On The Art of War

            Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, an ancient Chinese military text, is a work that perhaps needs little introduction.  This collection of proverbs, military strategies, and tactical writings has received almost legendary status, worldwide, as one of the most definitive military texts ever produced.  The ancient work’s exact history is fairly muddled—the 2^nd century BC historian and biographer, Simi Qian, describes The Art of War to have been written sometime during the 6^th century BC by the Chinese general Sun Tzu.  He further describes Sun Tzu to have been a general living in the State of Wu at this time, roughly the same period of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius.  Other sources state the origins of The Art of War to be placed somewhere around 400 BC or as early as 320 BC.  Other scholars even claim that the work was perhaps composed by many unknown Chinese philosophers, changing over the centuries and that Sun Tzu never really existed at all.[1]  Regardless of its origins, however, The Art of War remains one of the most influential texts to have ever been written—its effects can felt in its immediate purposes within military strategies that are still based upon it today, to larger scopes such as providing a framework and backbone for realism in international relations theory, to even finding a place as proverbial wisdom within modern corporations and the workplace.  It will be the focus of this review to examine the middle of those results—that is, the adoption of The Art of War as one of the earliest realist texts, providing an insight into what constitutes realism within international relations theory.

            Perhaps the greatest strength of The Art of War is providing a concise and early explanation of the realist theory.  In International Relations, Goldstein describes the work as one that “advised the rulers to survive in an era when war had become an…instrument of power…argu[ing] that moral reasoning was not very useful…faced with armed and dangerous neighbors.”[2]  While this speaks specifically to the more realism-slanted sections of the text, most of it does provide exactly that.  Through 13 brief sections, Sun Tzu describes many topics ranging from deployment of armies to planning attacks.  What the sections have in common, however, is a similar philosophy regarding the manner in which military action should be carried out.  In a general sense, Sun Tzu disagrees with frivolous war: “one hundred victories…is not the most skillful.  Subduing the other’s military without battle is the most skillful,”[3] but also believes that war must be carried out completely when necessary: “A great officer is wrathful and does not submit.  When he encounters the enemy, he is filled with rancor and does battle.”[4] 

This philosophy provides one of the earliest foundations for realism—that international relations and states’ actions are primarily driven by power.  This theory stresses that war is inevitable and when it comes, must be won in order to achieve peace.  Sun Tzu’s writings provide a basis for such theory—in both examples above, he stresses the need for state and military victory, whether through war or not.  Sun Tzu’s explanation of the necessity of gaining power can be further described in his thoughts towards resources: “The wise general looks to the enemy for food.  One bushel of enemy food equals twenty bushels of mine, one bale of fodder equals twenty bales of mine.”[5]  This demonstrates one of the key components of realism—that power drives states’ interests, and that power is often in the form of massing resources and property. 

            While Sun Tzu’s work is interesting on its own as an early foundation of realism—the text is not without a couple weaknesses.  The most glaring of which is simply the age of the work.  The text, being written well over 2000 years ago, can often be seemed as simplistic and simply out-dated.  In terms of strictly military technology, Sun Tzu’s work definitely shows age when it refers to archers and chariots.  The work is certainly not reliable as a tactical guide to modern warfare, making some of the strictly strategic sections not as useful.  However, the work still provides a good general guide to drafting a strategy—one of the most famous proverbs states “know the other and know oneself, then victory is not in danger.”[6]  Overall, The Art of War is useful in providing a glimpse into the earliest foundations of realism and as one of the first tactical texts written.

            Compared to modern discussions of realism, despite the somewhat dated nature of the specific military tactics, The Art of War still stands as a useful text.  Goldstein in International Relations describes realism as the “school of thought that explains international relations in terms of power.”[7]  This is in contrast to the more idealistic way of looking at politics, which emphasizes morality, international organization, and yet is criticized by realists as “looking too much at how the world ought to be instead of how it really is.”[8]  Sun Tzu’s work stands as one that aligns nicely with the modern definition of realism, which is not altogether surprising in that it was one of the first realist texts.  Other components of realism, such as a clear stress upon power, and the use of bargaining and leverage find their way into The Art of War.  For example, Sun Tzu places clear emphasis throughout the work in gaining an advantage over one’s adversaries: “One who takes position first at the battleground and awaits the enemy is at ease.  One who takes position later…is at labor.  One skilled at battle summons others and is not summoned by them.”[9]  Perhaps Sun Tzu’s comparison with modern realism is best seen in his advocacy for action: “Do not advance in a martial way…It is sufficient to gather strength…and take him—that is all.  However, if one…takes the enemy lightly, one will be captured by him.”[10]  Realism, which began in this ancient age, is easily shown here to not be all that different from the modern utilization of the theory—one should not actively seek war more than is necessary, but should also not attempt to avoid action when needed or destruction is possible.

            Clearly, Sun Tzu’s work doesn’t contrast too heavily with modern realism, but rather with more idealistic views, such as liberalism, feminism, peace studies, etc.  All these theories, more modern in origin, are clear counterpoints to Sun Tzu’s work, which do not stress the use of military action: “military force as a form of leverage does not seem as all-important…it is a costly way to influence other actors.”[11]  While the discussion of liberalism and realism is a debate in and of itself, this discussion provides one last weakness of The Art of War.  The text itself is of little use to provide an actual defense of realism—while it establishes a framework for realism that is similar to today’s—it was also written in a time when China was composed of warring states.  The world is infinitely more complex today, but one looking to establish a defense of realism in the modern world could still benefit from The Art of War to establish the backbone of the theory.

            Overall, Sun Tzu’s legendary work stands still as one of the most influential pieces ever composed.  Providing a foundation for realism that still exists today, the work should still be (and often is) required reading for many relations and military history scholars.  Despite it’s shortcomings in practical use within the modern era, the work still stands as a set of useful proverbs that have found their way everywhere from direct military application to the corporate world.
 

Works Cited

Goldstein, Joshua.  International Relations 5^th Edition.  New York: Longman, 2003.

Sun Tzu.  The Art of War.  Trans and ed. The Denma Translation Group.  Boston/London: Shambhala, 2001. 

Wikipedia, Online Encyclopedia.  www.wikipedia.org.  Last updated 3 April 2005.