Winning the War on War

Despite what you may assume from news headlines, Joshua Goldstein says fewer wars are starting and peacekeeping is working. Using groundbreaking analysis of the empirical evidence, he serves up a powerful argument in the accounts of experiences on the violent front lines where peace must actually be put into effect. Goldstein shows how today's successes in building peace have grown out of decades of effort and sacrifice by people working through international organizations, humanitarian aid agencies, and popular movements around the world. At the center of this drama is the United Nations and its sixty-year experiment in peacekeeping--overwhelmingly supported by American public opinion--which is making a measurable difference in reducing violence in our time. Business and Winning the War on War

A strong but little-noticed reduction in the number and size of armed conflicts around the world in recent years is changing the international business climate for the better, says Joshua Goldstein in this eye-opening talk. Political risk from wars ranks high on the list of worries faced by managers navigating the changing world business environment dominated by growing international trade, just-in-time global production management, and the tight interdependence of financial markets around the world. War effects can include sudden and potentially ruinous shifts in currency values; the injury, captivity, or death of employees in foreign countries; and the destruction of mines or factories. Especially vulnerable are oil and other resource extraction industries, which historically have operated in regions prone to wars. Today, nowhere in the world are the most lethal and destructive type of war--between regular national armies on both sides--occurring. "People still feel there are a lot of wars going on, but objectively the war risks to business worldwide are lower than anytime in the past century," says Goldstein. "And that's a big deal for anyone whose bottom line depends on global products and markets."