In part five of Conflict after the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, edited by Richard K Betts, the overall theme of the articles that were assigned was the correlation between economics and war. The four articles that were assigned test different variables of the economic question and some defined and tested their argument better than the others. Overall I think that each article lead me to a better understanding as to how the economic factors and globalization affect war.
The first article in this section of Betts book was Machiavelli's Money is Not the Sinews of War, Although it is Generally so Considered. In this article I felt that Machiavelli's primary argument was that, "the sinews of war are not gold, but good soldiers" (Machiavelli 230). He test argument with historical data that included the Romans who he states that by "making their wars with iron, they never suffered the want of gold, for it was brought to them even into their camp, by those who feared them" (230). Although I do agree with him that good soldiers are a major factor in becoming victorious in war, I also do believe that money is also a major factor. If we were to put Machiavelli's thoughts and apply them to the technologically advanced society that we live in today; would they still apply. It is the countries with advance weapons technology that are feared and powerful, whether they have "good soldiers" or not. To have technological advances you must have the money to fund the research and development of such and therefore I don't think that Machiavelli's argument applies to present day conflicts. .
The next article was a synopsis of Norman Angell's book, The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to a National Advantage. Angell argues that society as a whole has passed the stage of development "that commerce and industry of people no longer depend upon the expansion of political frontiers" (Angell 232).
