The twentieth century saw the tremendous growth of international economic and political networks and technological improvements that have raised the economic and human opportunity costs of war to intolerable levels. To many of us, war may seem irrational in the 21 st century. However, we have all been impressed by television images of slaughters in Rwanda, massive ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, anarchy and looting in Sierra Leone and the Congo, and deepening criminal violence in many countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. At the same time, such images coming from developing nations are sharply contrasted to the economic prosperity, consumer capitalism, and political pluralism of the industrialized West.
Violence is a key reason for the broadening chasm between developed and developing countries.
It has created fundamentally different expectations of social and political life in North and South. Young people in several poor countries are now being socialized in social systems created by war. These systems give rise to greater poverty and inequality, which in turn increase crime and violence. In the 1990s, violence created approximately 13 million refugees and 38 million internally displaced persons world-wide. Moreover, these enormous social costs have been born disproportionately by the developing world.