The Causes of Peace: What We Know Now

by Asle Toje

Almost a decade after Steven Pinker published his seminal book The Better Angels of Our Nature and popularised interest in the idea that humanity is becoming more peaceful, the debate is as heated as ever. Attempting to summarise current conclusions on what actually causes peace, this book unites many of the world's greatest thinkers on the sources of human conflict. Debate over the whether the world is getting more peaceful is followed by commanding discussions of the influence of hegemony, democracy, ideology, nuclear weapons, and institutions.

Featuring Niall Ferguson, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Ned Lebow, Bruce Russett, Paul Collier and many others, The Causes of Peace: What We Know Now provides uniquely qualified insight into the present status of this age-old question. An authoritative guide to the state of the art, this book is of interest to all students of human conflict.

Genres: Political Science

437 pages, Paperback

Published October 16, 2019

About the author

Asle Toje (born February 16, 1974) is a Norwegian foreign policy scholar and commentator. He is the Research Director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Toje is a regular contributor to the Norwegian foreign policy debate, including as a regular columnist in the Klassekampen and ErlikOslo. Toje has family roots on the island of Utsira. He grew up at Byremo and in Drøbak.

Toje is a proponent of Neoclassical realism. In the Norwegian foreign policy discourse he has been a proponent of limited government, a free market economy, and social conservatism. He has been a spokesman for a strong defense and close ties to U.S. foreign policy in the same tradition as Radosław Sikorski and Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Reviews

[Barbara]

This book was written for academics, not the lay population. I did tough it out and finished it, but only because it is for my non fiction book group. We actually have split it up so each person will only read the introduction and one or two chapters and summarize for the group. Still, I have one person who says he can't get through his chapters (two of the easier) and I am anticipating another coming to the same conclusion. Our group's members have advanced degrees...from medicine to law to PhD.

[Csimplot Simplot]

Excellent book!!!