Adam Tooze in Chartbook:
In 2023 the escalation of violence around the world was horrifying. As the FT remarked:
The anecdotal evidence that war is surging round the world is confirmed by the numbers. A recent report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies documented 183 ongoing conflicts around the world, the highest number in more than three decades. And that figure was arrived at before the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
How do we locate this surge in violence in contemporary history? One can, as the FT does, point to a variety of contingent causes, such as failures of intelligence and deterrence, weak state power and the perception that Western power is fading.
Whilst recognizing the diversity of causes, we should go deeper than this.
More here.