Throughout history, war seems to have had an iron grip on humanity. In this short book, internationally renowned philosopher of war, Christopher Coker, challenges the view that war is an idea that we can cash in for an even better one - peace. War, he argues, is central to the human condition; it is part of the evolutionary inheritance which has allowed us to survive and thrive. New technologies and new geopolitical battles may transform the face and purpose of war in the 21st century, but our capacity for war remains undiminished. The inconvenient truth is that we will not see the end of war until it exhausts its own evolutionary possibilities.

Prologue x

1 Evolution 1

2 Culture 17

3 Technology 34

4 Geopolitics 53

5 Peace 74

6 Humanity 90

Further Reading 109

Notes 114

Christopher Coker is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science.