ABSTRACT
At one level, the recourse to violence to achieve peace seems anomalous, but it points to the inherent complexity of national security and its protection
through the possession and occasional utilization of military force. The key element in reducing that apparent inconsistency is through the idea that military power-the military instrument of power-is an instrumentality that facilitates the creation of a condition of peace that those who engage in it find superior to the peace that precedes war. The need for war suggests that there are barriers to an acceptable peace in the prewar environment that is defended by some group or groups and that must be removed by force before a “better state” of a peace in which people “may live” is created.
