Is the decline of war a delusion? An exchange between researchers following the publication of Azar Gat’s article on the subject

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This special roundtable discussion developed from the publication of my article, ‘Is the Decline of War a Delusion? The Long Peace Phenomenon and the Modernization Peace - The Explanation that Refutes or Subsumes All Others’, in the Journal of Strategic Studies (2024, vol. 47, Nos. 6–7). I emailed the article to an open list comprising all the scholars cited in my article’s references as involved in the discussion on the decline of war and the related democratic peace and capitalist peace theories [see Bibliography to my article, to which a few more names were added]. The list of correspondents reached some 60 names. I invited them to comment and attempt to refute my argument(s).

Quite a few correspondents responded to the call, and the result turned out to be a very fruitful conversation, extending over a couple of months during the last months of 2024. From beginning to end, the entire exchange took place before the full list of correspondents and was distributed further to other lists.

A number of participants suggested that the venture could be developed into a special journal issue. I was in the same view and believed that the direct exchange format we used had great advantages. It produces much greater engagement – and hence, clarification – of the arguments and counterarguments than is usually the case. Happily, the editors of JSS agreed to publish the whole exchange – lightly edited – as a special roundtable discussion.

The subject of the decline of war is crucial in terms of both theory and relevance to the real world and to unfolding events. Additionally, in the process of clarifying it, the discussion touched on a number of other major methodological and practical questions in international relations theory. It is rare to have such a gathering of scholars directly debating a subject. I therefore believe this special issue may be of service to both scholars and students.

As realist theory repeatedly came up in the exchange, I should add that Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, chief proponents of the realist school in the current debates, were included in the list of correspondents throughout the exchange. Before the entire forum, they were repeatedly invited to respond, yet elected to remain silent.