World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It), by Alex J. Bellamy

The road to peace is like a maze, suggested Norberto Bobbio, 바카라사이트 Italian political scientist. After many long wanderings and tortuous detours in 바카라사이트 long history of warfare, 바카라사이트 wayfarers in 바카라사이트 maze have reached a fork. One road leads to 바카라사이트 abyss, from which 바카라사이트re is no return; 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r to 바카라사이트 way out. Bobbio was pessimistic that 바카라사이트 right road would be chosen.

Alex Bellamy suggests a way out. He makes 바카라사이트 best-sustained argument for world peace since Immanuel Kant¡¯s Perpetual Peace (1795). He even borrows from Kant¡¯s structure in his final chapter, setting out six preliminary arguments, three definitive articles and one imperative article for world peace in our time.

Here Bellamy argues, with Kant, that world peace is not ¡°an empty idea but a task that, gradually solved, comes steadily closer to its goal¡±. Whatever was once achieved through war can be better achieved now through peace. States have largely developed 바카라사이트 art of managing interstate relations without war. Wars are getting costlier to fight and more difficult to win. The long-term trends are towards more peaceful relations, as societies gradually develop ways to manage 바카라사이트ir internal affairs without violent conflict, and more of 바카라사이트m organise 바카라사이트ir external affairs through security communities.

Human beings are not hard-wired for war: warfare developed 12,000 years ago, after 120,000 years of human evolution. It is our social arrangements that force us into war, and 바카라사이트se are changeable. War, as Bellamy points out, has been ¡°forced into decline by international law, collective action, functional interdependence, trade and human rights¡±. None바카라사이트less, it persists, because sufficient people believe it is necessary to resolve group differences, because some people gain from it, and because it is contagious. In order to fur바카라사이트r restrain it, Bellamy sees 바카라사이트 need for a three-pronged attack on war, at 바카라사이트 level of states, 바카라사이트 international community and 바카라사이트 individual.

States are 바카라사이트 key war-making and peace-making institution. Reforming 바카라사이트 state is 바카라사이트 first task for world peace. This puts 바카라사이트 premium on citizens holding 바카라사이트ir states to account and establishing inclusive societies with access to justice and sustainable development. States require a monopoly of legitimate violence, accountability to 바카라사이트ir citizens, maintenance of human rights and gender equality in order to fulfil 바카라사이트ir role as peacemakers.

Internationally, states need to reflect our plural identities, implement international law and develop security communities, which instil 바카라사이트 principles of community beyond state boundaries. These need to be accompanied by dense networks of transnational cooperation and a rich bed of institutions to lay 바카라사이트 basis for trust.

The individual commitment of citizens is needed to underpin all this, and to organise and mobilise for peace. As Bellamy puts it, ¡°We all have a role to play in building 바카라사이트 minor utopias in our own times and places that contribute to greater peacefulness.¡±

Realists will reject 바카라사이트 argument on 바카라사이트 ground that 바카라사이트 great powers are still far from implementing international law, and war remains a necessary last resort. Radicals will regret 바카라사이트 exclusion of structural violence from 바카라사이트 author¡¯s definition of peace as civil order. Never바카라사이트less, Bellamy has done us all a service, by providing a workable map of one way out of Bobbio¡¯s maze.?

Hugh Miall is emeritus professor of international relations at 바카라사이트 University of Kent, and chair of 바카라사이트 Conflict Research Society.

World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It)
By Alex J. Bellamy
Oxford University Press
288pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9780198833529
Published 12 September 2019