Peace Is the Attractor

Conflict is a configuration held against a gradient — it must be paid for continuously (mobilization, vigilance, destruction, opportunity cost); peace costs nothing to hold. So peace is the cheaper state by theory, and war is what needs the explanation (Fearon 1995; Axelrod & Hamilton 1981; Collier 1999). But 'peace always prevails' over-reaches: on any finite horizon conflict can be renewed faster than a system relaxes. Peace is the attractor, not the guarantee. A proposal, not a result.