Richard E. Rubenstein is University Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, and the author of eight books, including most recently Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Choose War (2010).

Introduction

1. Partisan moralism and the need for structual thought

2. How do social systems generate violence?

3. Violent systems and their transformation

4. Class conflict and the problem of crime

5. Cultural conflict and the problem of religious violence

6. Structural conflict resolution: Towards a new politics

This book analyses structural or system-generated conflicts and poses the fundamental question: 'If there are systems generating this conflict, how can they be changed?' Showing how systems established to maintain a peaceful social order sometimes end by generating serious violence, the author discusses how to envision and implement new methods of transforming violence-prone systems.