Why We Fight

Brought to you by Penguin.An acclaimed expert on violence and seasoned peacebuilder explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process.It's easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It's also easy to forget that war shouldn't happen-and most of the time it doesn't. Around the world there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence. Too many accounts of conflict forget this.With a counterintuitive approach, Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace. That's because war is too costly to fight. Enemies almost always find it better to split the pie than spoil it or struggle over thin slices. So, in those rare instances when fighting ensues, we should ask: what kept rivals from compromise?Why We Fight draws on decades of economics, political science, psychology, and real-world interventions to lay out the root causes and remedies for war, showing that violence is not the norm; that there are only five reasons why conflict wins over compromise; and how peacemakers turn the tides through tinkering, not transformation.From warring states to street gangs, ethnic groups and religious sects to political factions, there are common dynamics to heed and lessons to learn. Along the way, we meet vainglorious European monarchs, African dictators, Indian mobs, Nazi pilots, British football hooligans, ancient Greeks, and fanatical Americans.What of remedies that shift incentives away from violence and get parties back to deal-making? Societies are surprisingly good at interrupting and ending violence when they want to-even the gangs of Medellin, Columbia do it. Realistic and optimistic, this is book that lends new meaning to the old adage, 'Give peace a chance.'(c) Christopher Blattman 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Why do human beings fight one another? In this exhilarating and bracing book, we learn the common logic driving vainglorious monarchs, dictators, mobs, pilots, football hooligans, ancient peoples and fanatics. Distilling decades of economics, political science, psychology and real-world interventions, and through his time studying Columbia, Chicago, Liberia and Northern Ireland, Christopher Blattman lifts the lid on the underlying forces governing war and peace. Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Will China invade Taiwan and launch WWIII? And what can any of us do about it? 'Captivating and intelligent' Tim Harford 'Wise, intriguing, imaginative' Rory Stewart 'Nothing could be more relevant today than war and peace . . . an outstanding and original book on this topic' Martin Wolf, Financial Times 'Important, readable, radical' David Miliband 'A great storyteller with important insights for us all' Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge 'Essential for understanding the world we live in today' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail

Why do human beings fight one another? In this exhilarating and bracing book, we learn the common logic driving vainglorious monarchs, dictators, mobs, pilots, football hooligans, ancient peoples and fanatics. Distilling decades of economics, political science, psychology and real-world interventions, and through his time studying Columbia, Chicago, Liberia and Northern Ireland, Christopher Blattman lifts the lid on the underlying forces governing war and peace. Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Will China invade Taiwan and launch WWIII? And what can any of us do about it? 'Captivating and intelligent' Tim Harford 'Wise, intriguing, imaginative' Rory Stewart 'Nothing could be more relevant today than war and peace . . . an outstanding and original book on this topic' Martin Wolf, Financial Times 'Important, readable, radical' David Miliband 'A great storyteller with important insights for us all' Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge 'Essential for understanding the world we live in today' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail

Europe faces destruction through replacement, inversion, and surrender. Why We Fight is Guillaume Faye's incendiary declaration of resistance, a manifesto forged in the furnace of decline and defiance. With unflinching precision, Faye identifies the enemies within and without: technocrats without roots, imported masses without loyalty, ideologues without honour. This book radiates urgency, demanding action shaped by identity, hierarchy, and destiny. Its heart is a metapolitical dictionary of 177 vital terms, a lexicon for those building the new Imperium from the wreckage of the old. Faye fuses ancestral memory with Archeofuturist vision, forging a path across the twilight of civilisation towards a dawn shaped by will. Across the plains of Germania, the ruins of Rome, the forests of Hyperborea - the tribes stir again. Why We Fight speaks to those who feel the bloodline pulse beneath the pavement, who know that heritage is duty, and who refuse to forget who they are. Arktos has also published his Archeofuturism (2010), Why We Fight (2011), Convergence of Catastrophes (2012), Sex and Deviance (2014), The Colonisation of Europe (2016), Understanding Islam (2016), Archeofuturism 2.0 (2016), A Global Coup (2017), Ethnic Apocalypse (2019), and Prelude to War (2021).

Europe faces destruction through replacement, inversion, and surrender. Why We Fight is Guillaume Faye's incendiary declaration of resistance, a manifesto forged in the furnace of decline and defiance. With unflinching precision, Faye identifies the enemies within and without: technocrats without roots, imported masses without loyalty, ideologues without honour. This book radiates urgency, demanding action shaped by identity, hierarchy, and destiny. Its heart is a metapolitical dictionary of 177 vital terms, a lexicon for those building the new Imperium from the wreckage of the old. Faye fuses ancestral memory with Archeofuturist vision, forging a path across the twilight of civilisation towards a dawn shaped by will. Across the plains of Germania, the ruins of Rome, the forests of Hyperborea - the tribes stir again. Why We Fight speaks to those who feel the bloodline pulse beneath the pavement, who know that heritage is duty, and who refuse to forget who they are. Arktos has also published his Archeofuturism (2010), Why We Fight (2011), Convergence of Catastrophes (2012), Sex and Deviance (2014), The Colonisation of Europe (2016), Understanding Islam (2016), Archeofuturism 2.0 (2016), A Global Coup (2017), Ethnic Apocalypse (2019), and Prelude to War (2021).