It is my belief that human beings strive for conflict as much as a feeling of togetherness. The idea of having both conflict and togetherness may seem like combining chalk with cheese and I don’t like the idea of chalk flavoured cheese any more than the next person but please hear me out.

There was a time in Scotland when we had clans; the rest of the world had various tribes or groups of people with a similar title. Within these tribes there was an incredible unity, they had a structure and everyone stuck to it. Human nature would dictate that there would of course have been bickering, but ultimately the needs of the tribe always came first. These tribes were kept together, not through blind loyalty to each other, the reason behind this loyalty and clanship was that the tribe had to be kept intact in order to survive in a land where other tribes may threaten.

Later, these tribes were slowly disbanded. The clans in Scotland were spread thin, losing their identity and power. The tribes in North America were either wiped out or forced into much smaller lands, eventually leading to accepting the ways of the “New World”. Similar groups of people around the world encountered the same fate and all for the sake of unity in a so called civilised and democratic era.

This brought forth a monumental change on earth, the focus was now on countries, the tribes were gone and they now worked, and fought, under one banner. Without a level of conflict, we may not have witnessed some of the most inspiring displays of unity in our history. Would the British civilians have been as united during WW2 if not for the Nazi attempts at bombing the life out of the British mainland? Is it not the case that the most united America has been in their recent past was just after the atrocities of 9/11? As hopeless and shameful as it may sound, nothing unites people more than conflict and its aftermath.

I believe that the once proud notion of “country” is beginning to disintegrate. At the very least the level of sovereignty is beginning to unravel. It is also fair to say that there has always been a level of uncertainty among people when it comes to their governments; after all, they are the authority, but that uncertainty appears to have been replaced with outright distrust. This distrust showed itself when millions of people marched across the British Isles in protest at the outbreak of the Iraq war. Perhaps we are becoming too adept at seeing through the rhetoric from our government ministers, the claim that Saddam could launch mystery WMDs at Britain in a matter of 45 minutes certainly had many people up in arms, in this case figuratively speaking. Britain did not protest alone, New Yorkers and others around the globe also marched that day. This impressive display of solidarity may not have been possible without a level of conflict involved, not just the conflict of the war itself but also from the distrust the people have with their governments.