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There are armed conflicts, civil wars, insurgencies, invasions, all over the world.

In Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ukraine, South Sudan, Gaza, Somalia, Yemen,

everywhere you look, the world is at war.

I'm Anne Strain Champs. It's to the best of our knowledge,

and today, why? Nobody wants war. War is hell. And yet, as a species, we seem incapable of pulling

off lasting peace. So maybe, just maybe, the issue is not what's wrong with war, but what's right with it.

Because it must be doing something for us. That sounds like a terrible thing to say, doesn't it?

And yet, political scientist Benjamin Ginsburg argues that war does have clear benefits. We just don't

want to admit it. He makes the claim in a new book with

a provocative title, The Worth of War. People are not happy to hear about war in anything

but the most negative light, but let me say that I wrote this book in response to a bumper

sticker. I got tired of seeing that bumper sticker, we all see, war is not the answer.

And I said, look, it depends on what the question is. And war is often the answer to the most

important questions of political life, statehood, territoriality, power. What states exist and what states don't exist is

nearly always decided by war. Every contemporary state is the product of war and violence,

for better or worse. You're not saying that's a good thing, are you? I'm not saying it's a good thing.

I am a proponent of being realistic.

And the real world is not what we would like it to be.

In the real world, war and violence are the normal state of affairs.

And to try to deny that to engage in wishful thinking is dangerous.

...