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Podcast: The Other Hand
Episode: Why do we fight? An exploration of the causes of conflict and war, focussing on a brilliant and important book
Description: It's easy to conclude that we are a violent species. Just look at the state of the world.In a quite brilliant book, Professor Christopher Blattman argues that history books can give a misleading impression: on most days, war doesn't happen.Blattman has read everything. He has talked to the street gangs of Chicago and drug lords in Colombia. He summarises his vast knowledge with five main reasons why going to war - rathe than making peace - seems to happen. Armed (pardon the pun) with this knowledge, policy makers can get better...