system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Has anyone written about the idea that war is not a temporary condition, but the default state of affairs, from which peace elevates itself?

A lot of journalism and popular history seems to ask "what caused this war?", "what caused that war?". This seems to be based upon the underlying assumption that peace is the normal natural state of affairs, which is interrupted by war.

Has there been any theoretical analysis of this assumption and it's implications? Has anyone academically proposed that conflict is the natural state of affairs, the default condition in nature, and that human history is dotted with various temporary (and some thankfully long-lasting) outbreaks of peace?

Edit: for clarification, I don't equate "natural" with "good". By asking if war is somehow natural, I'm looking for explanation, not proposing justification.
gpt
Thomas Hobbes famously draws the conclusion that the natural condition of man is a state of war. This state of war can be escaped *nationally* through the creation of government but according to Hobbes and many realists can not be solved *internationally*. As long as anarchy remains in the international system, war will be a regular feature.

You should read realist works in IR theory. For a classical realist account, see Morgenthau's *Politics Among Nations*, which holds that conflict is rooted in human nature. For two neorealist accounts, see Waltz's *Theory of International Politics (1979)* and Mearsheimer's *Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001)* which offer contrasting accounts of how anarchy shapes state behavior and causes states to act in ways that lead to regular war.