Post by Holly Snow on May 14, 2018 14:05:29 GMT -5
The recent moonkitti video has made who rightfully owns Sunningrocks a hot topic again. This is a blessing and a curse because the topic is stupid because of International Relations but International Relations also makes people cry so this is a very good day for me. International Relations is the arena you need to understand to gain basic comprehension of this conflict between Riverclan and Thunderclan and it reveals that Sunningrocks is a case of geopolitics and that nothing is sacred. Also Monkitti was wrong about the reasons Thunderclan and Riverclan wanted the land.
International Relations for the clans is essentially the same as it is for our world. The nation state has the highest authority over the land and people it governs and therefore the state determines what happens inside its borders. they have a monopoly on the legal violence that occurs within its borders. Since there are multiple nation states in the world with nothing to control them from doing what ever they please nation states are in a state of anarchy. In the state of anarchy force must be used to ensure one's own autonomy and authority over their possessions. Fighting all the time however is costly in resources and losing could be devastating for your country. To avoid this nation state's balance power among each other to maintain their own autonomy and attempt to only engage in fighting if they have the power to effectively go up against their opponent or if they have a coalition that will increase their odds of winning. This the basic fundamentals of realism theory that some of you may already be aware of. It is true in our world there are more complexities such as how we have the united nations however the nation state still remains supreme. The United nations is only effective when a super majority and the world hegemon participate in what the united nations puts forth. Balance of power is married to an institution in our world. The United Nations is not a government in the traditional sense.
In Warriors this is the same reality. Yes the clans have an international law code and system but it does not stop violence between the clans. The clans still fight each other and make alliances to defend one another. therefore there was never a higher authority present to say what land belonged to which clan. It was decided among themselves. The clans were evenly matched and knew this so they would delight in the prospect of their neighbors being weak. Thunderclan and Riverclan were themselves evenly matched and both had security issues in regards to Sunningrocks. When the river changed The rocks were no longer separated from thunderclan territory. Travelling across land is easier than traveling across water so if a foreign power controlled sunningrocks they effectively had a launch pad to invade the heart of Thunderclan. To ensure their security Thunderclan needs to control this land. To legitimize this they claimed that it was starclan's will and he supernatural gave them right to this land.
Riverclan had a more material need for this land. Though they initially claimed it because of historical precedent and little else after Skyclan was driven out and houses were built by the river the amount of fish declined. Riverclan started experiencing routine famines that lead to increased illness and maternal death in child birth. Thus they needed to diversify their food source. hunting on Sunningrocks allowed them to gain more access to food. Thunderclan did not have this need for the rocks. They often remarked on how sunning rocks had little prey yield. Which certainly has implications for how much food Thunderclan has compared to Riverclan.
If the gathering had real institutional power like the United Nations, Riverclan probably would have won this dispute in an institutional set up, The United Nations when dealing with land disputes often rules in favor of humanitarian needs for the land than the political needs. However the gatherings do not have this power. Thunderclan and Riverclan were evenly matched so they would continue to fight over the land till either one side weakened, increased in power, or another party got involved. Another party would be Windclan and Shadowclan. Both clans were more interested in fighting one another and Thunderclan and Riverclan weakening from fighting each other benefited them. Shadowclan and Windclan had no interest in ending this conflict so it continued until Thunderclan eventually became the regional hegemon and put a stop to this fighting at the end of the first arc.
Land with no population belongs to the one who can control it. In anarchy force is what is relevant because there is no power that controls force. Therefore the real masters of Sunningrocks is not Thunderclan or Riverclan. It is the twolegs.
International Relations for the clans is essentially the same as it is for our world. The nation state has the highest authority over the land and people it governs and therefore the state determines what happens inside its borders. they have a monopoly on the legal violence that occurs within its borders. Since there are multiple nation states in the world with nothing to control them from doing what ever they please nation states are in a state of anarchy. In the state of anarchy force must be used to ensure one's own autonomy and authority over their possessions. Fighting all the time however is costly in resources and losing could be devastating for your country. To avoid this nation state's balance power among each other to maintain their own autonomy and attempt to only engage in fighting if they have the power to effectively go up against their opponent or if they have a coalition that will increase their odds of winning. This the basic fundamentals of realism theory that some of you may already be aware of. It is true in our world there are more complexities such as how we have the united nations however the nation state still remains supreme. The United nations is only effective when a super majority and the world hegemon participate in what the united nations puts forth. Balance of power is married to an institution in our world. The United Nations is not a government in the traditional sense.
In Warriors this is the same reality. Yes the clans have an international law code and system but it does not stop violence between the clans. The clans still fight each other and make alliances to defend one another. therefore there was never a higher authority present to say what land belonged to which clan. It was decided among themselves. The clans were evenly matched and knew this so they would delight in the prospect of their neighbors being weak. Thunderclan and Riverclan were themselves evenly matched and both had security issues in regards to Sunningrocks. When the river changed The rocks were no longer separated from thunderclan territory. Travelling across land is easier than traveling across water so if a foreign power controlled sunningrocks they effectively had a launch pad to invade the heart of Thunderclan. To ensure their security Thunderclan needs to control this land. To legitimize this they claimed that it was starclan's will and he supernatural gave them right to this land.
Riverclan had a more material need for this land. Though they initially claimed it because of historical precedent and little else after Skyclan was driven out and houses were built by the river the amount of fish declined. Riverclan started experiencing routine famines that lead to increased illness and maternal death in child birth. Thus they needed to diversify their food source. hunting on Sunningrocks allowed them to gain more access to food. Thunderclan did not have this need for the rocks. They often remarked on how sunning rocks had little prey yield. Which certainly has implications for how much food Thunderclan has compared to Riverclan.
If the gathering had real institutional power like the United Nations, Riverclan probably would have won this dispute in an institutional set up, The United Nations when dealing with land disputes often rules in favor of humanitarian needs for the land than the political needs. However the gatherings do not have this power. Thunderclan and Riverclan were evenly matched so they would continue to fight over the land till either one side weakened, increased in power, or another party got involved. Another party would be Windclan and Shadowclan. Both clans were more interested in fighting one another and Thunderclan and Riverclan weakening from fighting each other benefited them. Shadowclan and Windclan had no interest in ending this conflict so it continued until Thunderclan eventually became the regional hegemon and put a stop to this fighting at the end of the first arc.
Land with no population belongs to the one who can control it. In anarchy force is what is relevant because there is no power that controls force. Therefore the real masters of Sunningrocks is not Thunderclan or Riverclan. It is the twolegs.
