In this fundamental analysis, Rapoport asks: Why do we have wars? Doesn't humanity always seem on the verge of self-annihilation? Is there something in human genetic structure that makes people want to kill each other? Perhaps this impulse is a matter of good versus evil, or just plain human nature.

Anatol Rapoport is professor at the University of Toronto, and a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written over four hundred articles, and is author of the following books: Conflict in Man Made Environment; Game Theory as a Theory of Conflict Resolution; and General Systems Theory. He is widely recognized as the dean of war and peace studies in North America.

Introduction to the Transaction Edition, Preface, Introduction, 1. On So-Called Aggression, 2. The Evolutionary Perspective, 3. The Behavioral Perspective, 4. The Attitudinal Perspective: We and They, 5. Uses and Limitations of the Psychological Approach, 6. Ideology: The Substrate of Thought, 7. The Ideal of Individual Freedom and the Cult of Property, 8. The Ideal of Collective Freedom and the Cult of Struggle, 9. Addiction to Power, 10. The Cult of Violence, 11. Ideological Issues of the Cold War, 12. The End of Ideology, 13. The Strategic Mode of Thought, 14. Limits of Individual Rationality, 15. Cooperative Games and Strategic Bargaining, 16. The Intellectualization of War, 17. The Systemic View of the World, 18. Arms Races, 19. Indices, Parameters, and Trends, 20. The War System, 21. Pacifism, 22. Conceptions of a World Order, 23. Conflict Resolution and Conciliation, 24. Problems of Peace Research, 25. Problems of Peace Education, 26. Concluding Remarks: Can There Be a Science of Peace?, Bibliography, Name Index, Subject Index