Before you read this article, please write down your own definition of war.
Then you can learn about the major types of definitions provided by respondents to the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS) as administered by the Group on Perspectives on Governmental Aggression and Peace (GIPGAP).
Collected from more than 40 countries around the world, the definitions of war fall into five major categories:
- definitions identifying war with conflict (dictionary types of definitions)
- definitions focusing on the presumed causes of war
- definitions specifying particular criteria that were necessary to label particular events as constituting a war
- definitions focusing on the outcomes of war, and
- moral judgments concerning the nature of war.
Here are some of the definitions of war provided by people from around the world. Decide which of the five categories of definition each one represents:
- “When all people die and you find no food, land is taken and destroyed.”
- “Violent response to an aggressor nation.”
- “Killing unnecessarily.”
- “Armed conflict between states or nations.”
- “Repeated and prolonged attacks of force by one country upon another.”
Now consider your own definition. Which category would it fall into?
We found a range of responses in how men and women from different regions defined war and categorized those definitions.
Which sex do you think was more likely to provide definitions that were essentially moral judgments on war?
Which sex do you think was more likely to provide definitions focusing on outcomes of war?
Which sex do you think focused more on the specific qualifications for calling something a war?
Watch for an upcoming post that provides the answer to these and other questions about our findings.
Kathie Malley-Morrison