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Diversionary Theory Of War

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The logical basis for the success of diversionary war is quite simple. The in-group/out-group theory of sociology states that social identification is a fundamental human need. This idea was first proposed by Simmel in 1956. One of the most popular forms of social identification is opposition. When a conflict is started with a group outside of in-group, the in-group naturally becomes more cohesive. This is because there is a basic human instinct to respond socially to a threat. People are more likely to band together if they are threatened, despite their internal differences. Therefore, in the diversionary theory of war, states are able to band the conflicting population together by setting common goal of aggression towards a different state. …show more content…

With great domestic turmoil, the Argentine leadership had a motive for diversion. Additionally, the nationalistic feelings held towards the Falklands Islands by the Argentine people allowed the Galtieri regime to justify the war to the people, without the general population recognizing that there were diversionary motives for declaring war. While there was a clear attempt at diversion by the Argentine regime, the war failed and led to the ousting of Galtieri from …show more content…

In this situation humans will deliberately or sub consciously change information in order defend their ego. Essentially, motivated errors occur when people see what they want to see in a situation. There are certain types motivated errors. For example, groupthink was a motivated misperception that had an impact on the Argentinians decision to go begin the Falklands War. Groupthink occurs when a group of people come to a conclusion and that conclusion is not questioned because of the stress of the situation. The solidarity of the situation reassures the members of the group of their decision. In the Falklands War, the military leaders came to the conclusion to attempt to take back the Falklands Islands despite knowing of the potential costs of this decision. In this situation, the decision of the group to take this action was made under a great deal of stress. Because of this, the motivated misperception of groupthink took over. Thus, there was no member of the group to question the costs of the decision to enter into war with Britain. Therefore, the misperception of groupthink had a part in the cause of the Falklands

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