From stones to drones, war has evolved throughout human history. But when did war start? Is it as old as our species, or a late cultural invention that emerged only with agriculture, complex societies and state? Traveling through the millennia, is war decreasing in today’s world, and if so what are the nature and causes of this decline? What are the countervailing forces that may undermine the trend as we advance into the 21st century?
Professor Azar Gat’s research focuses on the theory and causes of war, and at a time when the daily news cycle seems filled with never-ending conflicts, he will argue that the world has become more peaceful over the past few thousand years.

Azar Gat is Ezer Weitzman Professor for National Security in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University. He took his doctorate from the University of Oxford (1986).