Why We Fight
The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace
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- € 9,49
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- € 9,49
Beschrijving uitgever
Why do human beings fight one another?
In this exhilarating and bracing book, we learn the common logic driving vainglorious monarchs, dictators, mobs, pilots, football hooligans, ancient peoples and fanatics.
Distilling decades of economics, political science, psychology and real-world interventions, and through his time studying Columbia, Chicago, Liberia and Northern Ireland, Christopher Blattman lifts the lid on the underlying forces governing war and peace.
Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Will China invade Taiwan and launch WWIII? And what can any of us do about it?
'Captivating and intelligent' Tim Harford
'Wise, intriguing, imaginative' Rory Stewart
'Nothing could be more relevant today than war and peace . . . an outstanding and original book on this topic' Martin Wolf, Financial Times
'Important, readable, radical' David Miliband
'A great storyteller with important insights for us all' Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge
'Essential for understanding the world we live in today' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Game theory shows why violent conflicts start and how to forestall them, according to this penetrating treatise. Noting that the high costs of violence almost always make peaceful agreement a better solution to antagonisms than violence, University of Chicago economist Blattman analyzes forces that often counteract that logic, including the self-interest of leaders, ideological passions, miscalculation of an opponent's strength or motives, and mistrust. On the flip side, he contends, considerations of costs and benefits suggest ways to avoid violence through constraints on leaders' power, credible enforcement of rules by the police and other authorities, and interventions that can be as simple as getting people to talk. Blattman explores these dynamics in conflicts ranging from turf battles among Chicago's gangs to WWI and the American Revolution. (He compares White Flower, a Liberian warlord with a financial stake in perpetuating civil war, to George Washington, whose land speculations prospered thanks to the rebellion he led, but whose power was constrained by the Continental Congress and state legislatures.) Blattman uses lucid, easy-to-follow diagrams to explain the game theory underlying his ideas, and from it derives pithy, often counterintuitive insights ("The more destructive our weapons, the easier it should be to find peace"). This stimulating discussion of violence illuminates a fraught subject with sober reason.
