Barbara F. Walter | How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them

Recorded January 31, 2022
In conversation with Jacob S. Hacker

Political scientist Barbara F. Walter is the author of Reputation and Civil War: Why Separatists Conflicts are So Violent; Globalization, Territoriality, and Conflict; and Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention. The Rohr Chair in Pacific International Relations at the School of Global Policy & Strategy, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Studies Quarterly, among other academic journals. Walter has received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the United States Institute of Peace. How Civil Wars Start examines the substantial increase in violent extremism around the globe in order to explore the rising possibility of a second U.S. civil war.

The Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science and the director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, Jacob S. Hacker is the author of The Great Risk Shift and The Divided Welfare State, and the co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets and American Amnesia, among several other books. He is a board member of The American Prospect, the Economic Policy Institute, and The Century Foundation.

[Pauldgphd]

Speaking as a Vietnam Vet, never underestimate the damage that a highly committed group of irregulars can have on the "Big Military". Also keep in mind that many of us concerned with what is happening in the USA are Veterans.

[boobookitty]

I like how you (Barbara) explain how our country has become divided through fear and propaganda. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out, or not.

[kenbaker]

Viet Cong had a chance against the greatest military on earth. The Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan. If you are trying to insinuate that we should turn in our arms because government armies are too powerful, you don’t understand the spirit of the Second Amendment. The British Army was the most powerful on earth but the determination and sacrifice of a few liberty loving radicals were able to overcome. I don’t want to go to war with my fellow citizens but compromise means the other side needs to respect my beliefs also but they keep shoving their agenda now our throats claiming it is “mainstream” and close their ears and minds to our ideas. Shutting down discussions as racism and decided fact. They leave no recourse. The outcome will be inevitable and it will not be stopped. It is a right enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution.

[sarahjames]

Great interview and most revealing. My only question could the army unity come under threat if large numbers feel sympathy for the far right coalition.

[james]

Barbara seems to like to blame the GOP, yet has a process model which implies that both parties play a causal role.

[mintee]

She seems to be part of the problem in blaming one side (the right) as the issue. I think the correct solution is to listen and hear the other side's grievances and ask reasonable questions about it.

Also, to address the idea that it's about white people losing power, as a white person, I don't see a compelling reason to value one race over another. Especially if they have the same values as me.

I think having diverse backgrounds can be advantage if done right. The problem I have is "diversity for diversity's sake", rather than measuring it against value, goodness, and competence. I don't have a problem with other races, classes, or however you want to divide people by so long as they're not doing evil but are pursuing higher goods.

[lecrapface]

So glad you had this liberal propagandist on your channel 🙄

[gsouth]

Good grief. What a tendentious analysis. The only articulated rub between the rival factions is that of racial animus wrought by demographic change. For a small subset that is no doubt true. But for a great number of people the problems are ideological encompassing conflict over sexual morality, environmental policy and ethics, corporate and political corruption, Justice vs social Justice etc. Conservatives embrace conservative leaders whatever their race or ethnicity.

[marcoaslan]

She completely lost me at "Joe Rogan tapping into people's fear".

[jsleezy]

SHOUTOUT TO Miss WALTERS FOR BEING FROM YONKERS NY!! and MAKING IT UT OF Y.O. !!!! cuz yonkers is pretty BAD!! AND for making this book!!! very intelligent woman!!