Podcasts Education Self-Improvement Conversations with Tyler Chris Blattman on War and Centralized Power

Chris Blattman on War and Centralized Power

Published: May 4, 2022, noon

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What causes war? Many scholars have spent their careers attempting to study the psychology of leaders to understand what incentivizes them to undertake the human and financial costs of conflict, but economist and political scientist Chris Blattman takes a different approach to understanding interstate violence. He returns for his second appearance on Conversations with Tyler to discuss his research into the political and institutional causes of conflict, the topic of his new book \\u200b\\u200bWhy We Fight: The Roots of War and The Path to Peace.

Chris and Tyler also cover why he doesn\\u2019t think demographics are a good predictor of a country\\u2019s willingness to go to war, the informal norms that restrain nations, the dangers of responding to cyberattacks, the breakdown of elite bargains in Ethiopia, the relationship between high state capacity and war, the greatest threats to peace in Ireland, why political speech isn\\u2019t usually a reliable indicator of future action, Vladimir Putin\\u2019s centralized motives for invading Ukraine, why he\\u2019s long on Colombia democratically \\u2013 but not economically, why more money won\\u2019t necessarily help the Mexican government curb cartel violence, the single-mindedness necessary for bouldering, how Harold Innis\\u2019s insights about commodities led Chris to start studying war, how the University of Chicago has maintained a culture of free inquiry, and more.

Read a\\xa0full transcript\\xa0enhanced with helpful links, or watch the\\xa0full video.

Recorded March 1st, 2022

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