This chapter marks a departure from the others in this book. Here the emphasis shifts from the close examination of small parts to integration of microanalysis with macro analysis of the causation of the First World War. The immediate causes of this and other wars lie in the alienated relationships that are endemic in our civilization. These causes are equally present in the smallest unit of sociation, the family system, as much as they are in the relations between nations. The patterns of secrecy, deception, and self-deception which prevail in the relationships of family members can also be found, in parallel forms, in the relationships among nations. Drawing upon family systems theory and the sociology of emotions, I outline a theory which describes how alienation and unacknowledged shame produce wars. To illustrate this theory, I apply it to a hotly contested problem, the origins of World War I. To illustrate part/whole morphology, I analyze the texts of several crucial telegrams exchanged between heads of states in the context of the historical and political situation in which they occurred.

In claiming an isomorphism between interpersonal and international relations, I realize that I challenge an article of faith of modern social science, that structure and process at the societal level is fundamentally different than that at the level of persons; society, as Durkheim claimed, is a reality sui generis.