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An acclaimed expert on violence and seasoned peacebuilder explains the five reasons why conflict rarely blooms into war and how to interrupt that deadly process
Its easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war to see it solely as a series of errors accidents and emotions gone awry Its also easy to forget that war shouldnt happenand most of the time it doesnt Around the world there are millions of hostile rivalries yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence Too many accounts of conflict forget this
With a counterintuitive approach Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace Thats because war is too costly to fight Enemies almost always find it better to split the pie than spoil it or struggle over thin slices So in those rare instances when fighting ensues we should ask what kept rivals from compromise
Why We Fight draws on decades of economics political science psychology and realworld interventions to lay out the root causes and remedies for war showing that violence is not the norm that there are only five reasons why conflict wins over compromise and how peacemakers turn the tides through tinkering not transformation
From warring states to street gangs ethnic groups and religious sects to political factions there are common dynamics to heed and lessons to learn Along the way we meet vainglorious European monarchs African dictators Indian mobs Nazi pilots British football hooligans ancient Greeks and fanatical Americans
What of remedies that shift incentives away from violence and get parties back to dealmaking Societies are surprisingly good at interrupting and ending violence when they want toeven the gangs of Medelln Columbia do it Realistic and optimistic this is book that lends new meaning to the old adage Give peace a chance
Christopher Blattman 2022 P Penguin Audio 2022
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