Contemporary Issues in Defense and Peace Economics: An Introduction to the Symposium

The word "war" is derived from the old High German word werran, meaning "to confuse or bring into confusion."The earliest recorded war took place in modernday Sudan some 13,400 years ago.Archeological evidence suggests that the conflict was enduring and that the inhabitants of the area "survived several instances of violence during their lives" (Charles 2021).While this war is the first one known to us, it may not represent the first in human history.It certainly was not the last.Since 1800, more than 37 million people have died worldwide while actively engaged in conflict.This count excludes civilian conflict-related deaths from disease, hunger, etc. (Herre et al. 2024).It similarly excludes those who sustained injuries but did not die as a result.Interstate conflicts like war remain important.As of this writing, the wars between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Hamas dominate international headlines.While interstate engagements are important, these sorts of conflicts are not the only conflicts of relevance.Intrastate conflict, like civil war, terrorism, and other forms of social conflict similarly require careful study.Over the last several decades, the prevalence of interstate conflict has declined while intrastate conflict is more common.Civil war, civil conflict, state-sanctioned violence, and resource-driven conflict not only generate combat-related deaths, but are also associated with higher rates of terrorism, disease, and mass forced migration (McConaghy 2017;Conte and Migali 2019;Sundaram et al. 2023).These intrastate conflicts have immense implications for social, economic, and other outcomes.These topics, and many others, fall under the purview of scholars working in the area of defense and peace economics.If war brings us "into confusion," this field of economics aims to help us unravel, or at least better understand the obfuscation that surrounds many types of social conflict.Defense and peace economics emerged as a distinct field of study in the midst of the Cold War in the 1960s.Early work in this field reflected concerns of the period and included topics related to alliances