THE CAUSES OF THE SECOND-WORLD-WAR IN EUROPE - A NEW SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION

Few political scientists have attempted to apply general theories of w ar to explain specific cases. This analysis takes a new and non-realis t explanation of war derived from a review of quantitative peace resea rch conducted in the last thirty years to identify the general causes of the Second World War in Europe. Two causal paths to war are: theore tically delineated as typical of a pattern associated with the onset: of world war: one that centers around the use of power politics to res olve territorial disputes, and a second that makes the initial interst ate war expand to include more and more actors.