Interdependent International System

• Better defined, widely accepted international borders
• The proliferation of democratic institutions and processes in nations around the world. Democratic nations almost never go to war with one another, a reality at least in part due to norms of peaceful conflict resolution and cooperation within democratic political systems. Democratization also tends to eliminate direct personal benefits (especially financial ones) to political leaders who conquer other nations.
• Wide-spread economic prosperity. Nations with higher standards of living and healthier economies are less likely to seek wealth or resources through conflict.
• Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions. When nations have disputes with other nations, there are a wide range of options available to them, many of them more effective (and certainly less costly) than war. These include diplomatic relations, economic sanctions, or participation in international bodies, such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. Nations often resolve conflicts and promote cooperation by entering into treaties that define how they will interact with each other in mutually agreeable ways.
• Education and globalization. As more people travel abroad, spend significant amounts of time working in other nations and/or affiliate with worldwide organizations or firms, ethnic zeal, xenophobia, and other irrational motives for conflict between nations are diminished.

Essentially, nations exist in a state of nature much like the mythical worlds Hobbes and Locke described in their writings. There is no authoritative, central authority that nations can turn to when there are disputes. Through the above mechanisms and processes, nations, much like the individuals that live in them, have developed stable systems of interaction and cooperation that minimize the occurrence of violent conflict.