Steven Pinker reflects on what Russian aggression against Ukraine means for the future of interstate conflict: resumption or swan song?
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By Steven Pinker
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Din a cruel irony, a new translation of my 2011 book The Part of Angel in Us – History of Violence and Its Decline is about to be published; this is its Ukrainian version. From its first paragraph, I warn that the major trends it documents are by no means guaranteed, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has just put an abrupt end to one of them. Historians call it “the long peace,” meaning the decline in interstate conflict, especially between developed states, since the end of World War II.
If we follow the conventional definition – an armed conflict between national governments causing at least a thousand deaths in a year – the Russian invasion is the only war between states that Europe has known for more…
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