#459 Bear Braumoeller - Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age
RECORDED ON MARCH 12th 2021.
Dr. Bear F. Braumoeller is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University. He previously held faculty positions at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is or has been on the Editorial Boards of five major journals or series, and he is a past Councilor of the Peace Science Society. In the summer of 2016 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Braumoeller’s research is in the areas of international security and computational social science. His current research focus is on the relationship between international order and international conflict. He is the author of The Great Powers and the International System (winner of the 2014 International Studies Association Best Book Award and the 2014 J. David Singer Book Award) and Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age (Oxford University Press, 2019).
In this episode, we focus on Only the Dead. We first address some basic questions, like the definition of war, when war started in human history, and the causes of war and how they changed over time. We talk about how to measure rates of conflict initiation, and magnitude, severity and intensity of war. We then get into the decline-of-war thesis, particularly the version put forth by Steven Pinker, and go through some of the main issues with it, at the level of data and explanations. We also talk about what it gets right. Finally, we ask if wars are irrational, and discuss why the decline-of-war thesis might be politically dangerous.
Time Links:
Intro
War – what it is, when it started, and what causes it
Measuring rates of conflict initiation
Magnitude, severity and intensity of war
Steven Pinker’s decline-of-war thesis, and why it’s (mostly) wrong
What does it get right?
Are wars irrational?
Can we prevent war?
Is the decline-of-war thesis dangerous?
Follow Dr. Braumoeller’s work!
Follow Dr. Braumoeller’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/38NAI1v
Website: http://bit.ly/3cwnckW
Amazon page: http://amzn.to/2PSqeYR
Only the Dead: https://amzn.to/3lbdyaY
Twitter handle: @Prof_BearB