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Nature 454, 34-35 (3 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454034a; Published online 2 July 2008

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Arise 'cliodynamics'

Peter Turchin1

  1. Peter Turchin is professor of ecology and mathematics at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA. He is the author of War and Peace and War: The Life-Cycles of Imperial Nations (Pi Press, 2006).

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If we are to learn how to develop a healthy society, we must transform history into an analytical, predictive science, argues Peter Turchin. He has identified intriguing patterns across vastly different times and places.

What caused the collapse of the Roman Empire? More than 200 explanations have been proposed1, but there is no consensus about which explanations are plausible and which should be rejected.