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That one. Yuval Noah Harari in a recent TED talk noted that we could measure the peace of an era by the percent of world GDP spent on military. He suggested that the period between the Berlin Wall coming down and this invasion was a significant historical low.

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I don't think you honestly need a high GDP for conflict and violence. There has been a number of genocides that have happened since the Berlin wall came down, that were not performed by advanced military equipment.

World's GDP spent on military I would argue applies more to inter-state violence, which is comparatively more rare than violence within the state.

I agree it seems overly simplified to the point of being useless. A single Columbia class submarine (without munitions) costs the same as (approx) 10 million loaded AK47's. The two of these would have very different effects on peace, especially not considering where those AK47's are used.

World GDP also doesn't account for purchase parity. A state with cheaper labour building the exact same weapon as a state with more expensive labour would still result in the same weapon being created.

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