1512QCA - War's Influence on Design: A Cultural History Debate

This essay examines the multifaceted relationship between war and culture, arguing against the notion that war is a necessary evil for design improvement. It highlights the devastating humanitarian, developmental, security, and economic consequences of warfare, including the destruction of infrastructure, healthcare systems, and education. The essay references World War II's impact on developing nations and the emotional trauma experienced by writers of the Modernist era, such as Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot, whose works reflect the chaos and disillusionment caused by war. Ultimately, the essay asserts that war jeopardizes human life and hinders cultural progress, making genuine design improvement impossible due to damaged resources and financial constraints. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar essays and a wealth of study resources.

Running Head: WAR AND CULTURE
War and Culture
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Apart from the humanitarian aspect, the developmental, security and economic
consequences of warfare are equally cringe worthy and detrimental for society. Lack of food and
basic services, residual violence that spills over neighboring countries are few of the innumerable
complex challenges that threaten the establishment of a peaceful and normally functioning
society in places that have experienced extreme violence due to war.
People holding fascist views of society and culture might be favorably disposed to the
idea of war as a necessary evil that helps to improve design. The counter argument of the concept
is that an ‘evil’ that costs myriads of innocent lives, catastrophic collapse of infrastructure,
healthcare systems, education and other interrelated structures of society, cannot be deemed
“necessary’’. World War II had caused destitution and poverty in more than 42 developing
countries while a large population in developed areas suddenly found themselves under the
surveillance of a hostile territory that neither acknowledged their needs nor granted them the
right to move places. As far as design is concerned, war does more to damage and destroy design
than improve it. Civilians suffer as miserably as soldiers, only with lesser violent intensity.
Soldiers who have been injured in the battlefield never fully recover from the trauma (both
physical and psychological) that battles have left them with. War, therefore, is hugely
responsible for jeopardizing the design of human life. Improvement of political design cannot be
at the cost of human lives.
Writers and culture enthusiasts that lived through the Great War suffered immense
emotional trauma as reflected in the literary works of Modernism; a literary era characterized by
chaos, delusion and distorted perceptions of life and the world. This is best observed in the works
of writers like Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot and Samuel Beckett. Was is responsible for the

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regression of culture and humanity; and design improvement is not possible with damaged
resources and financial dearth.

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Bibliography:
Kaldor, M. (2013). Global civil society: An answer to war. John Wiley & Sons.
Reid, J. (2013). The biopolitics of the war on terror: Life struggles, liberal modernity, and the
defence of logistical societies.