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Re:Why some nations become wealthy while others remain stuck... by psyconn on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @08:30AM (#3765849)
The one thing governments are very good at is solving the violence problem. It pays off really good not to have half of male population killed by the other half.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/163

Re:Why some nations become wealthy while others remain stuck... by alexro on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @08:48AM (#3765904)
The whole 20th century was total mess for Europe and the East. That there were no global wars after 2000 doesn't mean 21st century will be less horrible, given the amount of warfare present.
Re:Why some nations become wealthy while others remain stuck... by berntb on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @09:26AM (#3766077)
afaik, the number of wars are getting lower and lower. The same with really poor people.

Also, democracies are increasing in number, so there should be less wars -- the democratic peace theory seems to have good statistical support (see Wikipedia).

Re:Why some nations become wealthy while others remain stuck... by alexro on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @09:36AM (#3766143)
I hope you are right. But back in the days with never-ending wars there were never times like ours with the possibility to blow up the world in a go.

So, the wars get smaller but have bigger impact.