As these industrialised countries, struggling with budget deficits and (in some cases) public war weariness chose to sit out foreign crises more often, the world seems to be becoming a less predictable and more volatile place.

BBC: UN Syria failure shows declining power of the West

The American public, showing real signs of war weariness after two ground wars over more than a decade, is unlikely to be enthusiastic about a military confrontation with Iran that is likely to be far more costly and indeterminate than either Iraq or Afghanistan.

CNN: What if Israel bombs Iran?

The Democrats owe their majority in large part to war-weariness.

ECONOMIST: The Democrats

The Republicans' crushing loss of both houses of Congress in the mid-term election of 2006, thanks in large part to war-weariness, crops up only in passing, as a possible impediment to the planned surge in Iraq.

ECONOMIST: More vice than virtue

More important, however, nationalists seem to have gained a political self-confidence that unionists now lack, born of both war-weariness and faith in the leadership of Sinn Fein and the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, the largest nationalist party.

ECONOMIST: Ulster waits