Richard Falk Richard Falk Nuclear weapons as instruments of
peace? Last Modified: 09 Apr 2012 10:48 The war addiction is
significantly "a consequence of blinkering of policy choice by a
militarised bureaucracy" in Washington that is reinforced by "a
compliant media" [GALLO/GETTY]  Santa Barbara, CA - A few days
ago I was a participant in a well-attended academic panel on
"the decline of violence and warfare" at the annual meeting of
the International Studies Association held this year in San
Diego, California. The two-part panel featured appraisal of the
common argument of two prominent recent publications: Steven
Pinker's bestselling The Better Angels of our Nature: Why
Violence has Declined and Joshua Goldstein's well-researched and
provocative Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed
Conflict Worldwide.  Both books are disposed to rely upon
quantitative data to back up their optimistic assessments of
international and domestic political behaviour, which if
persuasive, offer humanity important reasons t