Peacemaking throughout History

The course objectives were covered by analyzing the peacemaking processes and movements throughout history. The five course objectives were:

1. analyze how historical narratives have marginalized peacemaking;

2. explain the meanings of negative peace and positive peace and describe specific historical examples of each;

3. identify and describe individuals and groups in the past and in the present who have advanced efforts at peacemaking;

4. identify, describe, and evaluate methods of peacemaking followed by individuals and groups in the past and in the present;

5. explain the influence of peacemaking to themes of continuity and change across historical periods from antiquity to the present.

This essay will explain how the course material addressed each of these objectives, summarize their meaning and provide two examples for each one.

Historical Narratives

Marginalization of peacemaking by way of historical narratives means that peace movements and people or groups who promote peace efforts have been undermined by viewpoints and worldviews that are promoted over them to make their peace overtures look ridiculous and out of place. For instance, historical narratives have marginalized peacemaking by depicting the history of mankind as a strugglei.e., survival of the fittest. As Clancy (2017) points out, the historical narrative of evolution has generally always been promoted in these same terms: i.e., survival of the fittest, as though life were a zero sum game competition and one had either to kill or be killed. This concept, virtually accepted everywhere in the modern world is one example of how historical narratives have marginalized the peacemaking process. Yet Clancy (2017) points out that when natural selection on an organism is relaxed, the creative powers of mutation can be unshackled and evolution accelerated. The relief of an easier life can inspire new biological forms just as powerfully as the threat of death....

This argument suggests that those who come together as one have a better chance at survival than those who seek to dominate over others.

Another example is the narrative that war is intrinsically more interesting than peace, which suggests that peacemaking is silly and absurd because war is far more interesting and has provided fodder for more historical analysis than times of peace (Chapter 1: The Perception of Peace and War, n.d., p. 15). As is shown in...

…world (Pick, n.d., p. 8).

Butler promoted the idea of an international court for settling disputes and supported the institution of the Hague. He and the friends he made at the Hague Conference founded a law journal Conciliation Internationalebut these enterprises were not disconnected from the ambitions of business magnates like Andrew Carnegie (Howlett, 1983). The problem with Butlers activism was that it resembled all too much the pursuit of business interests. International law could be promoted for the purposes of peacebut it could also be co-opted and used for the purposes of business and neo-colonialism.

Influence of Peacemaking in Terms of Continuity and Change across Historical Periods

Since the 18th century, a more pragmatic approach towards pursuing peace through politics, economics and law has been seen among nations. In the Old World, peace was essentially pursued by way of the sword: the threat of war was used as a deterrent to maintain order and peace as much as possible. However, the Old World also more or less generally had an alignment of interests, united under Christendom. With the Protestant Reformation that alignment was broken and unity among nations, required for peace, became…