丁香园AV

On October 4, 2022, a large audience showed up at the Segal Centre to hear University of Chicago Professor discuss his new book Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace.

Why We Fight draws on decades of economics, political science, psychology, and real-world interventions to lay out the fundamental causes and remedies for war. Blattman offers five key reasons why conflict occasionally wins over compromise, and shows how peacemakers turn the tides through tinkering, not transformation. 

Dr. Blattman reminded us that human societies have a natural tendency towards peace. 鈥淢ost of the time we don鈥檛 fight, and we don鈥檛 fight because it鈥檚 ruinously costly鈥� in both economic and human terms. But 鈥渆very time we fight, it鈥檚 because a leader or a society ignored or was willing to pay those costs of war.鈥� In his talk he outlined the five main reasons that decision gets made.

Moderator Professor pointed out that the metaphor of flying through a gorge sets Blattman鈥檚 book apart from other books on war. As the gorge narrows due to increasing pressures on a given country or society, room for maneuvering decreases. Blattman explained that while there is a large incentive for peace, as nobody wants to endure the misery and cost of war, when the walls close in it seems like there is no choice. 鈥淧eacemaking,鈥� he says, is about 鈥渇lying in more open skies.鈥�

This public event was supported by the 丁香园AV Department of Economics, , FASS, and the Beedie School of Business鈥檚 , and the at UBC.