from contemporary issues such as inequality, climate change, gender discrimination and uneven access to resources. All these factors make War Studies a vast subject that is particularly well designed to meet modern society’s global and local challenges. It gives students with an inclusive approach to understand international politics and conflicted areas and benefits them vastly. Fundamentally, they will understand that power lies in history, the dynamics between countries, and the contemporary world’s economy, influenced by military force. However, it also highlights the limits of the utility of force and its place in international diplomacy. Students of War Studies can understand continuity in human affairs, the trends changing the world and the lessons learned from world history. Such understanding is applicable in a wide variety of careers.