When is war an act of aggression? When is it a display of altruism? Is the arms race actually a cause of war? Is pacifism the best policy to adopt? In a nuclear age, such questions become a matter of increasingly urgent concern. The aim of this book is not to answer them, but to analyse the standpoint from which they are asked; not to prescribe the ethics of the war-and-peace debate, but to explain its dynamics. Readership: strategic studies; peace studies; students of international reations, politics, and modern history; general readers.