The Studied Avoidance of War as an Instrument of Political Evolution

Abstract

This work explores the antiquity, the pervasiveness, and the importance of warfare. Particular emphasis is placed on warfare’s role in political evolution. This research shows how some scholars deny and or minimize warfare’s salient role in the development of social complexity. This investigation exposes how some adherents of Marxism are at a loss to explain the presence of conflict in tribal societies lacking social class structures. The Yanomamö Indians of the Amazon Basin are a case in point. Research findings indicate the need to fully document warfare wherever it is encountered.