You wouldn’t think it from watching the news, but across the globe, war is on the decline.
Some five years ago researchers at the University of Maryland started studying global conflict, assuming they would find an increase in fighting. Instead, to their surprise, they found just the opposite. It turns out, that the years of the Cold War brought violence to many countries around the world. But for the past 15 years, peace has been breaking out all over.
The writer Gregg Easterbrook says the reason that such an idea seems counterintuitive in the wake of 9/11 and is found in the daily reports of fighting from Iraq. People read more, and see more pictures of violent conflict and so they think that conflict is getting worse when in fact it is getting better.
Guests:
Gregg Easterbrook, senior editor for The New Republic and visting fellow at The Brookings Institution.