Introduction

Abstract

Abstract The introduction lays out the main theme, argument, and structure of the book. It states that this study explores the emerging politics of peace, both as an ideal and as a pragmatic aspect of international relations during the early Cold War. By tracing the myriad ways in which a broad spectrum of people involved in and affected by the Cold War used, altered, and fought over this seemingly universal concept, it deconstructs the assumed binary between realist and idealist foreign policy approaches generally accepted among contemporary policymakers. It argues that a politics of peace emerged in the 1950s and ’60s as a result of the gradual convergence between idealism and realism. A transnational politics of peace succeeded only when idealist objectives met the needs of realist political ambition. It maps three dynamic arenas that together shaped the global discourse on peace: Cold War states, nongovernmental peace advocacy groups, and anticolonial liberationists. The gradual development of a politics of peace at the grassroots level paved the way for a more pragmatic politics of peace among political leaders. The politicization of peace thus both obstructed and advanced the cause of peace.