Dennen, J.M.G. van der

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Book review
Dennen, J.M.G. van der
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BOOK REVIEW 
 
Thayer, Bradley A. Darwin and International Relations: On the evolutionary origins of war 
and ethnic conflict. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004. Pp. xiv, 425. $40.00 
(US). 
 
by Johan M.G. van der Dennen 
 
 
Evolutionarily-informed branches of traditional disciplines (such as evolutionary psychology, 
Darwinian psychiatry, human ethology, bioanthropology, bioeconomics, biosociology) 
abound nowadays and have achieved respectable academic status, sometimes after stubborn 
resistance of ‘orthodox’ scholars. Biopolitics, the biologically-informed branch of political 
science, established by Elliot White, Fred Willhoite, Thomas Wiegele, Albert Somit, Roger 
Masters and others (and by Pierre van den Berghe and Joseph Lopreato in sociology), and 
represented today by the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS), 
acknowledged the relevance of ‘proximate’ factors as revealed by genetics/genomics, 
neurophysiology and endocrinology (‘genes and hormones’ for short) for political science and 
international relations theory. However, the ‘ultimate’ dimension, the ‘why’ question, the 
‘nature-of-human-nature’ question (why has natural – and cultural – selection produced a 
political and warmaking animal arrogantly calling itself Homo sapiens sapiens?), using 
concepts like ‘reproductive success’ and ‘inclusive fitness’, was, for the most part, lacking. 
Bradley Thayer’s opus magnum has now, audaciously, filled this gap. Groundbreaking in both 
its scope and conclusions, Darwin and International Relations refocuses the study of 
international affairs through the lens of Darwinian evolutionary theory (i.e., evolution by 
means of natural selection; what Darwin himself liked to call “descent with modification”). 
 
Thayer’s central argument is that evolutionary biology (consisting of genetics, cognitive or 
behavioral neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, human ethology [or behavioral biology], 
human or behavioral ecology, and Darwinian evolutionary theory) – acknowledging that 
human beings, like all other organisms, are evolved animals – contributes significantly to 
theories used in international relations and to the understanding of explanation of the causes 
of war and ethnic conflict. The benefits of such interdisciplinary scholarship are, potentially, 
enormous. Evolutionary theory and its relevance for social science is extensively discussed in 
the introduction and chapter 1 (“Evolutionary Theory and its Application to Social Science”). 
 
In chapter 2 (“Evolutionary Theory, Realism, and Rational Choice”), Thayer explains how 
evolutionary theory contributes to the realist theory of international relations and to rational 
choice analysis. Traditional realist arguments rest principally on one of two discrete ultimate 
causes, or intellectual foundations of the theory. The first is Reinhold Niebuhr’s argument that 
humans are evil. The second, anchored in the thought of Thomas Hobbes and Hans 
Morgenthau, is that human possess an innate animus dominandi – a drive to dominate. Thayer 
argues – convincingly in my opinion – that evolutionary theory provides a much stronger 
foundation for the realist argument that that used by either Morgenthau or Niebuhr. 
Evolutionary theory also gives rational choice theorists the first scientific foundation for their 
theory and affords a better understanding of human preferences and decision making. 
In chapter 3 (“Evolutionary Theory and War”), Thayer shows how evolutionary theory and 
human ecology allows us to comprehend why our ancestors would wage war for offensive 
and defensive reasons – to gain and to protect resources (including the always scarce resource 
of security) from attack. 
 1
 
Chapter 4 (“Implications of an Evolutionary Understanding of War”) builds directly on 
chapter 3. Having explained the origins of warfare among humans, Thayer discusses the 
implications of warfare for human evolution, in particular the growth of human intelligence 
and human society. He explores warfare among other animals, particularly ants and 
chimpanzees, and argues that Carl von Clausewitz’s famous observation that war is politics 
conducted by other means is correct – wars certainly are conducted for political ends – but 
this definition of war obscures as well, precisely because it emphasizes the political aspects of 
warfare. The understanding of the origins of warfare provided by the life sciences lets us 
recognize that other animals fight wars, and that war evolved in humans because it is an 
effective way to gain and defend resources. 
 
This is essentially what I (Van der Dennen, 1995, 2002) have called a “phylogenetic 
continuity” argument (as opposed to the traditional ‘cultural invention’ argument): Human 
beings did not have to ‘invent’ war (or its nonhuman equivalent); evolution by means of 
natural selection had done that long time before it ‘invented’ human beings – as demonstrated 
by ants and chimpanzees (and many other primate species). 
In this chapter Thayer also examines how evolutionary theory helps explain the physically 
and emotionally stimulating effects of warfare on combatants. Lastly, he argues that a life 
science perspective allows scholars to understand why disease will become increasingly 
important in international relations as new diseases and new strains of existing diseases 
emerge and make biological warfare a progressively more effective weapon of war. 
In this section Thayer attempts to show that disease significantly affects international 
relations, first by analyzing biological warfare, and, second, by examining the role diseases 
have played in human history and European imperialism. Bubonic plague, smallpox, anthrax, 
botulism, influenza, cholera, measles, typhus, and other pathogens have exterminated many 
millions of individuals and have decimated – and otherwise radically transformed – entire 
populations. The danger of epidemics will remain a significant national security concern in 
the near future. 
 
In chapter 5 (“Evolutionary Theory and Ethnic Conflict”), Thayer uses evolutionary theory to 
explain why the in-group/out-group distinctions, xenophobia, and ethnocentrism evolved in 
humans, and in turn why ethnic conflict occurs and reoccurs in international relations. 
Moreover, the chapter provides important insights for scholars and policymakers who seek to 
prevent or mitigate ethnic conflict. 
 
In the final chapter of the book Thayer provides some conclusions to the study and discusses 
an agenda for further research. 
 
The central argument of Thayer’s book, he claims, is important for four reasons. First, it 
should be seen as a contribution to the project of applying evolutionary biology to social 
science in order to produce a new synthesis to explain human behavior. 
 
The second contribution is in the realm of what methodologists term ‘theory improvement’. 
Evolutionary theory may be used to place some social scientific theories, specifically realism 
and rational choice, on a scientific foundation. 
 
The third contribution concerns specific issues in international relations. He uses concepts 
from evolutionary biology to explain the origins of warfare and ethnic conflict. 
 
 2
And fourth, incorporating evolutionary biology into the discipline of international relations 
can benefit each of the levels of analysis traditionally used in the discipline, the first (the 
individual), the second or unit level (the state), and the third or systemic level (the 
international system). 
 
Most themes and issues treated by Thayer (the evolutionary understanding of tribal warfare, 
intergroup and intercoalitional violence in animals, ethnocentrism/xenophobia and ethnic 
[sometimes genocidal] conflict, combat motivation and war atrocities) are neither novel nor 
original (Thayer honestly acknowledges his indebtedness to many ‘intellectual fathers’), but 
he has succeeded in a major synthesis of the evolutionary dimension underlying these 
phenomena. This book is obligatory reading for social and life scientist alike, and deserves to 
become a standard work in political science. It is also – and this is extremely rare for 
scientific works – a pleasure to read. 
 
The book contains an index, 85 pages of notes, and a 45-pages bibliography. 
 
 
References 
 
Hobbes, T. (1651) Leviathan; or, the matter, form and power of a commonwealth, 
ecclesiastical and civil. London: Crooke. 
 
Morgenthau, H.J. (1967) Politics among Nations: The struggle for power and peace. 4th ed. 
New York: Knopf. 
 
Niebuhr, R. (1941) Moral Man and Immoral Society: A study of ethics and politics. 2nd ed. 
New York: Scribner’s. 
 
Van der Dennen, J.M.G. (1995) The Origin of War: The evolution of a male-coalitional 
reproductive strategy. 2 vols. Groningen: Origin Press. 
 
Van der Dennen J.M.G.(2002) (Evolutionary) Theories of Warfare in Preindustrial (Foraging) 
Societies. Neuroendocrinology Letters 23, Special Issue (Suppl. 4): 55-65. 
 
Von Clausewitz, C. (1832) Vom Kriege. Berlin: Ferdinand Dümmler. On War (Howard M 
Paret, P, editors). Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1976; Clausewitz on War 
(Rapoport A, editor) Harmondsworth: Pelican Classics, 1968. 
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Book review:Thayer, Bradley A.

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Book review:Thayer, Bradley A.

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