Conduct research to answer the following questions: Is conflict inevitable? Is war inevitable?

e? (Note war and conflict are distinct but related terms.) What is the democratic peace theory? What human rights are supposedly violated in Singapore? Provide evidence to support. Write down one A4 cheat-sheet of notes on findings from research. Background Information: War-an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict that occurs only between political communities. Realism-ethics has got nothing to do with the rough-and-tumble world of global politics, where only the strong and cunning survive. A country should tend to its vital interests in security, influence over others, and economic growthand not to moral ideals. Pacifism-war is always wrong; there's always some better resolution to the problem than fighting. Just War Theory- states can sometimes have moral justification for resorting to armed forces Conflict-a fight, battle, or struggle, especially a prolonged struggle;strife. a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests or concerns Research:
http://www.progressivehumanism.com/progressive-humanism/is-war-inevitable/ http://www.progressivehumanism.com/

As far as we know, war has always been part of our human history, and it probably occurred from time to time, in one form or another, even throughout our prehistory, that is, for as far back as humans existed. And even farther, since we now know that chimpanzees also wage a war of sorts, between bands, and they are our closest relatives. Bigger tribes usually prevailed over smaller ones, and the ones with greater internal cohesion had the edge over less disciplined groups. So there was a gradual evolution in a social or cultural sense toward larger groups with greater internal cohesion.

You see, when cultural selection replaced biological selection as the prime vehicle for adaptive change, it followed new rules, quite unlike biological selection in details, but it was similar in one overarching respect: when several entities were competing for the same scarce resource, there were winners and there were losers. And it is self-evident, as well as amply confirmed by history, that the cultures that survive today are descended from the winners of bygone times, not the losers. What qualities have enabled some cultures to compete more successfully than others? Well, obviously, one factor is internal cohesion and loyalty. If two groups of about the same size and level of complexity compete for the same turf, or get into a fight for whatever reason, the winner is likely to be the one with the greater internal cohesion. Another factor is sheer size, and level of complexity. Other factors being equal. the larger group will prevail. Depending on the nature of the competition, it may either eliminate the smaller group, or absorb it, or let it continue in a subordinate role. History is full of examples. At that point we no longer waited for nature to challenge us. We invented our own challenges. And most of them arose when we challenged each other. Imagine yourself as the leader of a pretty tough kingdom whose army has just been beaten by an enemy because it had bronze weapons and yours didnt. You are going to leave the field of battle with a burning desire to get bronze yourself, and you will sacrifice a lot of other things if you have to, to get it. Think of the US reaction thirty or forty years ago to reports the Soviets were beating us in the nuclear arms race. Well? Intergroup hostility is often bloody and inhumane but I think it only fair to say that over the past eight or ten millenia it has jump-started human progress, and that without it we might still be living in caves.
The conflict perspective of sociology holds that, conflict is necessary for progress to occur. Conflict comes up in order to fix previously unrecognized problems within a society. Interesting last bit about shrinking differences but bigger conflicts. Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, theorized in the segment about the babel fish and the nonexistence of god about the same thing. Using the babel fish, everyone understands what everyone else is saying, despite the language. Then, the wars get bigger and more brutal. So, our differences in language can stand as an ignorance barrier: sure, someone may say something bad about you but can you do anything about if you don't know that that is what is being said because of a language barrier? Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional as it was brilliantly put.

Life is an energy machine that replicates itself. Nature is the competition between these machines Understand?

Nature IS Conflict. Not just human nature, all nature. This is the Principal of Evolution, that life is in conflict, and the fittest survive. Conflict is intrinsic to Life. Democratic peace theory (or liberal democratic theory[1] or simply the "democratic peace") holds that democracies, for some appropriate definition of democracy, rarely, or even never, go to war with one another. The wording "democratic peace theory" is often disputed since, even if the theory is accepted, it does not imply that the "peace" has the key characteristics of a "democracy" among countries. Some critics argue that it would be more accurately labeled as the "inter-democracy nonaggression hypothesis."[2]
Peace by force is actually what allows peace between democracies Democracies share democratic values that help maintain peace

http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Democratic_peace_theory#Is_the_democr atic_peace_theory_correct.3F ISA Freedom of speech? minimum wage?

"Singapore remains the textbook example of a politically repressive state," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Individuals who want to criticize or challenge the ruling party's hold on power can expect to face a life of harassment, lawsuits, and even prison." Freedom to express views publicly continues to be largely limited to the tiny Speaker's Corner in the citystate, while any procession or assembly for a "cause-related activity" must have prior police approval under the Public Order Act of 2009.
capital punishment caning (corporal punishment) military service and civilian service discrimination - gays 377a

Singapore do not provide basic protection for foreign domestic workers The US Trafficking in Persons 2009 report listed Singapore on Tier 2: countries not doing enough to address human trafficking. Women are trafficked to Singapore for domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation. Singapore had not signed e.g. the following international agreements by 2010: [14] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CEDAW) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967) Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954) Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961)

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Cheat Sheet: Is war inevitable? In my opinion, war is not inevitable. Yes I do agree that we humans are territorial creatures, there is no denying in that, we are also very sociable ones, preferring to travel in packs rather than going solo. Hence, since the beginning of time we have formed groups and tried to foster an identity within that gang to differentiate us from others as well as bring ourselves together. In the past, it was all simple as the groups were small enough that we could recognize each other, then as the groups got bigger, we decided on having common languages and customs, after all, having something in common was more useful than having nothing at all to unite as. As groups, we were proud and as said before, territorial, so we would try to take over other groups for a spectrum of reasons, ranging for the need of more resources to I dont like what he/she said/is like. Fast forward to the 21st century and its the same ol game. Countries and states go into war for the exact same reasons, but this time, at a much faster pace. In the past, we would have to train troops and send them marching into enemy's lands, this process could take up month, maybe even years, and by that time, if the heads decided to sit and talk, the conflict would probably have been solved by then, so tada, war is avoided. But these days, our troops are sent in by planes, after the command from a higher power, they could arrive in the place of interest in a matter of hours and days, thus, the time to discuss has greatly been discounted. And to top it all off, neighbouring states might even join in the game, becoming allies in the fight if they were granted the same treatment if a similar situation was to arise. This simple fight then explodes into a fully blown out war. But the crux of the issue is that war is optional. For sure, conflicts are inevitable, as long as there are two human beings on the planet, I believe they will disagree about something, but to go to war is a choice. One could always choose to confront the opponent in a peaceful manner rather than choose violent combat. Thus, I feel war is not inevitable, it is one of the reactions to conflict and it can be avoided. As argued before, I believe conflict is inevitable. You are bound to find differences between you and another, and that would bring rise to conflict. Also, internal conflict is also intrinsic to life, of course we would have problems making decisions, how can life be so smooth sailing?