During a trip to Brisbane years ago, I was talking about peace issues with a group of activists. I could only agree. The thinking behind this claim is straightforward. The central driving force behind modern warfare is the system of states.
Anarchists seek a world without states and thus address a central root of war.
No other political philosophy tackles this issue head-on. Unfortunately, this line of thinking has been adopted by only a minority even in the peace movement. The strengths and limitations of much writing on peace issues are apparent in the two books reviewed here. The authors for the most part are eminently sensible. They describe the incredible harm caused by warfare, the enormous military expenditure that could be diverted to more socially useful tasks and the damaging and hypocritical nature of US foreign and military policy.