Is war necessary? In Peace and War prominent anthropologists and other social scientists explore the cultural and social factors leading to war. They analyze the covert causes of war from a cross-cultural perspective: ideologies that dispose people to war; underlying patterns of social relationships that help institutionalize war; and the cultural systems of military establishments. Overt causes of war-environmental factors like the control of scarce resources, advantageous territories, and technologies, or promoting the welfare of people "like" oneself-are also considered.

AcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroductionPart I The Individual, Community, and Conflict1. Personal Motivation and Institutionalized Conflict2. The Uses of Fear: Porro Gangs in Mexico3. Toward a Structural Model of Violence:Male Initiation Rituals and Tribal Warfare4. Fighting for Peace5. The Culture of United States Military Enclaves6. Is War Necessary?7. The Cultural Patterning of Risk-Seeking Behavior:Implications for Armed ConflictPart II The Dynamics of Conflict8. Land Disputes and the Gods in the Prehispanic Mixteca9. Directed Change and the Hope for Peace10. Ethnic Targeting as a Defense Strategy11. Conflict in the Horn of Africa12. Christianity and WarPart III Social Scientists React13. Sociopsychological Aspects of the Prevention of Nuclear War14. The Drift to War15. The War-Making Institutions16. The Nature of War and the American Military Profession17. War and Peace: The View of a Soviet ScholarPart IV Conflict and the Nation-State18. Ideology and Institutions in Peace and War19. War and War Proneness in Pre- and Postindustrial States20. The Developmental Dynamics of Peace21. The Anthropology of Global Integration:Some Grounds for Optimism about World Peace22. The Superpowers and the TribesPart V Anthropology and Policy23. Anthropology for the Second Stage of the Nuclear Age24. Anthropology as a Nonpolicy Science25. Global Policy and Revolution in Social Sciences26. Conflict and Belief in American Foreign Policy27. The Collapse of Strategy: UnderstandingIdeological Bias in Policy DecisionsConclusion: Toward an Anthropology of Peace and WarAbout the Contributors