
Image credit: NATO
Research Fellow Christopher Mott authored a contribution for Responsible Statecraft examining how maximalists look at WWII and think the Ukraine war can take a similar path, but he suggests that that is not how conflicts have trended in decades since.
Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of any particular cause, most nations should expect a negotiated settlement as the most realistic outcome of any international conflict. It is unwise to allow subjective outliers to blind us to the reality that a majority of the world’s interstate wars eventually boil down to diplomats forcing and giving tough concessions at the negotiating table.
Dr. Christopher Mott (@chrisdmott) is a Research Fellow at IPD and a former researcher and desk officer at the U.S. Department of State.