Today, I was talking to a colleague from Turkey and we got to speaking about the flash point that is being reached in her country with respect to the violence on their border with Iraq. I casually mentioned that I hope that it wouldn’t get to a point where the Turks declare war. Her response was surprisingly defensive. She spent the next 10 minutes explaining why it was necessary for the Turks to use force to ensure that their border is completely safe and secure. This got me thinking about the general use of force that is usually advocated by fierce patriots of nations, especially to address issues of geographical boundaries. I suppose given past and recent history of invading maurauders (whether Mongols. Mughals, Sadaam or China), this is the only way to handle such problems. I guess it boils down to why humans feel to need to conquer…From a theory of utility perspective, it can possibly be explained by economic gain or social gain (read the huge inflation of egos).
