Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age

The book "Only the Dead" challenges the claim that violence, including war, is in decline and provides a more nuanced understanding of trends in warfare over time. The author argues that while there has been a drop in the rate of international conflict following the end of the Cold War, this drop followed nearly two centuries of steady increases in the rate of conflict. The book also highlights the recent resurgence of civil wars and extrastate wars. The author contends that the decline-in-war thesis is flawed due to its monocausal story about a decline in the willingness to wage war and suggests that systemic theories of international politics that emphasize Great Power conflict provide a more accurate explanation. The book is likely to be controversial but has the potential to be a landmark work in the fields of international politics and the history of war.

Format: Hardback
Length: 325 pages
Publication date: 28 November 2019
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature is a highly influential social science book that argues that violence, particularly war, has been declining throughout the modern era. Pinker claims that the world is more peaceful now than ever before. However, in Only the Dead, Bear Braumoeller challenges this claim and finds it wanting. Braumoeller assesses the trend in warfare over time and develops a powerful explanation for it. He argues that although there has been a drop in the rate of international conflict following the end of the Cold War, this drop followed nearly two centuries of steady increases in the rate of conflict. Moreover, the rate of civil war onset has increased following the end of the Cold War, and extrastate wars have shown a recent resurgence. With regard to war intensity and severity, Braumoeller finds no significant change since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which contradicts Pinker's thesis. Braumoeller's findings align with systemic theories of international politics that emphasize Great Power conflict. He traces how Great Power interactions produce world orders, which in combination with Great Power activity alter the calculations made by states as they contemplate the choice between a negotiated settlement and war. To support his argument, Braumoeller looks at various historical examples and contemporary conflicts. In conclusion, Only the Dead provides a critical assessment of the claim that armed conflict is in decline. Braumoeller challenges the monocausal story of a decline in the willingness to wage war and emphasizes the complex and multifaceted nature of warfare in the modern world. His findings challenge the notion that the world is more peaceful now than ever before and provide a more nuanced understanding of the trends in warfare over time.

Weight: 630g
Dimension: 164 x 242 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190849535