Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide [Hardcover]

Joshua S. Goldstein (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 15, 2011

An award-winning expert on international affairs and military history reveals the astounding truth about war: Peacekeeping is working.
Read the newspapers, and you'll be convinced war is worse than it's ever been: more civilian deaths, more rapes, more armed conflicts all around the world. But as leading scholar and writer Joshua Goldstein shows in this vivid, dramatic book, the reality is just the opposite. We are in the midst of a general decline in armed conflict that is truly extraordinary in human history.
Winning the War on War is filled with startling observations, including:
- 2010 had one of the lowest death rates from war, relative to population, of any year, ever.
- No national armies are currently fighting one another--all current wars are civil wars.
- UN peacekeeping actually works very well, and 79 percent of Americans support the UN, according to a recent poll.
Goldstein has compiled evidence ranging from the histories of UN peacekeeping missions to the latest Swedish data on armed conflicts. He tells the stories of peacekeeping failures such as Bosnia and Rwanda, but also the less heralded success stories such as Mozambique and El Salvador. In this "boots on the ground" account, Goldstein shows why global peacekeeping efforts are working--how large-scale looting, sexual assault, and genocidal atrocities are being stopped--and how we can continue winning the war on war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Winning the War on War reveals the greatest untold story of the past two decades-that contrary to popular impressions, war has become substantially rarer and less dangerous... This book could change the understanding of policy makers, opinion leaders, and a wide readership."
-Steven Pinker, professor of psychology, Harvard College; author of the bestseller The Blank Slate

"Goldstein's argument that we're actually beating back war seems counterintuitive, but he marshals some impressive arguments..." -- Library Journal

"A surprising study that suggests warfare is decreasing ... Optimistic, useful history of diplomacy as counterweight to brutality." -- Kirkus Reviews

"An optimistic, if controversial, assessment by a respected anti-war advocate." -- Publishers Weekly

"Professor Goldstein has written a novel, highly informative, and exceedingly valuable book." -- David Hamburg, President Emeritus, Carnegie Corporation of New York; former president, AAAS

"A highly readable account of the nature and problems of peacekeeping, ... an important contribution to public understanding of international affairs." -- Brian Urquhart, Former Undersecretary-General of the UN; author of Ralph Bunche: An American Life and Hammarskjöld

"Does what no other book has attempted, providing a synoptic view, and narrative, of the slow but successful evolution of UN peacekeeping. It takes an unusual and unorthodox approach that works very well indeed." -- Paul Kennedy, Professor of History, Yale University and author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.

From the Inside Flap

The astounding truth: peacekeeping is working
 
Preeminent scholar of international relations, Joshua Goldstein, tears down one of the greatest myths of modern history.  Despite all the hand wringing, fear mongering, and bad-news headlines, peace is on the rise.  Fewer wars are starting, more are ending, and those that remain are smaller and more localized than in past years. Incredibly, no national armies are still fighting each other--all today's wars are civil wars. This worldwide decline in armed conflict is crucially important for America's shift from a decade of war to an era of lower military budgets and operations.
 
Goldstein's groundbreaking analysis of the empirical evidence is convincing, but the real power of his argument lies in the accounts of experiences on the violent frontlines where peace must actually be put into effect. His vivid "boots on the ground" account shows how today's successes in building peace grow out of decades of effort and sacrifice by ordinary and extraordinary people working through international organizations, humanitarian aid agencies, and popular movements around the world. At the center of this drama is the United Nations and its sixty-year experiment in peacekeeping - overwhelmingly supported by American public opinion - which is making a measurable difference in reducing violence in our time.

Taking us from his own sleepless night in Beirut as shells landed in nearby streets, to the agonizing failures of the international community in Bosnia and Rwanda, to the recent triumphs of peacekeeping in West Africa, Goldstein tells the most exciting and important untold global story of our age. He shows how large-scale looting, sexual assault, and atrocities are being stopped, and how we can continue building on these hopeful and inspiring achievements to keep winning the war on war.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition (September 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525952535
• ISBN-13: 978-0525952534
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #776,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joshua S. Goldstein is a professor at the School of International Service at American University, winner of the International Studies Association "Book of the Decade" award, among others, author of International Relations (10th edition), and a research scholar at the University of Massachusetts. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. His new book, Winning the War on War (Dutton, Sept. 2011), shows that despite the gory headlines the decade since 9/11 has been the most peaceful worldwide in a century.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A real eye-opener September 20, 2011

By MARTIN HELLMAN

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have to admit that, like most people, I did not question the conventional wisdom that the world was going to hell in a hand basket, especially where war is concerned. Looking at Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and other places where horrible event are taking place, it's not hard to see why.

Goldstein challenges that belief with data. In fact, that's one of his main points. As Jack Webb used to say on TV's Dragnet, "I want the facts, ma'am, just the facts." That's this book's mantra. Forget what you think you know, look at the facts, and then decide.

The book likens our situation to having jumped "out of the fire, into the frying pan." The frying pan is hot, so we tend not to notice that things are improving. It also notes that the media has a tendency to highlight the violence and bloodshed, so it's understandable that, based solely on our emotional reaction to the news, we think things have not improved.

The book is surprisingly well written for one of its genre -- meaning I am enjoying reading it not just for the hopeful message it conveys, but that it's also fun to read.

Highly recommended!

Martin Hellman
Professor Emeritus, Stanford University

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good News on the Peace Front! December 2, 2011

By Bruce Roth

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Every day, we turn on the news, and the world seems to be getting more and more violent. In his new book, Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide, Joshua S. Goldstein argues that, contrary to popular belief, armed conflict is actually decreasing around the world. The central theme of Winning the War on War is the role that the UN and its peacekeeping missions plays in this decline.

Goldstein first reviews the trends in war since 1945. In spite of an upswing in civil war in the early 1990s, there has been actually been a significant decline in both the number of wars and war-related deaths in the post-Cold War era. There were 1.5 million deaths in the Vietnam war, compared with 55,000 deaths during the Salvadoran civil war. Also missing are the large-scale, violent interstate wars, which have virtually disappeared from the world stage.

Although Goldstein acknowledges there are a variety of possible explanations for the decline in violent conflict, he attributes a large part of it to the development of the international community, specifically the UN and peacekeeping. While he admits that there are still many inadequacies in the UN's structure and ability to make policy, he places strong emphasis on its abilities to change war-making into peace-building. The second section of the books analyzes several stages of peacekeeping-from the early years when the invention of peacekeeping was still new to more recent missions and the improvements that have been made. Goldstein pays careful attention to the failures and successes in peacekeeping in the early 1990s, and argues that the UN has learned from its mistakes, allowing it to function more effectively in the realm of peacekeeping....

In the third section, Goldstein returns to his assertion that war is actually on the decline. He challenges common held beliefs, such as the argument that there are more civilian deaths in war than there were 100 years ago-a belief he argues came to be held by most people due to an error in the preparation of the UN's Human Development Report 1994. Goldstein also discusses what types of war we are facing now, namely civil war, and devotes some time to explaining the causes of both the onset and the termination of civil war. Goldstein ends with a chapter on how to continue with this decline in war by investing in the UN, and focusing our future efforts on war prevention, diplomacy, and peacekeeping.

This book provides an excellent overview of the most relevant studies and prominent theories in the field of peace politics. It is a must-read for anyone interested in war and peace studies, who may also want to check out his related article in the most recent issue of Foreign Policy, "Think Again: War."

Bruce A. Roth, Executive Director
Daisy Alliance
Author of "No Time To Kill" Read more ›

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Survey Course on Peace and War in book form May 2, 2012

By Jon Reisdorf

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are like me you are always looking for something positive to keep going, to keep hope alive. In my ever widening search I came across Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide the subject of this book review. Old lefty Joshua S. Goldstein paradigm-altering well -researched study suggests that things are not as bleak as those on the right and left have led us to believe.
This is not a sing Kumbaya - New Age -all is unfolding as the universe intended - book. Goldstein points out that in his opinion there is nothing particularly nonviolent in human psychology or physiology. He also believes that there is no great nonviolent evolutionary process at work. The progress toward a more peaceful world is demonstrably uneven and fragile. However, his well-written book (which works as a survey course on war and peace) points out what works and how we should strengthen those things that work. The most effective instrument of peace is the United Nations.
As I read Goldstein's narrative I was struck about how both main stream media and the right only reports peace keeping failures. If it bleeds it leads is the rule for local and international news. Peaceful successes don't get noticed.
With almost no support from the United States, Goldstein argues that UN peace keeping efforts - often eviscerated and almost always inefficient - are the main cause in the effect of a more peaceful world.
His book can be heavy going. Interspersed throughout Goldstein's book is the tragic story of rape as a weapon in war. Sadly violence against women is as old as war itself and rape has long been a means of destroying the social fabric of perceived enemies.... Happily, Goldstein also chronicles the powerful and increasing role of women in bringing peace to war torn regions.
Two examples: For decades, in the oil rich Niger Delta armed groups of men battled the oil companies to stop their predation. Sick of the violence by both sides women began nonviolent protests and direct negotiation. And in 2009 measurable progress began to be seen on the ground.
In the largely nonviolent transformation of South Africa's apartheid society usually focuses on the heroic work of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. However, research shows that in community after community it was women who made the difference in effecting reconciliation.
Even if you don't buy his thesis on the United Nations Goldstein's book should be read for its many nonviolent heroes . Among them is Ralph Bunche, a life long educator and career diplomat. Bunche was the first in his family to go to college, the first African American to earn a Phd in political science and the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing an end to the first Israeli - Arab league war in 1950.
Another soldier for peace is USC professor Gerald (Jerry) Bender a self described " licensed lunatic". While working in Angola to bring peace Bender blew the whistle on the CIA's secret war in Angola under Reagan. His report to congress led to the end of funding for the Agency's destabilizing operations allowing the UN peace keepers to help bring peace to Angola.
Finally, there is peace's heroic martyrs: Count Bernadotte - assassinated by an Israeli fanatic in 1948 and Dag Hammarskjöld - who died in a fiery plane crash in Rhodesia in 1961 - to name two of the more famous martyrs for peace.
I whole heartedly recommend Winning the War on War. I downloaded the book in minutes on Kindle app for 12.99. I also endorse Goldstein's call to fully embrace the UN - especially the blue hat from some God-forsaken poor nation under-supported, under- trained, scared out of his mind standing between warring factions. At the minimum we should educate ourselves on the many, many people who have brought peace or attempt to bring peace often at the cost of their own lives. There a lot more out there fighting the good fight than we know. Read more ›

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars He makes a case for International Institutioins with emperical data January 7, 2012

By Boris B. Delaine

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Joshua Goldstein has made an enlightening case for the decline of violence in the world. Quite often our viewpoint is obscured by the glamorization of armed conflict as events instead of the pattern. He identifies the stakeholders in the sensationalization of armed conflict. Also, there is empirical data to demonstrate that international collaboration, world-wide news coverage and peacekeeping troops can reduce and eliminate forms of armed conflict. I am not a pacifist, but I can clearly read the reduction in armed conflict through the armed competent peacekeepers.

A brief history of mankind and armed conflict was captured, where I realized how peace in the world is not newsworthy. For example, crime has decrease nationwide, yet crime incidences are always the lead story in local news. Many benevolent international organizations have a stake is the glamorization of armed conflict.

Goldstien also make the case for the US to become more involved in more international collaboration.

This is a very insightful book and it makes me very hopeful for the future of mankind. There are alternatives to war and armed conflict.