Is the world less violent in modern times?

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: A, , course: Science and the world around us, language: English, abstract: Events such as great breakthroughs in science, changes in political infrastructures, spread of knowledge and education, creation of high-tech weaponry, religious terrorism, and war on terror have greatly affected the wider world. This has made everyone, from a layman to a military personnel and from a diplomat to a scientist, question if these changes in the world around us have contributed in making the world a less violent place or otherwise. In this research paper, we shall try to discuss if the modern times are less violent or is it the other way around. To do so, we would be using some arguments by John Avery, as portrayed in his writing: Space age science and stone-age politics, in order to discuss how modern science and technology have produced evils that contribute to global violence. In addition, we would use his work to assess some factors in the world of today that neglect the hypothesis that the world of today is a less violent place. Furthermore, we would rely on: The better angels of our nature by Steven Pinker to find arguments suggesting that violence has been in decline for a while now. In addition, we would try to examine his idea of the world being at the most peaceful stage in the history of the human race. We would be using some statistical data and other resources in order to find answers to the following questions: 1. Does modern science play a role in peace making or does it work against it? 2. Do nationalism and the creation of states help in making the world less violent? 3. Does abolition of punishments like death penalty decrease violence? 4. What is the contribution of education and economics towards a world with less violence? 5. How effective is the role of international peace-making systems?