Ironically, although democratic states rarely go to war against one another, the development of democracy is one of the characteristics that has led to modern, more lethal warfare. Other characteristics are the creation of sovereign states, industrialization of war, economies that support war, and the rise of ___.

Peace studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that draws on political science, sociology, history, anthropology, theology, psychology, philosophy, and other fields to:

understand the causes of armed conflict;
develop ways to prevent and resolve war, genocide, terrorism, gross violations of human rights; and
build peaceful and just systems and societies.