Politick - Writers Forum

Xion Night · 06-16-2005, 01:21 PM

I am trying to create a world in which fourteen nations are simultaneously warring with one another in an all out deathmatch, but I haven't the slightest idea of how politics work. I don't want the war to be a random act of war; I want the reasons to be feasible and the animosity to be high. I already know that some nations would be fighting for power, others for human rights or freedom, and others in sheer self defense, but the reasons should go deeper than "they don't like each other," or "they've got something that we need, so we'll take it."

How do I create a full political system of rivalries and alliances in a story?

Mada · 06-16-2005, 01:23 PM

I wouldnt do 14 because then you have to make 14 reasons and then the reader must remember it. When I do a war story-medeviel, futuristic, or these kind of times- I keep it at 5 country max.

Xion Night · 06-16-2005, 01:27 PM

Mmm...I guess you're right. I'll lessen the amount of warring nations, but there will still be alot. Maybe 5 to 6 1/2...The 1/2 could be a civil war.

Ajax · 06-16-2005, 01:34 PM

If you've got alliances, then you won't need fourteen reasons since some of them can be fighting because they're allies with others who are fighting.

One good reason is always the "cheat" scheme where one country has cheated another out of something (technology, natural resources, territory, etc.). Once the "cheated" country finds out, they can demand the "item" back and then pose threats. The threats escalate until war begins.

Another reason is a covert assassination attempt that goes wrong and gets uncovered. The country who lost their leader discovers the assassin was hired by another country, and then sends in their own assassins. The killings on both side escalate until again, you've got a war.

Another reason can be ethnic cleansing in which a majority of people in a country decide to wipe out a cultural minority based on race or religeon or whatever. The internal conflict can result in external war as the minority seeks allies among outside countries and brings them in.

Another reason can be an insane leader with a cult-like following among his people. This leader can be paranoid and believe another country is out to get his country. He strikes first simply because he believes that's his only chance for success.

Another reason can be religeous expansion. For example you can have a country that is a theocracy and believes it needs to spread it's rulership to a neighboring country because there are a large minority of people there who share the agressor country's beliefs and religeon. In order to "free" their brothers and sisters, the agressor country goes to war against what they see as a nation full of evil with a minority of good people who need help.

Another reason can be accidental. Say, for instance, a biological weapon is released in a country and that country's government blames it on another country to cover up the fact that they accidentaly released this weapon that they weren't supposed to be making or have (according to certain treaties). Their only option to avoid losing face is to blame the release of the plague on some other country and start a war with them. Preferebly some small country that they know they can defeat.

playstation60 · 06-16-2005, 02:54 PM

You could also do something that hits a little bit close to home on the reality scale, and have one country invade another because of a perceived threat, and then have a separate country start hostilities with the invader because of that percieved threat.

For reason to go to war, you have to look no further that our own history. Take WWII, or look even at WWI, or the Gulf war....it's all over.

journyman161 · 06-16-2005, 09:37 PM

The question would seem moot; if they're all at war, there is no politics. Any negotiating becomes sending in a messenger with the equivalent of Give up or we'll kill you.

You only have to look at the US to realise when the war starts, politics (in its real sense) vanishes. There are no diplomatic niceties any more, just the US trying to phrase its' demands in sound bites that usually say the exact opposite to what is really meant.

Anarkos · 06-17-2005, 01:23 AM

Put bluntly, if you don't have any idea how politics works, then don't write about it. This, like many things, is something which requires at least a bare minimum of some semi-specialist knowledge to write about in detail with any plausibility.

Plus, it's boring. You're writing a story set in a time of war. What's it about? Who's the narrator?

If your focus is about one soldier or one group of soldiers, you probably don't need to go into much depth as to the political reasons for the war. Soldiers aren't poli sci lecturers.

Xion Night · 06-17-2005, 09:54 PM

Thanks alot for all of your input, people!

All very good reasons, Ajax and playstation60, thanks.

You do make a good point, journeyman161, and eventually, the war will get to that point, but in the beginning, I want there to be a viable reason for them hating each other.

Anarkos, I did think about that (Not including politics) when I first got this concept, but the more I thought about it, the more 'complete' I wanted to make the world in which the war is set (Earth, BTW), which includes politics. The narrarator will be omniscient third-person, but will focus around three groups of militia on different sides and with different views.
Plus, by adding politics, I'll not only (hopefully) be adding realism to the story, but I will be learning. About politics. Yeah.

Anyway, thanks again, people.