The Persistence of War as a Sociological Problem

Abstract

This article provides a critical discussion of Joas's argument that modernization theory is unable to explain the persistence of war in the modern world. It argues that a number of factors make war likely in the modern world, including cognitive frameworks, organizational decision-making and cartelized political systems. The article concludes that the fact of the persistence of war in the modern world is not, in itself, a refutation of modernization theory, since modernization theory can explain this phenomenon. This does not imply that modernization theory is the best approach to the study of war.