Search

The wars that ravaged Europe during the Modern Age awakened numerous consciences, particularly among Enlightenment philosophers, some of whom became peace activists. Kant and Saint-Pierre stood out in this effort, though Rousseau and Voltaire were not far behind. Kant was convinced that governments are morally obligated to pursue peace. He regarded states as "moral persons," which, however, did not eliminate the possibility of one state fearing another--a fear that could potentially lead to war. In his quest for perpetual peace, he proposed the creation of a Federation of States, equipped with the authority and tools necessary to resolve conflicts. This essay explores these ideas and assesses the influence of Kantian ideals on the League of Nations and the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper narrates the concept of Sustainable Peace Leadership and examines how three prominent Peace Activists from South and Southeast Asia measure up to the concept. The article will consider the works and ideas of Mohandas K. Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Lhamo Thondup (The 14th Dalai Lama), and Nguyen Xuan Bao (Thich Nhat Hanh). Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in achieving Indian independence from the British Empire. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and has managed a difficult relationship with the Chinese government following the occupation of Tibet. Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and is known as the 'father of mindfulness'. The paper identified several characteristics of Peace Leaders. These include being a charismatic leader who motivates their followers to achieve their goals in a non-violent and inclusive manner. Peace leaders meditate and spend time developing inner peace which then leads to outer peace. The paper also asserts that peace leaders are capable of recognizing the humanity in their opponents and seek a mutually beneficial solution. The three chosen individuals are all recognised as being charismatic leaders who were prominent peace leaders. All were deeply spiritual and practiced meditation and other inner work on a regular basis. They stressed the humanity in their opponents, based on their religious beliefs and the concepts of non-duality and interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay focuses primarily on the observations and insights of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey, and Stanley Hauerwas regarding violence, just war, peace, and justice. Niebuhr emphasized the proximity of justice to agape ; however, due to the hindrance of sin, it is impossible for humanity to realize this moral ideal in history, and it thus requires the power to seek justice and peace. Ramsey expanded on Niebuhr's political realism and considered a "statecraft" that seeks to maintain a rightful order of justice. Hauerwas has expressed his criticism of political realism and the concept of just war, expounding on his pacifist thoughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article in the magazine "Tiempo de Paz" commemorates the 40th anniversary of the publication, highlighting its importance in promoting peace and reflecting on conflicts and human values. The magazine addresses topics such as the pacifist movement, the culture of peace, current conflicts, and the need to revitalize the United Nations to promote peace. The collaboration of individuals such as Francisca Sauquillo and Teresa Rodríguez de Lecea in the direction of the magazine is highlighted. [Extracted from the article]

The article in the magazine "WeltTrends" is an obituary for Wilfried Schreiber, who passed away in November 2024 at the age of eighty-seven. Schreiber was a dedicated peace activist and author who advocated for a dialogue-oriented policy of détente. He was a significant participant in the peace movement and made extraordinary contributions to peace research. His commitment and ideas are preserved in honorable memory. [Extracted from the article]

How is peace research connected to practice? Observers have argued that peace research has gone from activist, political ideals about changing the world to being a methods-driven field of research that has lost all criticality. This article adds empirical substance to the debate by investigating the case of Nordic peace research and its relationship to practice. Through interview data with more than 60 individuals, including prominent peace and conflict scholars as well as practitioners working with peace and conflict resolution, we conceptualize the practice–research relationship through four 'travelers' connecting peace research and practice: 1) researchers, 2) students, 3) theories and concepts and 4) empirical findings. We describe distinct characteristics of the four travelers and discuss the changing impact of peace research over time; from researchers acting as mediators and peace activists to an increasing professionalization that has disentangled peace research and practice, shrinking the space for reflexivity in practice as well as the ability to integrate practical experience into research. We discuss the paths forward in terms of co-creation and suggest that peace research need not necessarily influence policy in terms of concrete policy advice but more so by asking big and difficult questions such as 'how peace?' and 'why war?' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Davies, of Llandinam (1880–1944) was undoubtedly the most influential person in the peace movement in Wales during the first half of the 20th century. The grandson of a prominent Welsh industrialist and businessman, also David Davies, he inherited great wealth, from a family of preeminent social standing in Montgomeryshire, his county of birth. This permitted Davies a philanthropy stimulated by idealist beliefs about how international relations should be conducted, given the terrible experience of the First World War. The article provides a profile of the man, his philanthropy, and his idealist philosophy of peace as expressed in his own words, with an assessment of Davies' influence on the peace movement in Wales, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacifist thinking has generally identified the concept of ahimsa (non-violence) as a sort of panacea. However, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi supported war on several occasions, although he morally condemned violence: indeed, in 1899 he took part in the Boer War alongside the English and in 1906 participated in an action aimed at quelling the Zulu revolt in Natal. Moreover, at two different times during the First World War when, in 1914 and in 1918, respectively, he was in England and in India, he urged his fellow countrymen to enlist in support of the King's Army. The article examines the grounds on which Gandhi rejected the use of violence a priori, comparing them with those used to justify support for war; just think about the difference, in his thinking, between 'non-violence as a creed' and 'non-violence as a policy'. Despite his extraordinary humanitarian inspiration, Gandhi was also a skilful politician capable of understanding, and taking advantage of, favourable opportunities for his people. From the 1960s, the theme of non-violence would be explored in depth by prestigious intellectuals such as Herbert Marcuse, Frantz Fanon, Keith Hancock and Malcolm X, who highlighted above all the weak points and, sometimes, the ineffectiveness of ahimsa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Law & International Relations / Relações Internacionais no Mundo is the property of Relacoes Internacionais no Mundo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article argues that W.E.B. Du Bois's struggle for a durable peace was inextricably linked to his rejection of the United States' racialized economic order that emplaced Blacks at the bottom of society within its borders and, given its imperial ambitions, threatened perpetual war abroad, with particularly dire consequences for colonized peoples. The first section re-interprets Du Bois's writings and speeches about "caste" as, more accurately, explicating a system of "U.S. capitalist racism" in the United States that was inexorably tied to imperialism and war. Such clarity opens up an understanding of Du Bois's conception of peace not as the absence of conflict, but rather as a necessary condition for the eradication of political, economic, and social inequality and injustice on a world scale. The next section argues that Du Bois's analysis and critique of U.S. capitalist racism undergirded his advocacy of "People(s)-Centered Human Rights" (PCHR). Coined by Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer Ajamu Baraka, PCHR emanate from and address the everyday realities, needs, and challenges of racialized and colonized people. For Du Bois, PCHR could only be achieved through a durable peace, and durable peace could only be maintained through the extension of PCHR to all persons irrespective of race, class, or nation. The final section explicates how this anticapitalist, antiracist, anti-imperial, and anticolonial conception of durable peace drew the ire of the U.S. government and made Du Bois, the Peace Information Center, and his fellow peace activists targets of Black Scare and Red Scare repression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Indonesia, the national motto of 'unity in diversity' is challenged, not least by a hardening of religious identities, coupled with rising levels of religious intolerance. In addition to established proponents of religious pluralism, groups of activists strive to sow the seeds of peace among the tech-savvy generation of young urbanites. By adopting the concept of 'technology of the community', I analyze the online and offline practices of peace activists in Bandung in 2018 to educate young #peacemakers and create spaces of empathy and solidarity. To address the emotional deprivation as well as aspirations of young people, peace groups rely on various offline and online technologies that straddle notions of comfort and discomfort, of tolerance and engagement. In creating and maintaining spaces of affective interpersonal exchange, these groups become exponents of local arrangements that are conducive to the cultivation of pluralist dispositions beyond national ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pedagogía Social is the property of Pedagogia Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aims to revitalize a discipline that has remained unexplored in recent years: polemology. This discipline, which emerged in the mid-twentieth century to understand the complexity of the phenomenon of war, its dissimilar causes, and consequences, has been isolated and labeled as warmongering. By reviewing its main postulates and their application to the theories of international cooperation, this article rescues its pacifist and positive influence. To this end, we studied the relations between Chile and Peru, demonstrating their ability to gradually overcome the historical burden of the War of the Pacific, adding elements for a new Latin American polemology and enhancing war studies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what conditions do religious groups engage in peace activism? Religious groups engage in peace activism if the associated costs are low and they compete with either conflict party over the interpretation of their religious content concerning war and peace. Peace activism is a promising action as peace activists maintain their positive self-evaluation. I introduce a novel dataset of peace activism for 511 religious groups in 128 countries from 1990 to 2008. Conditional fixed effects and logistic models support my hypotheses. The findings highlight the role of rational considerations in the decision to conduct peace activities by representatives of religious groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early twentieth century, peace activists looked for historic examples of successful conflict resolution to inspire their movement. The centennial of the Treaty of Ghent (1814) became a focal point in their efforts. The treaty ended the last war fought between the British Empire and the United States and, as the 1914 centennial approached, peace activists fashioned a celebration called "100 Years of Peace among English‐speaking Peoples." The Great War postponed their plans, but after the armistice, American, British, and Canadian activists worked to develop a scheme of commemoration that eventually culminated in the erection of statues, the foundation of education exchanges, and the inauguration of heritage centers. With the support of their governments, the campaign became an important cultural diplomacy program. This article examines that program and the intersection of private networks of activists with government officials. In doing so, it shows how early twentieth century statecraft utilized cultural assets. It also explores the legacy of cultural assets on international relations, how cultural diplomacy underwrites foreign policies, and how cultural programs can perpetuate feelings of goodwill over the course of generations. The program to celebrate 100 Years of Peace among English‐speaking Peoples obscured fissures in the Anglo‐American relationship at the end of the Great War, and the cultural diplomacy continues as a symbol of Anglo‐American rapprochement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of public opinion and foreign policy recognize that the general public is poorly informed about international affairs, but they disagree about whether and how this fact affects the policies that it will support. Some argue that the lack of information has little effect, at least in the aggregate, while others hold that political information mediates attention to elite cues. We investigate a third line of argument in which political information has a direct effect on the policy options individuals support. Low levels of political information give rise to a pattern of complacency toward likely international threats in times of relative peace and a contrasting tendency to support violent and aggressive policy options during war or acute crises. We test this argument using survey data from two relevant historical settings: the American entry into World War II and the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a left wing public intellectual, who was involved in societal issues, especially questions of peace and war. Adhering a pacifist view, he supported refusal of military service from the midst of the twentieth century. The pacifist peace movement welcomed the views of this famous scientist. This article describes and analyses the reception of Einstein within the Dutch Christian-pacifist organization Church and Peace (Kerk en Vrede). First, attention is given to Einstein’s views and actions regarding refusal of military service, as can be found in the periodical Kerk en Vrede. Secondly, the contacts will be described between the secretary of Church and Peace, Rev. J.B.Th. Hugenholtz, and Einstein. Hugenholtz wanted his support to realize a 'Peace House’ of pacifist organizations in The Hague. Einstein reacted positively on this request. However, after Hitler came to power in January 1933 Einstein changed his mind. He did not support refusal of military service any longer. This led to a rupture between Einstein and the pacifist peace organizations. Within Church and Peace especially chairman G.J. Heering criticized him sharply. Here the roads parted in a fundamental way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framing is vital to the capacity of social movements to enlist popular support and sustain contentious collective action. Using the case of a Peace March held in Moscow on 21 September 2014, the article examines how antiwar activists and their opponents framed a protest against Russia's intervention in Ukraine. The study argues that different interpretations of patriotism underpinned divergent evaluations of the conflict and the construction of opposing identities. An analysis of Twitter posts on the eve of the march shows that peace activists positioned themselves as citizens with high moral standards and a healthy dose of patriotism, criticized the Russian government for military intervention in Ukraine, and called for a peaceful conflict resolution. In turn, opponents of the march considered themselves as real patriots and their adversaries as national traitors, denied Russia's military presence in Ukraine, and fomented an attack on critics of Russian foreign policy. The study contributes to social movement literature by analyzing the framing of antiwar activism on a social media platform in the midst of a hybrid war, marked by a great deal of ambiguity and deception about causes, dynamics, and consequences of military operations by state and non-state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The famous nuclear physicist Bruno Pontecorvo, who defected to the USSR in 1950, was affiliated to the internationalist network called "Partisans of Peace," founded in 1949. Later renamed the World Peace Council, it was an organization of pacifist scientists, intellectuals, and artists like Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Pablo Picasso that was similar to the Pugwash movement, but part of the Comintern (later Cominform). As noted by Albert Einstein, the Partisans of Peace were "pacifist" in a very particular sense: they strongly criticized Western nuclear policies, but they justified the Soviet atomic programme as inevitable response to them. At the same time, physicists who joined the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto like Joseph Rotblat and Norbert Wiener, or the 1957 Göttingen Declaration like Otto Hahn and Max Born, were suspicious about the 1955 "Atoms for Peace" program, sponsored by the United States to balance the Soviet influence in Europe as well as in non-aligned countries. I will discuss these different—and partially overlapping—scientific-cooperation networks built in the name of "peace" during the hottest years of the Cold War, when peace itself had become an ideological weapon in the hands of a militarized science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into Randolph Bourne's cultural critique at the time of the United States entry into World War I. As one of the few intellectuals who opposed the war, Bourne brought into light the interdependence between war and the State: "War is the health of the State" is his phrase and has resonated ever since. He looked well beyond nationalist hysteria and economic imperialism to examine the reasons for the State to support militarism, but he also sought concrete pacifist alternatives to the U.S. intervention in the war that involved the intellectuals in particular. This paper sheds light on these alternatives based on Bourne's anti-war writings, namely his proposals for an educational service to prepare the nation for creative rather than destructive action, and the intellectuals' renewal of the dialogue between democracy and pacifism en route to a transnational understanding of community and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dramatic model adopted by Aristophanes in his 'pacifist' comedies (Acharnians, Peace and Lysistrata). In spite of the ambiguity of the term 'pacifist,', since the ideology of non-violence is a completely foreign concept to the thought of ancient Greece, the definition may be justified by the need to define the coherent commitment of Aristophanes against the war, that polarizes the maximum social anomaly, able to disrupt the organization of human activities. This subversion, which involves not only the breaking of the natural order on earth, but also a decay of relations among the Olympian gods, cannot be fought or eradicated without breaking other rules that also have core value for the society as a whole: just thanks to the transgression, the supreme rule is reborn, with an unprecedented tour de force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The group 'Peacing Together' formed in 2015 to encourage and promote the values and actions of peaceful community, through a series of events culminating in a festival celebration, held on World Peace day, in Otepoti/Dunedin, Aotearoa/New Zealand. 'Peacing Together" had a diverse conception of peace rooted in locally interpreted cultural concepts of kotahitanga/unity, manaakitanga/hospitality, alongside spiritual values (Buddhist, Yogic, Indigenous, Muslim) and a commitment to honouring the 'unity within our diversity'. This led us to use bicultural and anarchistic methods of organization to create the event called Kotahitanga Manaaki te kawa and in turn directed us to focus on community building as our key method of peace-building within this project. This paper is a case study of the event we created and facilitated. First, we will explain the theoretical base for our activism based in the concepts of kotahitanga, manaakitanga and 'unity in diversity' and the kaupapa (agreed principles) we stood by in our organising to ensure that we stayed close to our theoretical and values base. Second, we discuss what was achieved in the actual event. Third, we discuss successes and failures of our organising process, which was based on an organically formed decision making process that honoured a peaceful kaupapa. Finally, we summarise our learning and discuss areas for continued reflection, as well as the future of 'Peacing Together'. This case study highlights the importance of agreeing core values as a practical base for peace activism through community building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 1961 a peace march coordinated by an American non-violent protest organisation arrived in Western Europe on its way to Moscow. This paper tells the story of how West German peace activists helped this transnational peace walk pass through the Iron Curtain. Using archival sources and oral history interviews this paper examines the logistical, organisational, and transnational efforts required for this international peace walk to succeed. Importantly, this paper studies the creation of the transnational social space that allowed this international cooperation to take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis provides a re-appraisal of the 1899 Hague Conference by looking more closely at how citizen activists—notably in Britain but also transnationally—used it as a forum through which to press their agenda onto politicians and diplomatists. In so doing, this assembly existed as a stepping-stone between the ‘old’ diplomacy of the nineteenth century and the ‘new’ diplomacy of the twentieth. Peace activists identified and harnessed a growing body of progressive public opinion—on both a domestic and international scale—in the hope of compelling governments to take the necessary steps towards realising their ambitions of peace, disarmament, and international arbitration. Although the tangible outcomes of the 1899 Conference were limited, the precedents it established not only paved the way for further advances in international law, but also facilitated ever closer public and press scrutiny of international affairs into the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

W. T. Stead's 1899–1900 weekly newspaper,War against War in South Africa, sets out to persuade its readers of the financial, spiritual, and moral costs of war and in doing so urges them to participate in an oppositional ‘peace war’. It conflates the economic and the spiritual in presenting to its readers accounts of the South African war that emphasize the price to be paid for unjust bloodshed. This article examines the ways in which Stead uses the idea of counting in both its senses – of mattering and enumerating – alongside the idea of moral accountability, to make his case against war and for peace as part of a larger narrative of brotherhood and bloodguilt. I argue that his campaign failed to achieve its ends at least in part because, despite the sensationalist power of each item in his account, the final bill, addressed ambiguously to the individual, the government, and the nation, is unimaginably vast and morally unpayable. His newspaper and other anti-war publications offer a graphic account of the wrongs of war, yet their gothically inflected religious imagery of judgement and guilt work in unresolvable tension with their message of rational individual action against the national project of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How is one to distinguish a true lover of peace from a mere appeaser, a pacifist, and a warmonger? Distinguishing them can be sometimes confusing, as they will often appropriate each other's language. The criterion for the above distinction does not only lie in outward behavior, as knowledge of inward attitudes is also required. A right understanding of these attitudes and motivations involve at least an implicit grasp of the true nature of peace, which is investigated as something more than the mere absence of war, insofar as peace is primarily a work of two moral virtues: justice and charity. It is in the spirit of justice and charity that the true lover of peace must then distinguish--both in one's own life and with nations--between what can be ignored and / or forgiven, and what must be redressed. Furthermore, the distinction between the lover of peace and the pacifist, with the possibility of pacifism being a distinct tradition from just war philosophy, is investigated. The argument is made that pacifism should not be considered outside the context of just war because one needs that context to address if and who demands restitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing a pacifist feminist position, this paper looks at the relationship between ideas of masculinity and war, militarism and peacekeeping intervention. I argue that it is necessary to revise and redefine a pacifist feminist position, especially because, from this viewpoint, the current masculinist war-prone world order may best be combated by attacking its gender biases. In this context, pacifist feminists have often been challenged by non-feminists, but also by non-pacifist feminists who accuse them of drawing on essentialist notions of women as peace -makers. A non-violent attack on oppressive masculinity would need to be successful in disseminating a counter-hegemonic and non-essentialist, non-violent feminist education not just in academia, but also through increased access of pacifist feminist perspectives in the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Luna Azul is the property of Universidad de Caldas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper traces how Los Angeles peace activists tried to make visible the grave domestic effects of Cold War militarization. Women Strike for Peace went beyond a focus on the productive relations between the state, military and industry captured by the term 'military-industrial complex' to analyze how reproductive spaces were part of this complex. In opposing war, they challenged what I am calling militarized domesticities: how war-making shapes the 'home front' and home as the spaces national security states claim to protect. I build on feminist antiracist intersectionality theories to situate the military-industrial complex per se within broader processes of the militarization of society and daily life. The questions become how do gendered processes of militarization-that work in conjunction with relations of white privilege-produce and connect differently situated 'private' spaces or home places? How might strategies for dismantling the military-industrial complex emerge from the contradictions of these processes? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lorraine Hansberry's concerns about peace issues have been largely neglected in previous scholarship. Absorbing the views of the Communist left of the post-World War II era, particularly those of Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois, and coupling these with her personal abhorrence of war and violence, she expressed a commitment to peace that was evident from the Progressive Party campaign of 1948 until her untimely death in 1965. Her focus on opposing U. S. Cold War policies - including support for European colonialism, the war in Korea, and the buildup of nuclear weapons - was of necessity combined with opposition to McCarthyist measures intended to silence such opposition. Hansberry was not alone in making a long-term commitment to the 'fight for peace' (as it was called during the 1948 presidential campaign), and recognizing the way in which she and her contemporaries linked peace and freedom enriches their legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ronald Reagan faced the most volatile domestic challenge to his foreign policy in the grassroots Nuclear Freeze movement. This international peace group came to prominence virtually overnight in early 1982. The President sympathized with their eventual goal of a nuclear free world, but not their immediate goal that both sides in the arms race freeze further nuclear weapons production. The White House, however, was preoccupied with the politics of the Nuclear Freeze rather than debating a potential freeze policy. Reagan's anti-communist ideology informed his administration's pragmatic conservative action to politically cripple the Nuclear Freeze movement. The administration turned to 'wedge issues' such as abortion in an attempt to fracture the broad anti-nuclear coalition supporting the Freeze. The peace activists held sway with many religious groups. The faithful tended to favor the notion of freezing the production of nuclear weapons rather than dramatic defense spending increases. The White House found its ever-increasing defense budget in political peril. Reagan muddled through his defense of administration policy. Only after losses in the 1982 midterm elections did the White House decide upon a frontal assault on the Freeze, which culminated in March 1983 with the Evil Empire speech and the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent attention of peace studies scholars to the role of the "public" parallels an increased interest of democratic theorists in the legitimacy of "mini-publics:" initiatives that bring small groups of citizens together to discuss policy issues. In fact, democratic activists and peace activists who seek to engage the public face similar theoretical and practical challenges. The purpose of this article is to contribute to an emerging dialogue between the disciplines of democratic theory and peace studies. Such a dialogue can be beneficial in at least two ways: it allows an exploration of the role of legitimacy in public peace processes and the burdens that legitimacy put on the institutional design of such processes, and it allows an exploration of more ambitious models of public participation in the peace process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Reflexión Politica is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga, UNAB and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The contribution of E.W. Barnes, bishop of Birmingham 1924–1953, is dealt with only in passing in the historiography of both pacifism and the Church of England, and then somewhat scathingly. This is somewhat surprising given the durability of his personal absolute pacifist conviction and his clear pastoral role to many leading Christian pacifists of the time. Seeking to remedy this historiographical oversight, this paper traces the origin of Barnes's moral conviction and the measure of his contribution in terms of his interaction with many Christian and non-Christian pacifist individuals and groups in Birmingham and elsewhere against the backdrop of world events. Barnes's contribution requires such reassessment, for though he lacked the common touch and charisma to make a popular leader, his influence upon the movement was manifest. Of particular note is the clear influence of Barnes's eugenics upon his conceptualisation of pacifism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how female peace activist's experiences of armed conflict drive their activism. By analyzing women's peace activism as a manifestation of transversal politics, I capture how women's experiences and social positioning in relation to the armed conflict influence how they shape their identities and create alliances across conflict divides. Building on the narratives of activists and members of women's organizations in Georgia and Myanmar, I argue that when experiences such as displacement and loss are articulated with the awareness of the gendered dynamics of the conflict, women expand the categories in which their identities are defined, and challenge political stances which were hitherto only guided by the ethno-political context. This process allows women to approach other parties (which were previously either neglected or considered as opponents) and to build common ground for peace activism despite the existence of multiple differences within and across groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the practice of suitable pacifism, pacifism in all nations that are all having a terrible love of hope. Accordingly, several people and most nations are not pacifists and simply fail in the practice their commitments. The author stresses that the suitable pacifists may not find that their basic values are best advanced at all through war engagement.

In the first half of the twentieth century, papal social teaching focused primarily on the economic challenges of the modern industrial state. Since World War II, the social thought of the modern popes has expanded dramatically to address problems of military conflict, terrorism, and global peace. A major dimension of papal social teaching, especially from John XXIII to Benedict XVI, has been mounting discontent with classic just war theory and unprecedented openness toward pacifism. This essay critically investigates the modern papacy's turn toward the pacifist option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]