States, Violence, and Technology: The Evolution of Conflict, 1950-2020

Has violence decreased on the international arena over the postwar period? This paper argues that it has but not necessarily for the reasons suggested by a number of prominent scholars who have addressed the issue of violence in recent years. The argument in this paper is that the main reason violence has declined is technological, mainly driven by the Internet, use of cell phones and global access to social media. Other reasons cited – states curbing violence, ideological shifts due to the acceptance of Enlightenment principles globally – are not compelling, While the trend in violence is largely technological the reasons why violence has persisted is due to ideological clashes: over imperialism and race linked through the pseudoscientific theory of eugenics; and the threat that secularism poses to the manipulation of religion for political purposes by state elites. These clashes have hardly disappeared in the postwar era. Indeed the existence of these ideological struggles offers a potential solution to the problem of cyberwarfare unleashed by technological changes in global communications.