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The Principles of Conflict Derived from Malthus

Malthus opened the door to illuminating the connection between environmental scarcity and political conflict when he enumerated the "positive checks" of war, disease and poverty which would limit the unconstrained growth of population. A major aim of the International Society of Malthus is to follow Malthus' s lead by exploring the basis of conflict and politics in history and in present times.

For example, on the basis of Malthus's teachings, we can derive the principles of politics and conflict:

The Principles of Conflict

The First Principle of War:
All wars are struggles over the control of resources or struggles for political control.

Politics is the struggle for power in order to control resources. So all political struggle is at bottom the struggle over resources.

Subsidiary principle:
When resources are scarce or perceived to be scarce, there will be an increased struggle over the available resources.

Subsidiary principle:
Wars which are not directly or overtly about the control of resources, are struggles for political control.

Corollary:
Resource scarcity is a consequence of too many people chasing limited supplies.

Corollary:
When population reaches a critical mass relative to available resources, there is always a struggle over the division of those resources. When there is an easily identifiable minority ethnic or racial group, that group tends to become a target in times of scarcity.

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