“Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide”

The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, School of International and Public Affairs presents:

“Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide”

with Dr. Joshua Goldstein

Moderated by Séverine Autesserre Member SIWPS and Assistant Professor, Barnard College

Thursday, September 20, 2012

12:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Columbia University

International Affairs Building

13th Floor, Room 1302

420 West 118th Street, New York City

this event is free and open to the public

Abstract

Everyone knows: Wars are getting worse, more civilians are dying, and peacekeeping achieves nothing, right? Wrong. Despite all the bad-news headlines, the decade since 9/11 has been the most peaceful worldwide in at least a century. Fewer wars are starting, more are ending, and those that remain are smaller and more localized. Understanding this global decline in armed conflict is crucial as America shifts to an era of lower military budgets and operations. Joshua Goldstein shows how decades of effort by humanitarian aid agencies, popular movements, and especially the United Nations have made a measurable difference in reducing violence in our times. Goldstein shows how we can continue building on these inspiring achievements to keep winning the war on war.

Bio

Dr. Joshua S. Goldstein is an interdisciplinary scholar of war, and author of Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide(Dutton/Penguin, 2011). Goldstein’s textbook International Relations (with Jon C. Pevehouse) has been used by half a million college students. His War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa (Cambridge, 2001) won the International Studies Association’s “Book of the Decade” award. His book The Real Price of War (NYU, 2004) discusses war and the economy. Prior books include Three-Way Street: Strategic Reciprocity in World Politics(Chicago, 1990; with John R. Freeman) and Long Cycles: Prosperity and War in the Modern Age (Yale, 1988). Goldstein has published articles in The American Political Science Review, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Studies Quarterly, among others, and Op Ed pieces in The New York Timesand elsewhere. He has won a MacArthur Foundation Individual Research and Writing Grant, the International Studies Association’s Karl Deutsch Award for research, and the American Political Science Association’s Victoria Schuck Award, among others.