chapter 9 peace

PeacePeacePolitical Theory

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Chapter 9

Peace

OverviewThe screaming media reports on wars, terrorist attacks and riots constantly remind usthat we live in turbulent times. While actual peace remains elusive, the word itselfseems to have become quite popular. It springs readily to the lips of politicians,journalists, industrialists, educators and army chiefs. It is also cited as a cherishedvalue in a wide variety of documents including textbooks, constitutions, charters andtreaties. As the idea of peace is readily invoked and the desirability of pursuing peaceis rarely questioned we may think that the meaning of this concept needs no furtherclarification. However, this is not the case. As we will see later, the seeming consensusaround the idea of peace is a relatively recent phenomenon. Over the years, the meaningand value of peace has been assessed fairly differently.

The advocates of peace face many questions:

What exactly is peace? And, why is it so fragile in today’s world?

What can be done to establish peace?

Can we use violence to establish peace?

What are the main reasons for the growing violence in our society?

These are questions that we will examine in greater detail in this chapter.

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9.1 INTRODUCTION

Like ‘democracy’, ‘justice’ and ‘human rights’, ‘peace’ has become abuzzword. But we must remember that this seeming consensus onthe desirability of peace is relatively recent. Many important thinkersof the past wrote about peace in negative terms.

The nineteenth century German philosopherFriedrich Nietzsche was one of those who glorified war.Nietzsche did not value peace because he believed thatonly conflict could facilitate the growth of civilisation.Several other thinkers have similarly condemned peaceand commended strife as a vehicle of individual heroismand social vitality. The Italian social theorist, VilfredoPareto (1848–1923), argued that people who were ableand willing to use force to achieve their goals constitutedthe governing elites in most societies. He described themas ‘lions’.

This is not to suggest that the cause of peace had no champions.In fact, it occupied a central place in the original teachings of almostall religions. The modern era too has witnessed ardent advocates ofpeace, both in the spiritual and secular domains. Mahatma Gandhiwould figure prominently among them. However, the contemporarypreoccupation with peace can be traced to the atrocities of the twentiethcentury, which resulted in the death of millions of human beings. Youmay have read about some of these events in your history textbooks:the rise of Fascism, Nazism and the World Wars. Closer home in Indiaand Pakistan we have experienced the horrors of Partition.

Many of the aforesaid calamities involved the use of advancedtechnology to wreak havoc on an unprecedented scale. Thus,Germany ‘carpet-bombed’ London during the Second World Warand the British responded by sending 1000-bomber raids to attackGerman cities. The war ended with the USA dropping atom bombson the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At least 1,20,000people died immediately from the two attacks and many more diedlater due to the effects of nuclear radiation. Nearly 95 per cent ofthe casualties were civilians.

Friedrich Nietzsche

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The post-war decades were markedby intense rivalry between twosuperpowers–the capitalist USA and thecommunist USSR—for world supremacy.Since nuclear weapons had become thenew currency of power, both countriesbegan to make and stockpile them on alarge scale. The Cuban Missile Crisis ofOctober 1962 was a particularly darkepisode in this unfolding militarycompetition. It began when American spyplanes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles

in neighbouring Cuba. The USA responded by organising a navalblockade of Cuba and threatening military action against the USSR,if the missiles were not removed. This eyeball-to-eyeballconfrontation ended when the Soviet Union withdrew the missiles.During the two weeks it lasted, the crisis had brought humanityperilously close to the brink of total destruction.

So, if people praise peace today, that isnot merely because they believe it to be agood idea. Humanity has learnt to valuepeace after paying a huge price for itsabsence. The spectre of tragic conflictcontinues to haunt us. Today life is moreinsecure than ever before as peopleeverywhere face a growing threat fromterrorism. Peace continues to be valuable,partly because dangers to it are ever present.

9.2 THE MEANING OF PEACE

Peace is often defined as the absence of war.The definition is simple but misleading. Thisis because war is usually equated witharmed conflict between countries. However,what happened in Rwanda or Bosnia wasnot a war of this kind. Yet, it represented a

Read the novelThe flowers ofHiroshima writtenby Edita Morris.Note how theuse of the atomicbomb continuedto traumatise thepeople for long.

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Must be from a backward nation.He talked about employment,education, health, shelter and not aword about the nuclear bomb!

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violation or cessation of peace. While every war leads to absence ofpeace, every absence of peace need not take the form of war.

The second step in defining peace would be to see it as absenceof violent conflict of all kinds including war, riot, massacre,assassination, or simply physical attack. This definition is clearlybetter than the earlier one. Yet, it does not take us very far. Violenceis often rooted in the very structure of society. Social institutionsand practices that reinforce entrenched inequalities of caste, classand gender, can also cause injury in subtle and invisible ways. Ifany challenge is made to these hierarchies by oppressed classes itmay also breed conflict and violence. ‘Structural violence’ of thiskind may produce large-scale evil consequences. Let us look at afew concrete instances of such violence arising from caste hierarchy,class disparity, patriarchy, colonialism, and racism/communalism.

Forms of Structural Violence

The traditional caste system treated certain groups of people asasprishya or untouchable. Till it was outlawed by the Constitutionof independent India, the practice of untouchability subjected themto social exclusion and deprivation of the worst sort. The country isstill struggling to erase the scars and relics of this ugly custom.While a social order based on class appears to be more flexible, ittoo generates a great deal of inequality and oppression. In thedeveloping countries a majority of the labouring classes are confinedto the informal sector where the wages and conditions of work areabysmal. A sizeable underclass exists even in the developed countries.

Patriarchy entails a form of social organisation that results inthe systematic subordination of, and discrimination against,women. Its manifestations include selective abortion of femalefoetuses, denial of adequate nourishment and education to thegirl-child, child-marriage, wife battering, dowry-related crimes,sexual harassment at the workplace, rape, and honour killing.The low sex ratio (933 females per 1000 males) in India is a poignantindex of the ravages of patriarchy.

Colonialism in the sense of prolonged and direct subjection of apeople to alien rule is now a rare phenomenon. But the ongoingPalestinian struggle against Israeli domination shows that it has

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LET’S THINK

Which of the following views do you agree with and why?

“All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mindis transformed can wrong-doing remain?”

– Gautam Buddha“I object to violence because when it appears to dogood, the good is only temporary; the evil it does ispermanent”

– Mahatma Gandhi“Ye shall be those whose eyes ever seek for anenemy…ye shall love peace as a means to new wars—and the short peace more than the long. You I advisenot to work, but to victory. Let your work be a fight,let your peace be a victory”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

not disappeared completely. Besides, the former colonies of Europeanimperialist countries are yet to recover completely from the forms ofmanifold exploitation they suffered during the colonial era.

Racism and communalism involve the stigmatisation andoppression of an entire racial group or community. Though thenotion that humanity can be divided into distinct races isscientifically spurious, it has been used to justify insidious practicessuch as Negro slavery in the United States of America (until 1865),the slaughter of Jews in Hitler’s Germany, and apartheid—a policyfollowed until 1992 by the White-controlled government in SouthAfrica, which treated the majority Black people of the country assecond-class citizens. Racial discrimination still continues covertlyin the West and is now often directed against immigrants fromcountries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Communalism may beseen as the South Asian counterpart of racism where the victimstend to be minority religious groups.

The psychological and tangible harm suffered by the victims ofviolence often creates grievances that persist over generations.Sometimes they may give rise to fresh bouts of conflict when provokedby some incident or even remark. We have examples of long-term

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grievances being harboured by communitiesagainst each other in South Asia, such asthose stemming from the violence unleashedduring the partition of British India in 1947.

A just and lasting peace can be attainedonly by articulating and removing the latentgrievances and causes of conflict througha process of dialogue. Hence the ongoingattempts to resolve problems between Indiaand Pakistan also include promotingincreased contacts among people in allwalks of life.

Eliminating Violence

The Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation rightly observes: “Since wars begin in theminds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peacemust be constructed”. Several age-old spiritual principles (e.g.,compassion) and practices (e.g., meditation) are geared precisely tothe facilitation of such an endeavour. Modern healing techniquesand therapies like psychoanalysis can perform a similar function.

However, we have noted that violence does not originate merelywithin the individual psyche; it is also rooted in certain social

structures. The elimination of structural violencenecessitates the creation of a just and democraticsociety. Peace, understood as the harmoniouscoexistence of contented people, would be a productof such a society. It can never be achieved once andfor all. Peace is not an end-state, but a processinvolving an active pursuit of the moral and materialresources needed to establish human welfare in thebroadest sense of the term.

9.3 CAN VIOLENCE EVER PROMOTE PEACE?

It has often been asserted that violence — though it is an evil — cansometimes be a necessary prelude to bringing about peace. It may be

List the names of afew Nobel Peace Prizewinners. Write a noteon any one of them.

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Components for theCreation of Terrorism

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The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia wasa particularly horrific example of thecounter-productive nature of revolutionaryviolence. An outcome of the insurrectionled by Pol Pot, the regime sought toinstitute a communist order geared to theliberation of the oppressed peasantry.During 1975–1979, it let loose a reign ofterror that caused the death ofapproximately 1.7 million people (21percent of the country’s population). This wasone of the bleakest human tragedies of theprevious century.

The systematic deployment of violenceby radical movements to attain apparentlydesirable objectives may not always havesuch dramatically appalling consequences.But in the process, it frequently assumesan institutional form, thereby becoming anintegral part of the resulting political order.A case in point is the FLN (NationalLiberation Front), which led the Algerianindependence movement by using violentmeans. While it liberated the country fromthe yoke of French imperialism in 1962,the FLN regime soon degenerated intoauthoritarianism and triggered a backlashin the form of Islamic fundamentalism.

argued that tyrants andoppressors can be preventedfrom continuing to harmthe populace only by beingforcibly removed. Or theliberation struggles ofoppressed people can bejustified even though theymay use some violence. Butresort to violence, howeverwell meaning, could turnout to be self-defeating.Once deployed, it tends tospin out of control, leavingbehind a trail of death anddestruction.

It is for this reason thatpacifists, who considerpeace to be a supremevalue, take a moral standagainst the use of violenceeven for attaining just ends.They too recognise the needto fight oppression.However, they advocate themobilisation of love andtruth to win the hearts andminds of the oppressors.

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This is not tounderestimate the potentialof militant but non-violentform of resistance. Civildisobedience is a majormode of such struggle andit has been successfullyused to make a dent instructures of oppression; aprominent instance beingGandhi’s deployment ofsatyagraha during theIndian Freedom Movement.Gandhi took his stand onjustice and appealed to theconscience of the Britishrulers. If that did not work,he put moral and politicalpressure on them bylaunching a massmovement involving openbut non-violent breaking ofthe unjust laws. Drawing

You may have heard the phrase ‘Majboori Ka NaamMahatma Gandhi ’? The tendency to equatehelplessness with non-violence and non-violencewith Gandhi has led some people to say this.Underlying this light remark is the widespread viewthat non-violence is the way of the weak. Gandhirejected this understanding of non-violence andarticulated an altogether different philosophy ofnon-violence. We usually understand non-violenceto mean non-injury. A non-violent act is thought tobe one that does not cause physical injury. Gandhichanged this meaning in two fundamental ways.For him non-violence meant not just refraining fromcausing physical harm, mental harm or loss oflivelihood. It also meant giving up even the thoughtof harming someone. For him ‘causing’ did not meandoing the harm oneself. For Gandhi, “I would beguilty of violence, if I helped someone in harmingsomeone else or if I benefited from a harmful act.”In this sense Gandhi’s notion of violence was closeto ‘structural violence’.The second major changethat Gandhi introduced was to give the idea of non-violence a positive meaning. Not causing harm wasnot enough. Ahimsa required an element ofconscious compassion. Gandhi was opposed topassive spiritualism. For him non-violence meanta positive and active pursuit of well-being andgoodness. Therefore those who practise non-violence must exercise physical and mentalrestraint under the gravest provocation. Non-violence is an extremely active force that has noroom for cowardice or weakness. Gandhi in factwent to the extent of stating that if non-violencewere inadequate to defend oneself, then it wouldbe better to resort to violence than take refuge inpassivity in the name of non-violence. SomeGandhians say that the popular saying cited at the

outset should be changed to “Mazbooti kanaam Mahatma Gandhi”.136

Do you think recourseto violence maysometimes benecessary? After all,the Nazi regime inGermany had to beoverthrown throughexternal militaryintervention.

LET’S DEBATE“ ”

MAHATMA GANDHI ON NON-VIOLENCE

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inspiration from him, Martin Luther King wageda similar battle in the 1960s against anti-Blackracial discrimination in the USA.

9.4 PEACE AND THE STATE

It is often argued that the division of world intoseparate sovereign states is an impediment to thepursuit of peace. As each state sees itself as anindependent and supreme entity, it tends to

protect its ownperceived self-interest. While thepursuit of peacerequires that we seeourselves as part ofthe larger humanity,states tend to makedistinctions betweenpeople. To pursuethe interest of theircitizens they arewilling to inflictinjury upon others.

Besides, intoday’s worldeach state has

consolidated instruments of coercion and force.While the state was expected to use its force, itsarmy or its police, to protect its citizens, in practicethese forces could be deployed against its ownmembers to suppress dissent. This is most clearlyevident in authoritarian regimes and militarydictatorships, like the one currently rulingMyanmar. The long-term solution to suchproblems lies in making the state moreaccountable through meaningful democratisationand reining it in via an effective system of

A poignant dilemmaarises from thetendency of many statesto use violent means forachieving theirobjectives in theinternational arena,especially for capturingterritory and naturalresources. The resultingcontention can escalateinto a full-scale war.Thus, in 1990, Iraqinvaded its small, oil-rich neighbour Kuwait.It justified the war byasserting that Kuwaititerritory had beenan Iraqi provincearbitrarily cut off byimperialism, and byaccusing Kuwait ofslant drilling into Iraq’soil supplies. Theinvasion was eventuallyrepulsed by a US-ledmilitary coalition.Conflict of this kindis an ever -presentpossibility in a globalsystem devoid ofan ef fective worldgovernment. It is alsoexacerbated by vestedinterests like thearmament industry,which find war aprofitable proposition.

Collect material onGandhi’s variousmethods of Satyagrahaused in South Africa,Champaran and inDandi March. Ifpossible read the bookPahala Girmatiya byGiriraj Kishore.

Find more aboutMartin Luther King’sCivil Rights Movement.How was he inspiredby Gandhi?

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civil liberties. This is the route taken by the post-apartheid regimein South Africa, which is one of the prominent political successstories of recent years. The struggle for democracy and human rightsis thus closely linked to the safeguarding of peace.

9.5 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE PURSUIT OF PEACE

Different strategies have been used for the pursuit and maintenanceof peace. These have been shaped by three distinct approaches. Thefirst approach accords centrality to states, respects their sovereignty,and treats competition among them as a fact of life. Its main concernis with the proper management of this competition, and with thecontainment of possible conflict through inter-state arrangementslike ‘balance of power’. Such a balance is said to have prevailed in thenineteenth century when the major European countries fine-tunedtheir struggle for power by forming alliances that deterred potentialaggressors and prevented the outbreak of a large-scale war.

The second approach too grants the deep-rooted nature of inter-state rivalry. But it stresses the positive presence and possibilities ofinterdependence. It underscores the growing social and economiccooperation among nations. Such cooperation is expected to temperstate sovereignty and promote international understanding.Consequently global conflict would be reduced, leading to betterprospects of peace. An example frequently cited by advocates of thisapproach is that of post-World War II Europe which secured durablepeace by graduating from economic integration to political unification.

Unlike the first two approaches, the third considers the statesystem to be a passing phase of human history. It envisages theemergence of a supra-national order and sees the fostering of aglobal community as the surest guarantee of peace. The seeds ofsuch a community are found in the expanding interactionsand coalitions across state boundaries that involve diversenon-governmental actors like multinational corporations andpeople’s movements. The proponents of this approach argue thatthe ongoing process of globalisation is further eroding the alreadydiminished primacy and sovereignty of the state, thereby creatingconditions conducive to the establishment of world peace.

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The United Nations may be said to embody elements of all thethree approaches. The Security Council, which gives permanentmembership and veto power (the right to shoot down a proposaleven if it supported by other members) to five dominant states,reflects the prevalent international hierarchy. The Economic andSocial Council promotes inter-state cooperation in several spheres.The Commission on Human Rights seeks to shape and applytransnational norms.

9.6 CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES

While the U.N.O. has several noteworthy achievements to its credit,it has not succeeded in preventing and eliminating threats to peace.Instead, dominant states have asserted their sovereignty and soughtto shape regional power structures and the international systemitself in keeping with their own perceptions and priorities. To thisend they have even resorted to direct military action against and

PACIFISM

Pacifism preaches opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes.It covers a spectrum of views ranging from a preference for diplomacy in resolvinginternational disputes to absolute opposition to the use of violence, or even force,in any circumstance. Pacifism may be based on principle or pragmatism.Principled pacifism springs from the belief that war, deliberate lethal force, violenceor any form of coercion is morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism does not adhere tosuch an absolute principle but holds that there are better ways of resolving adispute than war, or considers the benefits of a war to be outweighed by thecosts.‘Dove’ or ‘dovish’ are informal terms used to describe people who seek toavoid war. The terms allude to the placid nature of the dove. Some people termeddovish would not view their position as pacifist, for they would consider war tobe justifiable in some circumstances. The opposite of a dove is a ‘hawk’ or a war-monger. Some pacifists, while opposing war, are not opposed to all use of coercion,physical force against people or destruction of property. Anti-militarists, forexample, are specifically opposed to the modern nation-states’ military institutionsrather than to ‘violence’ in general. Other pacifists follow principles of non-violence,believing that only non-violent action is acceptable

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism>

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occupation of foreign territories. The recent US intervention inAfghanistan and Iraq is a glaring example of such conduct.Numerous lives have been lost in the ensuing warfare.

The rise of terrorism is partly a response to the self-serving andham-handed conduct of the aggressive states. Terrorists currentlypose a great threat to peace through an adroit and ruthless use ofmodern weapons and advanced technology more generally. Thedemolition of the World Trade Centre (New York, USA) by Islamicmilitants on 9 September 2001 was a striking manifestation of thissinister reality. The use of biological/chemical/nuclear weapons ofmass destruction by these forces remains a frightening possibility.

The global community has failed to curb the rapacity of thedomineering powers and the guerrilla tactics of the terrorists. Ithas also often served as a mute spectator of genocide — thesystematic massacre of an entire group of people. This becameparticularly evident in Rwanda — an African country that witnessedthe murder of nearly half a million Tutsis by Hutus during 1994.Despite the availability of intelligence before the killing began andsubsequent international media coverage of the genocide as itunfolded, there was no international intervention. The UN refused

to authorise its peace-keeping operation in Rwandato stop the carnage.

All this is not to say that peace is a lost cause.After World War II, countries like Japan and CostaRica decided not to maintain military forces. Severalparts of the world have witnessed the creation ofnuclear -weapons-free zones where the use,development or deployment of nuclear weapons isbanned through an internationally recognised treaty.Today there are six such zones which have beenachieved or are in the process of acceptance, coveringthe Antarctic territory, Latin America and theCaribbean, South-East Asia, Africa, the South

Pacific, and Mongolia. The disintegration of the USSR in 1991 put afull stop to the era of military (especially nuclear) rivalry between

Design a peace awardwith a symbol(s).Which symbol(s) doyou think best depictsyour understandingof the term ‘peace’.Who would you liketo award this to andwhy?

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the super powers and removed a major threatto international security.

Besides, the contemporary era has witnessedthe rise of numerous popular initiatives aimedat fostering peace. These are often collectivelydescribed as the peace movement. Thedevastation caused by World War I galvanisedthe movement. It has since gathered momentumand gained a large following across geographicaland political barriers. The movement is sustainedby people from diverse walks of life and includesworkers, writers, scientists, teachers, mediapersons, priests and statesmen. It has expanded and achieved depthby forging mutually beneficial linkages with other movements suchas those championing the empowerment of women and protectionof the environment. The movement has also created a body ofknowledge called Peace Studies and effectively used new channelsof communication such as the internet.

In this chapter we have examined various dimensions of peace:its meaning, the intellectual and practical challenges it faces, asalso its prospects. We have seen that the pursuit of peace involvesa constant effort to create and sustain harmonious social relationsconducive to human well-being and flourishing. The pathway topeace can be blocked by many obstacles ranging from injustice toimperialism. But the temptation to remove them by usingindiscriminate violence is both unethical and extremely risky. In anera of genocide, terrorism and total war which blurs the line betweencivilians and combatants, the quest for peace must inform both themeans and ends of political action.

The existence ofnuclear weapons intoday’s world contributestowards preventingwar

LET’S DEBATE“ ”

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1. Do you think that a change towards a peaceful world, needs a changein the way people think? Can mind promote peace and is it enough tofocus only on the human mind?

2. A State must protect the lives and rights of its citizens. However, attimes its own actions are a source of violence against some of itscitizens. Comment with the help of some examples

3. Peace can be best realised when there is freedom, equality and justice.Do you agree?

4. Use of violence does not achieve just ends in the long run. What doyou think about this statement?

5. Differentiate between the major approaches, discussed in the chapter,to the establishment of peace in the world. E

xerc

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Credit: Image on opening page: Shweta Rao

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