Greed vs Grievance the Cause of Civil War

Was our Civil War one of a "Greed" rebellion or of a "Grievance" rebellion?

  • "Greed" Rebellion...

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • "Grievance" Rebellion...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Combo of Each One... If you choose this one explain...

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1
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5fish

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Greed vs Grievance is a baseline model for the causes of societies in Civil Wars. It was a resent theory being forward by academia about societies and Civil Wars.

From: wiki...

The phrase "greed versus grievance" or "greed and grievance" refer to the two baseline arguments put forward by scholars of armed conflict on the causes of civil war, though the argument has been extended to other forms of war, such as violent conflict in general, rebellion and insurgency, for example.

"Greed" is shorthand for the argument that combatants in armed conflicts are motivated by a desire to better their situation, and perform an informal cost-benefit analysis in examining if the rewards of joining a rebellion are greater than not joining. "Grievance" stands for the argument that people rebel over issues of identity, e.g. ethnicity, religion, social class, etc., rather than over economics. In practice, even proponents of strong versions of these arguments admit that the opposing argument has some influence in the development of a conflict.

Whether the cause of war is attributed to 'greed' or 'grievance' the common factor is the perception of a certain deprivation. If it is an economic deprivation, the inequality will be a 'vertical inequality' and the cause of war will be 'greed'. If the deprivation is caused by ethnicity, age, religion or gender, it will be a 'horizontal inequality' and the cause of war will be due to the 'grievances'.

Most rebellions are ostensibly in pursuit of a cause, supported by a narrative of grievance.
But since grievance assuagement through rebellion is a public good that a government will not supply, economists predict such rebellions would be rare. Empirically, many rebellions appear to be linked to the capture of resources


Where would our American Civil War fall on the graph? I believe very high up if not straight up the vertical side for Greed!
 

Sgt. Tyree

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I believe there is often a difference between what a war is about (or what starts a war) and what motivates men to fight.

Agreed on greed (what whit :) ) for the southern aristocracy. I believe the desire to secede by the southern aristocracy was driven by money. And we all know that wealth was mostly a matter of a "peculiar institution" for them. That may not be why the common Confederate soldier fought (in his mind) but the southern aristocracy had to "gin up the base" and sell secession to the "pore boys" as state's rights, or northern aggression, or something.

How about this: was the desire to preserve the Union also driven by money?
 
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