20,000 years ago, the average person stood a 10-20% chance of dying violently. Today, the chance is under 1%. We have cut rates of violent death by 90% by creating large organisations that impose peace; but the main method for creating these organisations has been war. In effect, violence has slowly been putting itself out of business. The broad trends suggest that this process will probably continue.

Ian Morris is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2015-16.

Professor Danny Quah (@DannyQuah) is Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre.

LSE IDEAS (@LSEIDEAS) is a foreign policy think-tank within LSE's Institute for Global Affairs. 

This event is part of Lectures+, a collaboration between LSE SEAC and LSESU UN Society that seeks to enhance the experience of public events at LSE for students, speakers and guests, and will feature an element of interactive engagement between Professor Ian Morris and the audience. To participate, please download ResponseWare (Android or iOS) to your internet capable device ahead of the event.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEMorris

Slides

A copy of Professor Ian Morris' powerpoint presentation is available to download. Download 'Each Age Gets the Bloodshed it Needs: 20,000 years of violence' (pdf).

Podcast

A podcast of this event is available to download from Each Age Gets the Bloodshed it Needs: 20,000 years of violence

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.