by Aaron Dollhausen

Created on: July 27, 2009

People of developed countries typically enjoy high levels of wealth, education, access to resources, good health, relatively low population density, high technological development, and they are typically more tolerant towards people of different ethnicities. Higher qualities of life allow people to develop themselves through a number of ways: intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually, economically and politically.

People who are able to develop themselves feel a greater sense of contentment and security which decreases the likelihood of conflict with other people within their own country or those of other countries. Developed nations are also highly interdependent because the people within each developed country realize that their own prosperity is due in large part to cooperation and sharing of resources across national boundaries. It is within areas of high development that the majority of strong states are found which are less prone to conflict.

Conversely, developing nations face widespread low qualities of life which decrease human development. Low qualities of life largely stem from poverty, poor health, overpopulation, and lack of education, scarcity of natural resources, low technological development, festering ethnic rivalries, and isolation from the rest of the world.

As more people are affected by low qualities of life, the likelihood of conflict increases. It is no coincidence that conflict is more prevalent in developing countries because the people within these countries feel less contentment and security. Developing countries are more isolated because they typically do not see the benefits of interdependence. It is within areas of low development that the majority of weak states are found which are more prone to conflict. The best way to decrease international conflict is through globalization.

Globalization refers to the increase of networks of interdependence across continents, as Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Jr. define it in their article "Globalization: What's New? What's Not? (And So What?)." As stated before, within regions of high economic development, conflict between nations and threats of military force have decreased to very low levels.

This is because that within these regions, the level of interdependence has become so prevalent and complex that each nation has realized that it cannot maintain high qualities of life for its people and that their own strength as nations depends upon the strength of their neighbors.

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