Preservation Of Peace Research Articles

When Peace Prevails: The Management of Political Crisis in Ecuador, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Venezuela

This article presents a comparative study of four countries that experienced severe political crises during the past two decades—Ecuador, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Venezuela. Despite this, peace prevailed in three of them. Only in Madagascar was there an armed conflict in 2009. Based on a comparison of these cases, the article identifies a set of factors deemed crucial as constituents of a country's domestic capabilities for peaceful conflict management. The article also explains why—in the case of Madagascar in 2009—these capabilities became weakened and the crisis culminated in a military coup. The factors identified as crucial for the preservation of intrastate peace are channels of political participation, the identity and loyalty of the military, a culture of constructive conflict management, and the structure of conflict fault lines in a country. The comparative study revealed that strength in one or more of these factors could substitute for weaknesses in the others. Conflict-prevention research and conflict-prevention efforts therefore need to pay attention to all of these factors, and to the balance between them.

Realism, liberal moralism and a political theory of modus vivendi

This article sets out some of the key features of a realist critique of liberal moralism, identifying descriptive inadequacy and normative irrelevance as the two fundamental lines of criticism. It then sketches an outline of a political theory of modus vivendi as an alternative, realist approach to political theory. On this account a modus vivendi should be understood as any political settlement that involves the preservation of peace and security and is generally acceptable to those who are party to it. In conclusion, some problems with this conception of modus vivendi and with a realist political theory more generally are discussed. In particular, the question is raised of whether a realist political theory should be understood as an alternative to liberal moralism or only a better way of doing basically the same kind of thing.

治安維持法の再検討

This article reconsiders the mean of the Peace Preservation Law in prewar Japan's era of party cabinets. The Ministry of Interior (MI) took a passive attitude towards new Acts and applied existing laws against extreme thought. On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice (MJ) was more active in making new regulations because it needed a legal basis for thought control. Moreover, MI was close to Kensei-kai, as MJ with Seiyu-Kai. The KATO Taka'aki cabinet - Kensei-kai and Seiyu-kai were the Government parties - mediated between two ministries. MI tightened its guard against overseas communists. Furthermore, Prime Minister KATO hoped to inhibit propaganda by means of the treaty between Japan and Soviet Russia rather than through domestic regulations. So, the Peace Preservation Law was enacted for punishing associations, especially communists. However, the limits of this Law were quickly exposed. The first draft of the Bill would have allowed for the punishment of changing the parliamentary system, “Seitai”. However, political parties deleted this provision because they feared it might limit party activities.

Religion and Politics in the Context of Democratic Transformation in the Republic of Moldova

The study of the influence of the religious factor on the life of modern society is currently one of the most relevant areas of research activity. This is due to the fact that in the modern world the religious component of social life is becoming increasingly important. The role of religious organizations, especially the traditional majority religions, in solving many of the pressing problems of our time, related to the preservation and strengthening of peace, from social support to vulnerable groups of the population, from the formation of spiritual and moral values, is becoming noticeable.

Admirals: Command, Leadership and Genius

Historically, the job of the admiral was to make high level decisions that affected the conduct of war, or the preservation of peace, far from home, and without access to the advice of kings or queens, statesmen and ministers. This article charts the necessary qualities and gifts of successful British admirals throughout the ages.

Experiences of developed European countries in solving issues related to national minorities

Contemporary geopolitical change, inter-ethnic conflicts and clashes, the connection between minority and territorial problems, considerably influence the quality of inter-state relations and preservation of global peace and security. National problems and ethnic confrontations have found particularly fertile soil in the Balkans, although they are known in democratic West European countries as well, despite high human rights standards. However, even though such problems deserve special attention due to their seriousness, they remain exclusively in the jurisdiction of the respective states, as opposed to the countries in transition that are in the focus of interest and intervention of the international community. In developed countries, the method of regulating the minority question greatly depends on the position of the given country on the world economic and political scene, as well as on numerous historical and political factors. In each of these countries there are specific models of coexistence of majority and minority nations, therefore there can be no universal model that would be valid for all countries. Respecting basic human rights and liberties, as well as national minority protection, are among the basic factors of stability, security and democratic and socio-economic development of every country.

Turning Outwards or Turning Inwards? The Russian Orthodox Church Challenged by Fundamentalism

The 1997 Russian law on religion recognizes Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as the “traditional religions” of Russia. These religions see themselves as having an important role to play in achieving social stability, and particularly in overcoming religious “extremism” and the perceived threat it poses to society. “Traditional'” religions stand shoulder to shoulder, explaining that the values they champion tend towards the creation and preservation of peace and reconciliation in society, and that, moreover, these are shared values, common to all “traditional'‘ religions. Indeed, the primary criterion for identifying a “traditional'” religion in Russia today may be that it is “noncompetitive” with other religions. The Moscow Patriarchate rejects the idea, for example, that Orthodox Christians should proselytize among Muslims. The fact that each religion sees itself as having possession of the “truth” does not endanger the cooperation, harmony and mutual respect among the traditional religions in Russia at the level of official and institutional interaction. Regarding the controversy over the school textbook, Foundations of Orthodox Culture, which human rights activists accused of constituting pro-Orthodox propaganda, an Orthodox priest and a Muslim chief mufti filed a joint claim against those who initiated the case, and a Protestant leader came out in support of the use of the textbook in the public schools.

Can Japanese Foreign Aid to North Korea Create Peace and Stability?

the end of the Cold War, whenever the prospect of a normalization of relations between and North Korea has been brought forward, foreign aid or the expectation of such aid has been mentioned as one of the central ingredients.1 It was also raised in the Pyongyang Declaration, issued in connection with the meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and Chairman Kim Jong II of North Korea in September 2002. This might be quite natural considering the immense economic need in North Korea. The fact that Japan, one of the world's largest donors of official development assistance (ODA),2 provides huge amounts of aid to most other Asian countries enhances these expectations; so do the large sums received by South Korea in connection with its normalization of relations with Japan. Peace building and peace preservation are new key concepts in Japanese foreign aid policy. According to the revised ODA Charter of 2003,3 Japan aspires for world peace ... actively promoting the aforementioned effort with ODA, which will carry out even more strategically in the future. Asia, and especially East Asia, is pointed out as a priority region. North Korea, with which has not yet normalized relations, is one of Japan's closest neighbours geographically, and from a logical point of view would therefore seem like an important starting point for the ODA effort. However, according to the main Japanese aid agencies, such as JICA (Japan

Beyond Reparations: An American Indian Theory of Justice

Beyond Reparations: An American Indian Theory of Justice

Misdirected Understandings

This article aims to understand how the politics of alterity in Japan led to a misdirected understanding of the West during the early Tokugawa period and the interwar periods. By means of two specific narrative matrices shinkoku [land of the gods] and kokutai [national polity essence], conceptual frameworks that operate with powerful begetting capabilities, it is shown how parallel structurations are at work in two distinct, but decisive, confrontations with the West. Shinkoku and kokutai discourses were specific self-understandings/representations promoted by ruling elites, which combined internal and external elements, and which developed the notion of a group and a related process of identification. originating in medieval times, the shinkoku discourse was used during the early modern period to confront alternative self-understandings/representations, perceived as seditious and pernicious; in particular, christianity. Within the country, shinkoku discourse contributed to the design of the Tokugawa's knowledge and moral spaces, in which a Japanese national identity was to be situated. The kokutai discourse, although essentially “spiritual” in the first half of the nineteenth century, rapidly became the same kind of knowledge and moral-spaces marker as the shinkoku discourse. This became more evident and dramatic during the Showa era when kokutai became a legal tool, in the 1925 Peace Preservation Law, to counter the perceived threat of what was described as either modanizumu [modernism] or Amerikanizumu [Americanism]. By means of these two narrative matrices, it will be shown that the constant aim of the Japanese ruling elites was to develop and implement a politics of alterity. The aim was therefore to unify, homogenize and naturalize a specific self-understanding/representation for the Japanese people that eradicated diversity and difference. Thus, orthodoxy and normalcy in Japan should be seen as misdirected understandings of the West, aimed at constructing a Japanese national identity.

Sowing “Seeds of Goodness” in Depression-Era Chile: Politics, the “Social Question,” and the Labor Ministry's Cultural Extension Department

A contributor to La Lei, the journalistic mouthpiece of Chile's reformist Radical Party, attended a peculiar cultural event on a mild spring evening in 1909 that evidently made quite an impression. Workers with their spouses and children, all donning their best suits and dresses, had gathered in one of the capital's dance halls to enjoy what the onlooker grasped as an evening of “aesthetic enjoyment without ostentation.” As the writer noted, “For three hours I was enchanted by the order, by the discretion, by the culture of the dancers. [The cultured worker] is a natural friend of order, he does not let himself be convinced by high-sounding words, nor does he accept subversive ideas; the revolutionary preaching of the Utopians and those without spirits repulse him. He loves tranquillity and has a profound respect for republican laws. A man of this nature is not only a pillar of our democracy but also an unceasing producer of wealth and social well being.” What the writer recognized as “culture” evidently was conducive to the perpetuation of liberal democracy, the defense of the economic order, and the preservation of social peace during the so-called Parliamentary Republic (1891-1925). Indeed, if workers were culturally educated, if they properly understood, imitated, and enjoyed a “mainstream” culture, they would be less apt to engage in disruptive political endeavors, or so it was suggested in La Lei.

Habermas and the Preservation of European Modernity: Defining the Challenge For a European Constitution

Habermas and the Preservation of European Modernity: Defining the Challenge For a European Constitution

The Historical Society's First Convention

The HistoricalSociety's First Convention ffrty Vankt or lack ofa better term, we dubbed The Historical Society's first comprehensive conference the "national" convention. Although the society's main organizational efforts have sofarfocused on the United States, we encourage interest elsewhere, and our membership includes several dozen foreign members, particularly in Canada and in Western Europe. 5 3 — i ? TI he convention met in Boston on the final weekend in May ol this year, and was very successful in terms of intellectual content , parucipaiion. and organization, t hairs Alan rsors and Martin Skl.n. together with President Eugene Genovese, had assembled the program relatively quickly. Nevertheless, when a tentative program of some twenty sessions began to emerge in fall 1998. it faced a great demand for expansion, from both the supply of program ideas and the unexpected burgeoning membership and interest in The Historical Society (THS). 1 Iu- organizers s[\-nt an additional three months coordinating a further dozen or so sessions. As final as final programs go, this one was read)- at the end of January. The three-day convention took place on campus at the society's host institution. Ik)StOn I Diversity. The event began with a plenary meeting featuring an account of the society's origins by Marc Trachtcnlx'ig (University of Pennsylvania), and the presidential address by L.ugene Genovese (sec enclosed pamphlet). Genovese called attention to the diversity of THS membership and explored the societyS mission to reform the historical profession bv raising and discussing fundamental questions based on the appeal to empirical evidence. After the Thursday afternoon meeting, participants gathered at a banquet dinner, catered by Boston L'niversity. The fare was !.intasile, and the setting allowed old friends to get together, even while nuking new acquaintances, for professional socializing that would continue throughout the weekend . Breakfast meetings on Friday and Saturday continued this process of collegialitv while addressing issues such as the job crisis and issues facing graduate students. Smaller meetings of THS business and planning were also held, bor those interested , Friday lunch groups were organized for sonx· dozen historv specialties, with the particular purpose of bringing together senior and junior scholars in an informal setting. I hen late Friday afternoon more formal "caucuses" were held bv subficld in order to determine how best to integrate different specialties of history into the general programs of THS. At the beginning of Saturdays lunch perkxl, each ol the society's fifteen regions gathered the mcmIx is attending to discuss regional plans already underway and to deliberate new ideas. Finally, at the conclusion on Saturday afternoon, society officers, the board of governors, the executive committee, and the regional coordinators assessed the Ihm national meeting as well as its general progress. Two plenary sessions, each construed as a pncl to discuss a recent book with its author, were well attended. 1 he first. on Thursday evening, examined Donald Kagan's On the Origins of War and ihr Preservation of Peace. On Friday afternoon prticipants discussed Wilson Jeremiah Moses' Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History. On Iriday morning. Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon, the convention offered ten parallel sessions. 1 he majority brought together several presentations of works in progress. Other sessions focused discussion on such topics as Early Modern Catholicism, political violence in South Africa and the American South, the film Amistad, the Cold War, and Carlism in Spam from 1 810 to 1939. Time and again, attendees observed that with so many sessions attracting their interest, they had trouble deciding which to attend and regretted having to miss others. After the final sessions on Saturday, the information table became a receiving line of sorts for the scores of expressions of congratulations and of support for future endeavors. The program had been expanded after organizers gauged that interest and attendance would go beyond their original plans for two hundred participants. In fact, the final attendance ligure fell between 450 and 500. Of these, fifty-five to sixty were graduate students, most from the Boston area but some hailing from beyond the state and region. THS has not vet determined whether it will make the "national" conference an annual event. Nonetheless, the overwhelming enthusiasm...

Hobbes and the Liberalization of Christianity

AbstractHobbes regarded traditional Christianity as one of the leading threats to the preservation of civil peace. This article argues that he responded to this threat by developing an innovative reinterpretation of Christianity designed to tame it from within. This reinterpretation involved the reshaping of leading Christian doctrines around the same liberal principles that underlie his conception of political authority, the natural law principles of equality of right and inalienable rights. Although this political “liberalization” of Christianity may well have enhanced the prospects of civil peace, it did so by undermining doctrines central to Christianity's biblical roots.

A moral vision for America

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago was for twenty years the most influential U.S. Catholic bishop; he was also a beloved public figure whose views commanded respect from Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This posthumous collection of a number of his major addresses on central moral issues in contemporary American life voices the causes that were closest to his heart: the sanctity and protection of all human life, the reshaping of American society and institutions for the benefit of the poorest, the preservation of peace in the pursuit of justice, and the growth of mutual understanding and harmony within the Church. Spanning the period from the early 1980s to just weeks before his death in late 1996, these essays demonstrate a remarkably sustained and thoughtful effort to articulate an overall framework for moral decisions - 'a consistent ethic of life' - and to affirm an active role for religious convictions in a pluralist democratic society. Cardinal Bernardin applies the Church's moral and social teachings to complex policy issues in a way that respects religious freedom and invites both reflection from Catholics and dialogue with people of other beliefs. Written in a clear and accessible style, this volume will be of value to everyone interested in Cardinal Bernardin's moral vision for political choices. It will also be important for a wide range of readers concerned with in Christian ethics and the role of religion in the public sphere. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (1928-1996) served as the archbishop of Chicago from 1982 to 1996 and as archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 to 1982. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1983 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 for his contribution to American civic life. He wrote The Gift of Peace (Loyola University Press, 1997).

Book Review: On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace

Book Review: On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace

Reflections on War and Peace

Suganami, Hidemi, On the Causes of WarKagan, Donald, On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace

General

Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals. Edited by Niall Ferguson On ‘What is History?’ From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White. By Keith Jenkins History as Re‐enactment: R. G. Collingwood's Idea of History. By William H. Dray Philosophy, History and Civilization: Interdisciplinary Essays on R. G. Collingwood. Edited by David Boucher, James Connelly and Tariq Modood Beyond the Great Story: History as Text and Discourse. By Robert Berkhofer, Jr Nature and Society in Historical Context. Edited by Mikulásˇ Teich, Roy Porter and Bo Gustafsson Individual Choice and the Structures of History: Alexis de Tocqueville as Historian Reappraised. By Harvey Mitchell E. P. Thompson: Objections and Oppositions. By Bryan D. Palmer Colonization: A Global History. By Marc Ferro Dialogues across Civilizations: Sketches in World History from the Chinese and European Experiences. By Roxann Prazniak Megalopolis: The Giant City in History. Edited by Theo Barker and Anthony Sutcliffe Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History. By William H. McNeill Using Computers in History: A Practical Guide. By M. J. Lewis and Roger Lloyd‐Jones Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe. Edited by Marguerita Díaz‐Andreu and Timothy Champion Western Political Thought: A Bibliographical Guide to Post‐War Research. Compiled by Robert Eccleshall and Michael Kenny Pioneer Children on the Journey West. By Emmy E. Werner Children and the Politics of Culture. Edited by Sharon Stephens The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Biography. Edited by Angus Stevenson The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Edited by Robin Cohen European Migrants: Global and Local Perspectives. Edited by Dirk Hoerder and Leslie Page Moch Citizenship, Nationality and Migration in Europe. Edited by David Cesarani and Mary Fulbrook Hunger in History: Food Shortage, Poverty, and Deprivation. General editor Lucile F. Newman Altered Conditions: Disease, Medicine and Storytelling. By Julia Epstein Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know and What We Don't Know about Cancer. By Robert Proctor On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace. By Donald Kagan The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern War. Edited by Charles Townshend Pirates: An Illustrated History of Privateers, Buccaneers and Pirates from the Sixteenth Century to the Present. Edited by David Cordingly Enterprise and Labour: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Edited by Peter Mathias and John A. Davis The Companion to British History. By Charles Arnold‐Baker British Women's History: A Bibliographical Guide. Compiled by June Hannam, Ann Hughes and Pauline Stafford The House of Commons: Seven Hundred Years of British Tradition. Edited by Robert Smith and John S. Moore The History of English Law: Centenary Essays on ‘Pollock and Maitland’. Edited by John Hudson British Economic and Social History: A Bibliographical Guide, Third Edition. Compiled by R. C. Richardson and W. H. Chaloner The Kings and Queens: An Irreverent Cartoon History of the British Monarchy. By Kenneth Baker Maps of the Mediterranean Regions Published in British Parliamentary Papers 1801–1921. By Susan Gole The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History. By David Hey Topographical Writers in South‐West England. Edited by Mark Brayshay The Irish World Wide: History, Heritage, Identity, Volume V: Religion and Identity. Edited by Patrick O'Sullivan A Military History of Ireland. Edited by T. Bartlett and K. Jeffrey Explorations in Law and History. Edited by W. N. Osborough

Making Colonial Policies in Korea: The Factory Law Debate, Peace Preservation Law, and Land Reform Laws in the Interwar Years

The conventional view of a powerless colonial Korean labor force oppressed by an authoritative and exploitative Japan has recently come under critical attack by newer studies seeking to reexamine the social dynamics that existed among different colonial groups. This study is in the latter camp, focusing on the Factory Law debate that took place in Korea between the two world wars (1921-1936) to argue that Japanese colonial policies were not always authoritative and arbitrary. Rather, any legislation resulted from a complex decisionmaking process forced by a need to balance the interests of different leaders, shifting policy priorities in Japan, and local pressures.

Probing leviathan: the eastern enlargement of the European Union

There is an official enthusiasm about the eastern enlargement of the EU. A select group of advanced transition countries (the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and Poland) may enter the EU in the future. Nonetheless, the cost of the eastern (to a large extent agricultural) enlargement is not fully understood. That holds true both for the applicant countries and the EU. The actual costs could be assessed following the end of the seventh Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) that was supposed to prepare the EU for the coming decades. At the same time, the IGC was expected to set the final terms of entry. No matter how settled, the eastern enlargement will be very costly, the EU will have to ‘pay’ for the cohesion and agriculture, while the applicant countries will have to implement acquis communautaire . The accepted countries could not expect to be fully absorbed into the EU before 2015! An arrangement such as the European Economic Space (full membership minus agriculture, minus labour mobility and minus regional funds) may be a more workable solution for the transition countries, and for the EU. Full membership may be necessary in the end as the foundation of European integration is the preservation of peace and liberty in Europe. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.