Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

The Global Peace Index is an effort to define and measure peace around the world according to these specific indicators. This is not necessarily the only way to measure "peace," but this report one of the more respected, and for good reason.

https://twitter.com/adamctharp/status/1313053007374942209

Has Trump brought peace to the world? It's a question we can answer, empirically. If he had, we would expect to see an improvement in those indicators. But we don't. You're certainly right to say that peace--according to these indicators--did not increase under Obama.

"Global peacefulness has deteriorated over the past year. This is the fourth time in the last five years that the world has seen a fall in peacefulness," they report. "The world is now considerably less peaceful than it was [in 2006.] nd
the US.

"Since 2008 the average level of country peacefulness has deteriorated 3.76 per cent. There have been year on year deteriorations in peacefulness for nine of the last 12 years. The
fall in peacefulness over the past decade was caused by a wide range of factors--

"including increased terrorist activity, the intensification of conflicts in the Middle East, rising regional tensions in Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia, and increasing numbers of refugees and heightened political tensions in Europe and
the US."

If you don't think the way they measure peace is reasonable, suggest another way.

Perhaps by looking at CFA's global conflict tracker: cfr.org/global-conflic…

Or the International Crisis Group's monitor: crisisgroup.org/crisiswatch#ov…

Or our world in data: ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace

I don't think Trump has brought peace, no. I think he's encouraged consummate American self-absorption, though, such that news of the rest of the world and its conflicts doesn't penetrate. Perhaps this makes things seem more peaceful. But it doesn't mean they are.