Peace as absence of violence…
Today, peace is often understood as the absence of war. The concept of peace also applies to the state of people within their countries, as civil war, genocide, terrorism, and other violence are all threats to peace on an intranational level. Since World War II, wars among states have become less common, while violent internal conflicts have become a more central concern. Present day Sudan, for example, is the site of widespread suffering and violence, despite its not being engaged in war with another sovereign state. Peace, in this context, is understood as the absence of violence among groups.Stuart Rees has two assumptions affecting his interpretation of the means of achieving peace in 2004 and beyond.
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If “peace” means only a cessation of hostilities, the controversies that provoked conflict will recur. Only the goal of peace with justice would address underlying human rights issues and thus increase the likelihood of peace agreements being permanent.
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The struggle to achieve peace with justice refers to creative, non destructive ways of exercising power: whether in personal relationships; in the design of social policies; or in the conduct of international affairs. I assume a direct link between power exercised in private, personal relationships and that which is practised within bureaucracies or in negotiations which affect the direction of international relations.
Influenced by these assumptions, the task of promoting peace with justice – what Denise Levertov calls “Peace, not only the absence of war” – requires an understanding of the consequences of exercising power in different ways plus a familiarity with the philosophy and language of non violence. Such understanding needs to be coupled to an awareness as to how undue respect for age-old notions of sovereignty has become an obstacle to peace with justice. These form three interdependent topics: the creative exercise of power; non violence translated into policy and practice; sovereignty redefined so that the goal of attaining universal human rights can be realised.
This is an edited extract of an address to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, on 18th March 2004 entitled “Peace in 2004: local, national and international prospects.”
