International Journal on World Peace

Introduction to IJWP, December 2011

December 2011 IJWP

This issue of IJWP contains three articles that reveal some of the toughest challenges to peace that relate to imbalances in power, imbalances in wealth, and imbalances in the treatment of individuals and groups.

Our first article, by Nasreen Akhtar, is an analysis of Pakistan-US relations that, in many respects, complements the article on “The Obama Administration’s Strategy in Afghanistan” in the September 2011 issue of IJWP. It presents a Pakistani perspective on the challenges Pakistan may face when the United States and its allies withdraw from Afghanistan. The states occupying and attempting to stabilize Afghanistan share no common borders with it and thus will not be subject to cross-border insurgencies if they withdraw. Continue reading →

IJWP September 2011

Introduction to IJWP, September 2011

Rule of law is necessary for the order, stability, and peace of any nation.Without rule of law there is anarchy in which gangs, warlords, and conquerors compete for control to establish their own rule of law. As Augustine of Hippo said,

Even while waging a war, every man wants peace; whereas no one wants war while he is making peace. And even when men are plotting to disturb the peace, it is merely to fashion a new peace near to the heart’s desire; it is not because they dislike peace as such. It is not that they like peace less, but their own kind of peace more. And even when secession is successful, its purpose is not achieved unless some sort of peace remains among those who plotted and planned the rebellion. (City of God, Bk. XIX, Ch.12)

The “peace” of a ruler is seldom the “peace” of the ruled. While many people can be “pacified” by a ruler who gives them a measure of wealth or freedom, people generally seek self-determination. Most people consider rule by a conqueror as an occupation and oppression, and not peace. They do not want to spend their lives serving the whims of the most powerful person, making him rich and happy at their expense. Continue reading →

IJWP June 2011

Introduction to IJWP, June 2011

As the Soviet empire collapsed around 1990, there was great hope that the many peoples whose national identities had been suppressed would get their own nation-states. The ideal of a nation-state as the normal form of society has been emblazoned on Western consciousness since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. However, a “nation-state” implies a “culture on a territory” and in Europe today there are few, if any, territories with homogeneous cultures. This was especially true of both the former Yugoslavia and the former USSR, where there were many migrations and intermarriages under the umbrella of secular socialist regimes.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union, many small territories have sought their independence as nation-states, some of these are Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. These regions are called “frozen conflict zones” because of their unsettled status since 1992. They operate somewhat autonomously within states. Continue reading →

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IJWP December 2010

Introduction to IJWP, December 2010

This issue of IJWP focuses on democracy: how to establish it and its relation to violence. We continue from the September issue’s last article “Internal vs. External Requisites of Democracy” by Kunihiko Imai with two additional research articles related to democracy.

The first article, by Gary A. Stradiotto and Sujian Guo, is on “Transitional Modes of Democratization and Democratic Outcomes.” This is particularly significant for people who make plans to implement democracy, since how democracy is implemented, and by whom, is very important in determining whether a democracy will survive ten years or longer.

While the conclusion that democracies work best when they are created out of cooperative transitions, rather than by imposition, may seem common sense, many of today’s leading countries and international organizations still try to impose democracy on people living in non-democratic societies. Perhaps this research will help bolster arguments against many of the efforts by global elites to impose democracy through regime change or as a criterion for receiving international loans or assistance. Democracy is something that people have to feel they own, that they control, and that allows them to pursue an unfettered life. Continue reading →