War is bad for business

I wrote previously on the link between democratisation and peace. Here is a good article by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. on how commerce has the potential to thaw relations between the United States and China:

"It was Bastiat who observed the trade-off between trade and war. When goods don't cross borders, he said, armies will. Without trade, there is less to lose from the mass destruction that war implies. Countries that trade have a mutual stake in the preservation of open, friendly relations. This is one reason that free commercial activities promote peace, and why protectionism and trade sanctions generate war tensions."

Economics is becoming increasingly important.