Why Nations Fight

Richard Ned Lebow is James O. Freedman Presidential Professor at Dartmouth College and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Among other books, he is the author of A Cultural Theory of International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2008) which won the 2009 American Political Science Association Jervis and Schroeder Award for the Best Book on International History and Politics as well as the British International Studies Association Susan Strange Book Prize for the Best Book in International Studies, and The Tragic Vision of Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2003) which won the 2005 Alexander George Book Award of the International Society for Political Psychology.

'Richard Ned Lebow makes an extremely successful attempt at broaching lucidly the main theories of war, and offers a most fascinating and convincing way of bringing them up to date. He strongly renews a classical field of IR studies by considering the new conflicts in a very relevant manner.' Bertrand Badie, Professor, Sciences Po, Paris

• Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction; 2. Theories of war; Part II. War in the Past: 3. Theory and propositions; 4. Data set and findings; Part III. War in the Future: 5. Interest and security; 6. Standing and revenge; Part IV. Conclusion: 7. Conclusion; Appendix: data set.