Peace and the War Industry

More and more people are demanding an end to violence as a means of arbitrating international demands and resolving problems between nations. This collection of essays brings social scientific evidence to bear on the question of the "inevitability" of war, and evaluates the potential for managing the international system in the interest of peace instead of war. The contributors discuss methods of lowering distrust among^nations; they consider whether war persists because it has become an economic necessity built into a "military-industrial complex."'' They deal with implications of expansion of the military into civilian areas such as education, and into increasingly sophisticated technology such as the ABM Safeguard system. They discuss* the involvement of social scientists in the formulation of "peace" and "war" policy.Collectively, these essays present the most serious questions social scientists have been asking about problems of war and peace, and offer hope that the present international system, dangerous and appallingly costly as it is, may offer enough stability to give us time to transform it into something that bettet serves human needs.