Why is there so much violence in our midst? Rene Girard asks. No question is more debated today. And none produces more disappointing answers. In Girard s mimetic theory it is the imitation of someone else s desire that gives rise to conflict whenever the desired object cannot be shared. This mimetic rivalry, Girard argues, is responsible for the frequency and escalating intensity of human conflict. For Girard, human conflict comes not from the loss of reciprocity between humans but from the transition, imperceptible at first but then ever more rapid, from good to bad reciprocity. In this...