Peace Theory Research Articles

Is Democracy A Cause of Peace?

The West has been discussing the relationship between democracy and peace for a long time. The “Democratic Peace Theory” was put forward as early as Kant’s period, furthermore, this theory flourished again after the Second World War. After the end of the Cold War, Fukuyama and other scholars reinterpreted the “Democratic Peace Theory” and had a profound impact on the foreign policies of today’s Europe and the United States. The purpose of this article is to analyze the theoretical logic of the “Democratic Peace Theory” and its application in reality, as a consequence to examine how this theory provides an ideological excuse for the intervention and expansion of the world war situation.

When does liberal peace fail? Trade and nationalism

Liberal peace research maintains that trade interdependence promotes interstate peace. In this study, I introduce nationalism as an important domestic factor and examine how it fares against trade as an explanation for war and peace and their interaction effects. I propose that when state leaders promote nationalism to bolster political legitimacy, they may not be incentivized to foster liberal peace through trade and instead may be willing to conflict with trading partners. A cross-national, time-series statistical analysis shows that nationalist leaders are likely to cause the pacifying effect of trade to fall apart and increase the likelihood of (fatal) militarized disputes, but not necessarily open warfare. These findings suggest that when politico-security interests of nationalist leaders collide with global economic interests, the former prevail over the latter in the context of low-level conflict, but not necessarily high-level conflict. Even nationalist leaders appear to be cautious of engaging in all-out bloody war with trading partners—the economic pain is greater than the gain. Nevertheless, the overall analysis indicates that liberal peace theory may be not as sure a safeguard as previously believed since it is ineffective in lowering the risk of dyadic disputes short of war in the era of rising nationalism.

Neoliberal conflict and ‘democratic peace’: The post-cold war crisis

ABSTRACT This article conducts a comprehensive analysis of the inadequacy of the neoliberal peace theory, a derivative of the democratic peace theory, in its endeavour to establish global stability. Drawing upon case studies from the First Gulf War, the Balkans, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Northern Triangle of Central America, it becomes evident that the ambitions of the neoliberal peace framework have consistently fallen short of their objectives. These practical instances underscore the inherent constraints and oversimplifications of the theory when addressing the intricate dynamics within international relations. This article highlights the multifaceted nature of the pursuit of global peace and calls for the reassessment and adaptation of the neoliberal peace theory to align with the requirements of the contemporary world. The efficacy of neoliberal initiatives in promoting peace is evaluated, shedding light on their limitations. Additionally, the article explores lack of a direct correlation between regime type and peace by citing the failure of neoliberal peace in the context of illiberal trends with in democracies. Neoliberal trapping of liberal democratic peace theory, which turns out to be an inevitable crisis in peace building is discussed, scrutinising the instigation, exacerbation, and perpetuation of conflicts in the post- cold war era using the indicators of democratisation, economic interdependence and international organisations.

Democratic Peace and Covert Military Force: An Experimental Test

How should we reconcile covert war with normative theories of the democratic peace? Proponents argue that these interventions are consistent with democratic peace theory, as leaders intervene covertly to escape backlash by a public that has internalized liberal norms. Yet we know little about public opinion regarding the covert use of force. Using a survey experiment, we find that respondents are more favorable towards covert interventions against democratic targets than our theories assume, and that even citizens who value transparency the most still wrestle with a trade-off between their normative commitments and the instrumental benefits they perceive covert actions to hold. Our results thus help to explain why American leaders have repeatedly chosen to conduct covert military operations against fellow democracies, and raise important questions about the scope conditions of normative theories of the democratic peace.

Understanding of democracy and peace Gershon H.Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, Tel Aviv University

One of the great changes in the world situation after World War II was the long period of peace without war between democracies and even great powers. However, the world is not easy in the halo of peace. The smoke of local wars such as the Iraq war has not yet dissipated, and frequent terrorist groups is worrying. In Asia, Japan's military influence, which is second only to the United States, cannot be underestimated. Its defense strategy changes from specialized defense to outward defense. This situation brings a new threat to the security of all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The problem of the "security dilemma" remains one of the major issues in international politics today. In this regard, realism puts forward the theory of potential equalization and deterrence, while liberalism puts forward the theory of world government, collective security, economic interdependence, and democratic peace. Among them, democratic peace theory, as a popular theory in the field of western international relations research, has aroused wide controversy in the academic circles. "Democratic peace theory" believes that there is no or little war between democratic countries, and "non-democratic countries" are the root cause of war, and expanding democracy is the inevitable requirement for maintaining peace. "Democratic peace theory" does not conform with historical facts, it is the theoretical basis for neo-interventionism in promoting human rights diplomacy. The relationship between democracy and peace is complex: peace between international society and international relations requires not only a domestic democracy, but also in international life; democracy is only one of the many reasons affecting international peace, It has limited impact on peace; the "democracy peace theory" advocates established peace is essentially local peace between western countries based on unreasonable international political and economic order, the consolidation of overall world peace and the establishment of just and reasonable new international order call for new democracy.

Decoding the elements of conflict and violence to restore peace in rushdie’s novel Haroun and the sea of stories

The canvas of Children’s Literature presents strokes of vibrant motifs coupled with creativity and fantasy. The gripping and bewildering magnum opus of Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, heralds the political scenario of India. The novel is a fitting reply to Rushdie’s fatwa and censorship of Satanic Verses. Behind a palliative and hilarious account of fantasy fiction, Rushdie renders a subtle portrayal of sublime aspects such as conflict, violence and peace. The paper concentrations on reinstating Johan Galtung’s Theory of Peace and Herbert C. Kelman’s Theory of Conflict, evident in the Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Reinforcing and reviewing the contradictory and distinct characteristics of Gup and Chup cities are one of the salient portions of paper. Concepts such as Group theory, physical and psychological violence embedded in the novel are analyzed and explored. The paper also throws light upon factors that restore peace and elements that pave way for conflict resolution.

Penyelesaian Sengketa Non Litigasi Dalam Penyelesaian Sengketa Perdata

The judiciary is basically formed to try and solve problems, but in reality sometimes it is not able to solve the problems faced by the parties, sometimes even causing new problems, namely prolonged hostility between the disputing parties. The problems that will be discussed in this research are What are the legal remedies for non-litigation settlement in dispute resolution according to civil law?, and what are the obstacles to resolving non-litigation disputes according to civil law? The research method used is an empirical research method that is guided by data collection techniques with direct interviews with competent people using peace theory, effectiveness theory in the rule of law concept to study and get answers to existing problems. The results of this study are legal efforts to resolve disputes over buying and selling diamonds in civil law cases, namely by non-litigation, this is generally done in civil cases only because it is more private in nature by having several forms to resolve disputes, namely: Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration. Meanwhile, the obstacles to non-litigation settlement in the settlement of civil law cases of buying and selling are juridical barriers regarding mediation and the validity of the results of the peace where the parties sometimes or the public doubts the final outcome of dispute resolution through mediation and non-juridical barriers, namely obstacles that occur because the parties involved directly related to the diamond sale and purchase dispute, prioritizing emotions in problem solving. The emotional factor with its arrogance assumes that all parties are in the right position, so they don't want to give up.

The democratic embargo: regime type and proxy war

Democracies rarely fight interstate wars against one another, but democratic dyads frequently engage in hostile acts short of war, such as militarized interstate disputes and the backing of coups. Do democracies wage proxy war against other elected regimes by aiding rebels with weapons and other assistance? Scholars have found that democracies generally avoid doing so—a phenomenon we term the “democratic embargo.” However, the democratic embargo remains under-theorized. Using both datasets and close examination of purported instances of democratic aid to rebels fighting other democracies, we show that the democratic embargo is stronger than first thought. In addition, we explain the democratic embargo by arguing that strong democratic institutions prevent elected leaders from engaging in proxy war against sister regimes, and embargo violations tend to occur when democratic institutions are weak. We test our theory in two ways. First, using large-N qualitative analysis (LNQA), we examine all potential exceptions to the democratic embargo between 1945 and 2011 to establish the external validity of our claim. Second, we use case studies of the Irish decision not to aid rebels fighting the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland and Pakistan’s decision to support rebels fighting India in Kashmir to assess the internal validity of our theoretical logic. The results provide clear support for our institutional explanation of the democratic embargo. Our argument has significant implications for the democratic peace theory, the study of proxy wars, and the capacity of democracies to fight rebellions.

Complexities of international mediation at sub-regional levels in Africa: lessons from South Sudan

PurposeThe Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been mediating the South Sudan conflict since 2013. IGAD’s intervention in South Sudan is anchored on its founding norm of peaceful settlement of regional conflicts and in reference to the principle of subsidiarity, under the Africa Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). However, it is puzzling how violence continued unabated even as conflict parties negotiated and signed numerous agreements under the auspices of IGAD. The parties to conflict seem unwilling to implement the 2018 peace agreement, which is arguably un-implementable. Yet, it appears that IGAD mediators were privy to this situation all along. The question that then arises is why IGAD would continue engaging in a mediation process that neither ends violence nor offers a promise of a resolution? Drawing out on empirical data, this paper argues that IGAD’s organisational structures and functionality are key to understanding and explaining the South Sudan phenomenon within broader discourses on peace and security regionalism in Africa. This paper suggests the need to pay attention to the embeddedness of political power dynamics in the structures and functionality of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs), such as IGAD, as one of the ways to (re)thinking and (re)orienting norms and practices of regional conflict management within the APSA and in pursuit of the “African solutions to African problems.”Design/methodology/approachData for this paper was obtained through document reviews and 39 elite interviews. The interviews were conducted with representatives of IGAD member states, bureaucrats of IGAD and its organs mediation support teams, conflict parties, diplomats and other relevant experts purposively selected based on their role in the mediation. The physical interviews were conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, with others conducted virtually. Analysis and presentation of findings are largely perspectival, highlighting coexistence of contending peacemaking ideas and practices. The discussions centre around inter-linked themes of IGAD’s conceptions of peace and approaches to peacemaking as informed by its structural and functional designs.FindingsFindings illustrate the complexity of the peace process and the centrality of power politics in IGAD’s peace and security arrangements. In view of the findings, this paper echoes the need for enhanced and predictable collaborative framework between IGAD and the African Union (AU) as central to the operationalisation of the APSA and pursuit of the African solutions to the African problems. Hence, this paper suggests transforming IGAD’s political program into a robust political bureau with predictable interlinkages and structured engagements between IGAD’s heads of state and government and the APSA’s Panel of the Wise (PoW).Originality/valueThe study is based on empirical data obtained through the researcher's own framed questions, and its argument is based on the researcher's own interpretations innovatively framed within existing theoretical framework, particularly hybrid peace theory. Based on the findings, this paper makes bold and practical recommendations for possible workable collaborative framework between IGAD and the AU under the APSA framework

Rethinking of Ahn Jung-geun’s ‘Patriotic Deed’ at Harbin – Understanding on His Theory of Oriental Peace from the Christian Ethical Perspective

Rethinking of Ahn Jung-geun’s ‘Patriotic Deed’ at Harbin – Understanding on His Theory of Oriental Peace from the Christian Ethical Perspective

Russia’s Ambitious Foreign And National Security Policy

One of the main challenges in modern international relations is the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is developing in two main directions: the energy crisis and the migrant crisis. The world has entered the phase of a "New Cold War". Russia is becoming more and more provocative and threatening world security by destabilizing the region. In the eighteenth century, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant formulated the theory of "Perpetual Peace", where the behavior of the main state is determined by the regime. According to Kant, if the state is governed democratically then starting a war and other negative actions will be much more difficult than under other governments. In modern International Relations “theory of Democratic peace” is an important achievement for the establishment and maintenance of peace between the states. The stages of its formation and ideological controversies, as already mentioned, lead to a regime where Democrats do not fight each other since the regime determines all rules of behavior and the distribution of power between different branches. Democracies prioritize stability in any policy, but in today's world, we often see states that negatively affect international relations and contribute to the formation of mass instability. Such states often violate the principles of international law, disregard sovereignty, interfere in the domestic politics of other states, and reveal other destructive actions, which are expressed in various ways. Recently the importance of the domino effect of global insecurity has been raised. The creation of mass instability or such behavior has an impact on other states. If any important player creates such a vulnerability, plays a negative role, and breaks the rules of the overall game, he pushes other states to behave similarly. According to Adam Kinzinger "Russia is playing a negative role not only in terms of influence but also in terms of creating mass instability.

On Kant’s Conception of Perpetual Peace—Rereading Kant’s “On Perpetual Peace”

Kant expressed his deep concern for the cause of human peace in the “Permanent Peace Theory”. The clauses concerning 
 the realization of permanent peace are based on the perspective of a global citizen who transcends ordinary citizens. Established 
 in a calm and rational questioning. These terms are too abstract in the eyes of many liberal philosophers. Therefore, many liberal 
 philosophers no longer try to use a comprehensive theory of value as the basis for the concept of peace, but we still have reason 
 to hope that there is some kind of abstraction. Although this principle has many differences in specific concepts, after proper 
 reflection, most people will agree with these principles.Rules and the way of thinking behind the principles, and eventually it is 
 possible to establish some logically advanced principles.

Reflection on and Alternatives to Taekwondo Gym Violence

The purpose of this study is to examine the reflection on violence necessary for Taekwondo leaders through the structure of violence and Johan Galtung s theory of peace, and to suggest alternatives to Taekwondo violence through Kant s categorical imperative. Through literature study, reflection and alternatives to Taekwondo (sexual) violence are suggested. The structure of violence in the Ttaekwondo field was reflected on the banality of evil suggested by Hannah Arendt, and the ‘Banality of Evil’ of (sexual) violence, an unethical act of the Taekwondo instructor, is the ability to think because it comes from ‘Sheer Thoughtlessness’. and reflective thinking are required. Also, through the types of violence and the theory of peace of pacifist Johan Galtung, he emphasized the need for education on the prevention of violence by the state and taekwondo institutions in terms of social ethics as well as personal ethical efforts in the field of Taekwondo. As an alternative to (sexual) violence in the field of Taekwondo, the categorical imperative proposed by Kant was presented as the leader s practice code. He proposed that through the human nature formulation and universalization formulation, human beings are treated as ends rather than as means, and (gender) violence could be eradicated when the maxims of a leader s behavior are acted in accordance with universal laws.

ТЕОРІЯ ДЕМОКРАТИЧНОГО МИРУ ЗА УМОВ КРИЗИ ПОСТБІПОЛЯРНОЇ СИСТЕМИ МІЖНАРОДНИХ ВІДНОСИН

The article analyzes the problem of democratic peace. After World War I, Woodrow Wilson declared that the world must be made safe for democracy. It is believed that democratic countries are not at war with each other. The experience of the First World War showed that democratic leaders think in terms of honor, victory, and national pride. The people are often agitated by demagogues, so they can approve an unnecessary and unprofitable war. The authors showed that the thesis that the global spread of democracy can be a universal insurance against large-scale armed conflicts is controversial. The informational and psychological opposition of Western democrats to authoritarian regimes has become the mainstream of modern international relations. As a result of this fact, a hybrid world conflict takes place in the format of sanctions, expulsion of diplomats, special information operations. The purpose of the article is to highlight the problem of the realism of the theory of democratic peace under the conditions of the crisis of the post-bipolar system of international relations. Under a democratic political regime, power is given to an entity elected by the people, who must return it to the people after the end of their term in power. Any information about the activities of the government discredits it. Representative democracy requires that the leader's decisions are subject to careful scrutiny, that the leaders tell the truth and are ready to bear responsibility for the decisions made. Incompetence undermines the essence of representative democracy. The ailment of democratic states is the reduction of the effectiveness of governments. Attempts to implement the theory of democratic peace in practice tend to fail. The reasons for this are not only in the famous irony of history, which cancels out the titanic efforts of social engineers and directs them in the opposite direction, but also in the impossibility of spreading a uniform form of political system on a global scale. The Chinese project will restore a bipolar system in which the USA will play the role of the USSR. In the coming years, the Chinese project will collide with the American one.

Conviviality in Disrupted Socionatural Landscapes: Ecological Peacebuilding around Akagera National Park

Convivial conservation presents itself as a vision of radical cohabitation across the Whole Earth, requiring people at the fringes of protected areas or people everywhere to manage day-to-day coexistence and conflicts with non-human species. This article assesses human-wildlife conflict interventions—an electric fence, compensation for wildlife damages, and traditional ecological knowledge—in a disrupted socionatural landscape, Akagera National Park in Rwanda, from the perspective of a framework of ecological peace. Ecological peace is defined through Galtung's (1969) theory of negative peace (freedom from direct violence) and positive peace (freedom from physical, cultural, and structural violence) as applied to relations between human and non-human species. While barriers and compensation schemes may make sense from the perspective of the conservation community's interests in reducing the negative impacts of wildlife on people, or vice versa, and especially towards improving people's perceptions of wildlife and environmental conservation, these human-wildlife conflict interventions may offer only negative ecological peace. Convivial conservation requires human-wildlife conflict interventions to go beyond negative and liberal peace approaches towards positive ecological peace to transform human and non-human relations for radical cohabitation across the Whole Earth.

Дослідження миру: основні теоретичні перспективи

The article attempts to outline the main theoretical perspectives in the study of peace. The author analyzes the dynamics of the characteristics of peace in international relations and identifies the role of different theoretical approaches and scientific schools in shaping the concept of peace. It is emphasized that in the modern world order it is important to develop a common understanding of peace, the values of conflict resolution and effective approaches to peacebuilding. Given these challenges, the theoretical basis for building peace needs to be reconsidered and rethought in order to identify the most promising areas of research. It is noted that theoretical issues of peace theory are rarely the subject of scientific research of domestic researchers. The main theories of peace have been formed and developed mainly by foreign scholars, but there is a contradiction of images of peace, serious discussion and criticism of most concepts of peace, which gives rise to new approaches and comprehensive research, opening the way for Ukrainian scientists.The author of the article acknowledges that the liberal-idealist paradigm is dominant in the understanding of peace, so its analysis is given considerable attention. However, the article describes the realistic vision of the problem of peace, which forms the basis of the framework of peace research with the liberal-idealist tradition and is the so-called «orthodoxy». Unorthodox theories are described in detail, including the English School of International Relations, Marxists and Neo-Marxists, critical theories, constructivism and post-constructivism, and interdisciplinary research, the most important of which is Peace and Conflict Studies. The article analyzes and compares these scientific approaches and schools, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of research, the main discussions and the reasons for criticizing each of them. It is suggested that the debate on international conflicts and wars in the era of globalization and posttruth is erroneous and inexpedient, and instead the emphasis in the theory of international relations is shifted towards the formation of a modern concept of peace and peaceful coexistence.The author emphasizes that each theory and approach has its own concept of peace, but this variability allows to develop a broad discussion of peace, propose new methodologically compatible approaches and develop a modern comprehensive understanding of peace, principles and mechanisms for its development.

ПОЗИТИВНИЙ МИР ДЛЯ АНАЛІЗУ РОСІЙСЬКО- УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ

Positive peace is an important concept in studying international conflicts. It is urgent to study the viability of positive peace theory to Russia-Ukraine war analysis. The applied method is historical and comparative approach. As a result, it can be concluded that positive peace framework is, overall, applicable for Russia-Ukraine war analysis. In line with the positive peace agenda, it is necessary to develop strong democratic institutions, promote fair business growth, civil liberties, diplomacy and rule of law. Ukraine is further progressing toward this goal, while Russia, on the contrary, demonstrates a trend toward strengthening of authoritaorianism and even outright violation of international law after recognition of «DPR» and «LPR» and the ongoing military aggression against Ukraine. Such different political stances of the two countries’ leadership complicate effective settlement of Russian-Ukrainian war. It can be concluded that much depends on skillfulness and diplomatic experience of primary negotiators, as well as mediators. One should carefully consider use of mediator services and good offices and thereby select mediators who are objective, impartial, trusted by both parties and, besides, who have successful experience of previous mediation cases and establishing dialogue. One of the main international organizations involved in the war settlement since its start have been the UN and the OSCE. However, international organizations, overall, demonstrated partial effectiveness in preventing the Russian-Ukrainian war and achieving de-escalation of violence. One should keep in mind the statement that every peace process is unique, moreover, it is imperative to take into consideration local contexts and strive to achieve positive peace conditions.

DEMOCRATIC PEACE THEORY FOR RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR ANALYSIS

The question remains pertinent if the concept of democratic peace is viable for political agenda and international relations system of the 21st c. One can witness both successful and questionable examples of democratic peace theory implementation, yet it is apparent that transition to democracy is not always an unproblematic and consistent process. The goal of the article is to analyze the viability of the democratic peace theory for Russia-Ukraine war analysis. The selected method is historical analysis of the democratic peace theory advancement, Ukraine’s and Russia’s political development, economic cooperation and participation in international organizations. Besides, secondary data analysis was employed for the research purposes. It can be concluded that democratic peace theory hardly appears to be a viable framework for Russia-Ukraine war analysis. As to the first tenet of the democratic peace theory – republican institutions – both Ukraine and Russia are republics, and strictly formally fulfill this criterion, yet Russia’s being a democracy de facto has proven to be erroneous. Regarding the second tenet of the democratic peace theory – economic interdependence (universal community) – prior to the start of the war in 2014 one could witness a considerable, yet declining level of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia, complicated by asymmetrical relationship between the two states. Even though, in accordance with the theory tenet, considerable economic cooperation should have prevented Russian aggression against Ukraine as a trading partner, the initiated war can, apparently, be explained by political and security perceptions which outweighed purely economic factors. Regarding the third tenet of the democratic peace theory, one can witness a certain level of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia within international organizations, yet fundamental ideological differences between the two countries are vividly reflected in this sector. It can be concluded that the democratic peace theory is hardly applicable for Russia-Ukraine war analysis, and the reasons of the ongoing war can be explained by current Ukraine’s standing as democracy in transit and Russia’s becoming a consolidated authoritarian regime. Thereby Ukraine is now spearheading a fight for democracy worldwide, while democracy development in Russia is further deteriorating.

Meeting the COVID‐19 moment: Peace analysis within the Latin American Council for Peace Research (CLAIP) 1977–2021

AbstractThis article analyzes the foundation of the Latin America Council of Peace Research (CLAIP in Spanish) in 1977 within the complex geopolitical conditions of military coups, lack of democracy, political refugees, Operation Condor, and economic crises. Globally, the geopolitical environment was equally complex with the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, the School of the America's training militaries in torture, and the rise of the Taliban from the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan. In these adverse conditions, peace research and negotiation of conflicts were crucial. CLAIP developed to meet these needs over a five‐phase process of consolidation: 1. Foundational; 2. Expansion toward whole Latin America; 3. Fragmentation and specialization of peace research; 4. Development of hybrid and amalgam peace theories, and 5. The emergence of different regional approaches focusing also on gender perspective. This convergence has yielded more holistic paradigms that address the multifaceted threats to positive peace posed by the global response to COVID‐19. The article explores the potential for an integrated human, gender, and environmental, an engendered peace paradigm—called the HUGE model—to guarantee even the most marginalized women and girls a peaceful and secure future development in the subcontinent—even in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Dynamic Stochastic Blockmodel Regression for Network Data: Application to International Militarized Conflicts

The decision to engage in military conflict is shaped by many factors, including state- and dyad-level characteristics as well as the state’s membership in geopolitical coalitions. Supporters of the democratic peace theory, for example, hypothesize that the community of democratic states is less likely to wage war with each other. Such theories explain the ways in which nodal and dyadic characteristics affect the evolution of conflict patterns over time via their effects on group memberships. To test these arguments, we develop a dynamic model of network data by combining a hidden Markov model with a mixed-membership stochastic blockmodel that identifies latent groups underlying the network structure. Unlike existing models, we incorporate covariates that predict dynamic node memberships in latent groups as well as the direct formation of edges between dyads. While prior substantive research often assumes the decision to engage in international militarized conflict is independent across states and static over time, we demonstrate that conflict is driven by states’ evolving membership in geopolitical blocs. Our analysis of militarized disputes from 1816 to 2010 identifies two distinct blocs of democratic states, only one of which exhibits unusually low rates of conflict. Changes in monadic covariates like democracy shift states between coalitions, making some states more pacific but others more belligerent. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.