The Most Important Margin in History

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

How concentrated is power in a country? What's holding back someone from considering all of the cations of their actions on other people should they decide to take their society to war? It's maybe the most important margin in history, and it's maybe the one that one of my tribes, which are political economists, think and talk the least about. We focus a little bit too much, i think, on downward and federalist sort of poly centres. And so i think in the us were programmed to think in terms of federalism,. But i think there's lots of other ways.

What causes war? Many scholars have spent their careers attempting to study the psychology of leaders to understand what incentivizes them to undertake the human and financial costs of conflict, but economist and political scientist Chris Blattman takes a different approach to understanding interstate violence. He returns for his second appearance on Conversations with Tyler to discuss his research into the political and institutional causes of conflict, the topic of his new book Why We Fight: The Roots of War and The Path to Peace.

Chris and Tyler also cover why he doesn’t think demographics are a good predictor of a country’s willingness to go to war, the informal norms that restrain nations, the dangers of responding to cyberattacks, the breakdown of elite bargains in Ethiopia, the relationship between high state capacity and war, the greatest threats to peace in Ireland, why political speech isn’t usually a reliable indicator of future action, Vladimir Putin’s centralized motives for invading Ukraine, why he’s long on Colombia democratically – but not economically, why more money won’t necessarily help the Mexican government curb cartel violence, the single-mindedness necessary for bouldering, how Harold Innis’s insights about commodities led Chris to start studying war, how the University of Chicago has maintained a culture of free inquiry, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded March 1st, 2022 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Chris on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.