Peace is Not Just the Absense of War
by John Lawrence
War is inevitable as long as the various parties do everything to build up their war machines and do nothing to undertake peace initiatives even when the parties are not actually at war. Many think that if there is no war nothing must be done to prevent the next war except perhaps building up their war machine. When there is no active war, that's the best time for preventing the next likely war. There was no reason for World War I other than the fact that the nations involved had built up their war machines in "peace time" and were spoiling for war. Nietzsche said, "A good war hallows any cause. War and courage have accomplished more great things than love of the neighbor." Really? Then perpetual war followed perhaps by short intervals of the absense of war also known as "peace" is the fate of the human race until the human race is extinguished in one great cataclysm. But there is more to peace than just the absense of war. Peace must be built one step at a time just like any edifice. Every nation should have a Department of Peace to counterbalance the ubiquitous Departments of War. If peace is systematically built, war may be preventable. If it is not, the Department of War will always stay ready to conduct war if all else fails. To advocate for peace is not the same as to advocate for disarmament. Realistically, a peaceful neighbor can always be attacked by a stronger unscrupulous neighbor. In fact that is what always has occurred throughout history. This led to the "balance of power" situation in Europe before World War I. It was believed that this was the only way to prevent war, that is, if each neighboring nation was equally matched in their military capabilities. So putting resources into a Department of Peace does not mean not putting resources into a Department of War. In fact they both should be concurrently developed just in case. One is a deterrent. The other is a preventative.
I would advocate a different approach to the peace process than has been pursued so far.. Each nation should put as much human and financial capital into a Department of Peace as they do into a Department of War. So what would a Department of Peace actually do? First of all, eliminate poverty in the world. When everyone has at least a minimally adequate living standard, it is less likely that they will organize for war. Secondly, the existential fact of climate change will create war if it is not solved. In fact it is an existential threat to all life on earth that will make World War III seem trivial in comparison. The ones that will suffer the most are the poor nations and the poor in the rich nations. A Department of Peace needs to be spending a lot both in human and financial capital on this problem. Third, a Department of Peace needs to build infrastructure both to adapt to global warming and to bring poorer nations up to speed. A good place to start is to have the goal of clean water and an adequate sewage system for all of the world's inhabitants. China has taken the lead on this with its Belt and Road initiative building infrastructure throughout the world. Fourth, all nations and all leaders of nations should be shown respect. When one nation's leaders describe another nation's leaders as evil or talk about their countries as "evil empires," this alienates them. Calling a nation's leader a pariah actually turns them into one. Alienation follows disrespect. Friendship entails respect and consideration for all nations even ones with different political and economic institutions. Diplomacy should be increased a thousand fold or more. Person to person exchange groups should be encouraged.
Inequality leads to war. Everyone on planet earth deserves to have an adequate amount of material possessions including good health care, education, food and housing. Those who have inadequate possessions or services or at least a minimal amount of those material things and services compared to others will always want to take from those who have all those things. Rich nations need to help poor nations get richer or else face the consequence of always having to defend what they've got from those who have little or nothing. Many wars have been fought over territory and material possessions. Also many wars have been fought over religion. Education needs to pave the way for people to understand that a person's belief system is up to that person and need not be a threat to another's belief system. The religious wars in Europe between Catholicism and Protestantism went on for hundreds of years proved nothing. The same could be said for the wars between Islam and Christianity or between Hindus and Muslims. The secularization of the world's societies is necessary at least to the point that someone's religion is nobody else's business. The separation of church and state was one of the hallmarks of the US Constitution that has been very successful.
To sum up planet earth will never attain world peace unless that becomes a goal in such a way that peace is not just defined as the absense of war. Like the development of all good things peace must be worked at and for. An effort must be put into it. Resources must be devoted to it. Else the outcome will be the same as the outcome of any venture for which nothing much was done about it. The natural outcome for a world not working every day for peace and not devoting adequate resources towards it will be war. The Law of Entropy will prevail. Everything will disintegrate unless energy is put into the system.
