Steven Pinker

Question 1

6 Trends (1-3)

Answer 1

Pacification - anarchy of hunting to agriculture

Civilisation - declining homicide since middle ages

Humanitarianism - abolition of slavery, despotism, superstitious killings + birth of pacifism

Question 2

6 Trends (4-6)

Answer 2

Long Peace - Post-WWII period

New Peace - Post-Cold War period

Human Rights Revolution - UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and HRC etc

Question 3

5 historical forces driving down violence (1-3)

Answer 3

Leviathan - state and judiciary monopoly on violence, can defuse it

Commerce - people can win through exchange of goods, less reason for force

Feminisation - process of increasing respect for women

Question 4

5 historical forces driving down violence (4-5)

Answer 4

Cosmopolitanism - literacy + mass media + mobility help people see perspectives of other people

Escalator of reason - people begin to recognise futility of cycles of violence