General theories of why we go to war are interesting, says Philip Ball. But they'll never tell the whole story.
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
References
Zhang, D. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi/10.1073/pnas.0703073104 (2007)
Richardson, L. F. Statistics of Deadly Quarrels (eds Wright, Q. & Lienau, C. C.) (Boxwood, Pittsburgh, 1960).
Nicholson, M. Brit. J. Polit. Sci. 29, 541?563 (1999).
Buchanan, M. Ubiquity (Phoenix, London, 2001).
Turchin, P. Historical Dynamics (Princeton Univ. Press, 2003).
Turchin, P. War and Peace and War (Pi Press, 2005).
Axelrod, R. & Bennett, D. S. Brit. J. Polit. Sci. 23, 211?233 (1993).
Related links
Related links
Related external links
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ball, P. War is not an exact science. Nature (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2007.274
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2007.274