What Sustains Wars: Will to Fight Versus Military Might

Journal article : Review

This essay explores the contributions of psychosocial factors in sustaining wars and other extreme group conflicts. It uses the Devoted Actor Framework (DAF) to better understand will to fight (WTF) as a quest for ontological significance. Devoted actors are viscerally and inseparably fused to one another and to their group by moral ideals often held to be sacred and indivisible, and thus highly resistant to negotiation and compromise. The quest for ontological significance involves affirming and securing group identities and associated moral ideals. The importance of WTF and reasons for its postwar neglect are highlighted in an analysis of initial versus later stages of the European theater in WWII. Next is an assessment of the limits of rational realism and the significance of religion and nationalism, followed by an examination of psychosocial factors involved in WTF via behavioral and brain studies in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and North America. The discussion section examines the scope and limits of DAF in terms of descriptive and explanatory power and in relation to other approaches to war and group conflict. A final coda addresses the Israel−Palestine conflict and the recent Gaza War to illustrate DAF's relevance for understanding and managing seemingly intractable conflicts.

Authors: Atran, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Publication date: 2025-11-02
• Acceptance date: 2025-09-11
• DOI: 10.1111/nyas.70113
• EISSN: 1749-6632
• ISSN: 0077-8923
• Language: English
• Keywords: religion and nationalism; intractable conflicts; identity fusion; sacred values; realism versus moralism
• Subtype: Review