The end of the Cold War brought hope for a more peaceful world as the risk of war between the United States and the former Soviet Union was no longer a concern. In addition, these superpowers had less motive to support civil wars in the search for client states, so the incidence of civil wars, which was high in the 1980s, was anticipated to decrease. Defense analysts talked of a peace dividend as resources were redirected from the defense sector to other needs of the public sector in terms of education, social overhead capital, and other programs (Kirby and Hooper, 1991; Sandler and Hartley, 1999). In fact, a redistribution did occur: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, which allocated 4.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) to defense for the 1985–89 period, assigned just 2.7% of GDP to defense in 2002 (NATO Press Release, 2002, Table 3). For the world at large, most countries' percentages of GDP earmarked for defense similarly have declined since the end of the Cold War [Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 2002, Table 6A.4, pp. 282–91]. Four notable exceptions to this pattern exist: the United States, some Middle Eastern countries, nations with civil wars, and nations with territorial disputes.

Has the world become a safer place following the end of the superpower confrontation? Clearly, the possibility of an apocalyptic nuclear war where hundreds of millions of people in the superpowers and their allies are annihilated in a matter of minutes is no longer a worry. Yet, a devastating nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan has deepened in concern as has the threat posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea.