War, Refugees, and Labor

Introduction

The manifestation of aggression, which is accepted as one of the most basic impulses of human beings individually, appears in the form of war since the first communities. Since the hunter-gatherer societies, there have been countless wars between and within societies in different regions of the world over the centuries. As a matter of fact, war sociologically; defined as violent conflict between states, classes, or people (Jury-Jury, 1991). The geography in which the community or societies lived may also make the war necessary and inevitable. On the other hand, there have also been societies in history that did not have warlike or regular military units, and therefore had a peaceful character. Therefore, it is possible to say that war has a cultural nature. On the other hand, the transition from agricultural societies to industrial societies brought with it the motive of protecting the land borders due to its economic and political property. Considering that the starting point of the emergence of today's nation states in line with colonialism and nation-state goals is wars, it can be concluded that these wars took place with political and economic motives. The establishment of nation states did not interrupt the history of war. Clausewitz (2003) defined war as an act of violence in which a community/group/state aims to force its opponent to do its will (p.101). Goel (2021) states that the distinction between “us” and “others” is innate, it is culturally ingrained, and while people seek the benefit of “us” in line with their beliefs and ideologies and act in this direction, they want to harm the “other” who has different ideologies and beliefs. Aims to protect the integrity, wealth and benefit of “us” and to stand up to the threat, hostility and aggression of the “other”, while causing nation-states to continue the militarist tradition, it kept the armament and the need to be always present alive. The tendency of human beings to develop a sense of belonging by nature, has been the basis of modern nationalism (Abulof, 2018). Rationalized goals with an emotional backdrop of dying or killing for the nation legitimize the motivations of the combatants. Pagano (2013) states that tribes are the basis of communities that have come together with common values. The ideologies of individuals are the ideologies of society. Today, tribal wars have evolved into massive armies, advanced weapons, and devastating wars (Cashdan-Downes, 2012). On the other hand, the state does not feel the need to fight unless it receives any threat (Gat, 2019). However, the war will bring heavy consequences for both the combatants and the world. Heavy destruction of settlements, infrastructures, hospitals, schools and all cultural and architectural sites, as well as civilian and military casualties causes economic, cultural and social losses to the country in the war. The fact that life is under threat and total failure will make forced migrations inevitable. The obligation of displaced civilians to cope with security, shelter, nutrition, work and education problems in other countries, especially in neighboring countries; emerges as one of the other consequences of the war. On the other hand, wars have ecological consequences due to their effects on the environment and air pollution in the global context, economic consequences due to disruptions in production and supply chains, migrations, and war aid, sociological consequences due to the effects of the displacement of civilians as well as their post-war return.