I think the US is the exact opposite of the model for a country with a long standing peace. I think people might struggle to find a 20-30 year period without a war or conflict involving the US.
One country that does come to mind however is Japan, after WWII they were disarmed and became a peaceful country.
The point though is that whether current problems are solved by war or talk that any positive results will fade quickly. Whether you call it original sin or human nature, people will always try to fight, steal or take advantage of another nation to help their own.
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"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." - unknown
I suspect that if you look for prolonged periods of peace between two or several countries, then cases with high levels of economic inter-dependence would probably achieve that sort of result. In essence, self-interest is aided by cooperation not conflict.
I think the US is the exact opposite of the model for a country with a long standing peace. I think people might struggle to find a 20-30 year period without a war or conflict involving the US.
One country that does come to mind however is Japan, after WWII they were disarmed and became a peaceful country.
The point though is that whether current problems are solved by war or talk that any positive results will fade quickly. Whether you call it original sin or human nature, people will always try to fight, steal or take advantage of another nation to help their own.
Test, I'll also push you and say that the period from WW-II to the present is rather brief from the larger perspective,
I think the US is the exact opposite of the model for a country with a long standing peace. I think people might struggle to find a 20-30 year period without a war or conflict involving the US.
One country that does come to mind however is Japan, after WWII they were disarmed and became a peaceful country.
The point though is that whether current problems are solved by war or talk that any positive results will fade quickly. Whether you call it original sin or human nature, people will always try to fight, steal or take advantage of another nation to help their own.
I suppose I was looking at the US as having a long term standing democracy. Guess that doesn't necessarily mean peace. I don't know if Japan fits the mold either. Their society has been militaristic for many centuries. Only since WWII have they been peaceful. Maybe you'd have to move to Iceland to find such a country.
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Yeah, I was just saying that Japan has been peaceful since WWII. I truly think Democracy has zero relevance to peace. It may be the best form of government for freedom but it does not affect peace.
Djm, Yeah the last 60 years is a very small snapshot but in talking about the US you can go all the way back and find wars & conflicts every 10-15 years. Go further back with any country and you will likely find the same thing. There are exceptions like mriff said - Iceland would be one because of its isolation. However, there are nations that over time seem to always be in conflict. Even go deeper and if you had the history of some tribe in the Amazon and you would likely find they are battling rival tribes every few years for centuries.
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"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." - unknown
Oh, you won't get an argument from me regarding whether the US has been a peaceful nation. That we have not.
I suspect that the recipe for "peacefulness" as you outline it is: (a) isolation, and (b) racial/ethnic homogeneity. That way tensions within the society are minimized, and the opportunity for across-society tensions are minimal because of the isolation.
I don't know. I think conflict is hard wired. Even in North American native Indians going back many centuries. That would probably be considered racially homogenous, right? There must be some evolutionary advantage to fighting one's neighbor.
__________________ Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. CD
Good point -- but the Native Americans were not physically isolated, so I'm not sure that they meet the criteria that I proposed. However, you may be correct that conflict is hard-wired into our evolutionary development.