Introduction 

    There are many theories why some authorities believe that war is a well established institution.  However, time won’t permit this writer to analyze all the pertinent evidence.  Below the writer will examine why some authorities believe war is a well established institution. 

Thesis Statement

    The Iron Mountain Report addresses some of these issues including “the functions of war” in maintaining a stable economy.  The report claims that peace is not in the interest of a stable society because war is a part of the economy and therefore necessary.

The Special Study Group, who met at an undisclosed location that included an underground nuclear survival retreat, published The Report from Iron Mountain in 1967.   Although economic, political, sociological, ecological, and cultural and scientific reasons are also named, this paper is only looking at the economic reasons why war is necessary. 

    For example, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese made a pre-emptive attack on America by bombing Pearl Harbor.  This was an attempt to destroy a major portion of the United States’ naval vessels.  This attack was prompted because the oil supplies crucial for Japan’s economy were being cut off through the influence of the United States.  Long term, war was inevitable.  The findings of The Report also presume that continued warfare would be needed to keep Japan’s economy strong. 

    Without war it would be necessary for a government to provide a dependable system to maintain a stable economy.  The substitute system would need to be wasteful like war, independent of normal supply and demand forces, and be subject to “arbitrary political control”.

 Conclusion

     Evidence shows that war is a well established institution.   According to one source, was has existed at least 5,600 historical years with only 292 years of peace.  It is the second leading cause of death in human history.  Perhaps, the human nature explanation of war  as accepted by “common wisdom” though not by academia, further cements the case that war is inevitable. (textp131)   Any of  the previously discussed ideas implies an approach of political realism, one of the six principles in Professor Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations, which was first published in 1948.   These mentioned sources are a few reasons that some authorities believe war is a well established institution.