For Fear of New Horrors: A Reply to Edward Tiryakian and Ian Roxborough

Replies to Tiryakian's & Roxborough's commentaries on Joas's article (all, 1999) on assessing the use of modernization theory in understanding the role of war in modern history. Two crucial differences are identified relative to the position of Tiryakian: (1) the degree to which the sociological tradition has neglected to analyze the role of war & (2) the importance of functionalism & evolutionalism in modernization theory, with these two aspects being identified by Joas as weaknesses in modernization theory that cause a disjunctive gap between theory & historical occurences. Roxborough is succinctly dismissed for addressing issues other than those relating directly to the article. It is recommended that modernization theory be revised, & overly optimistic positions pertaining to war be guarded against. T. Noland