Category Archives: Introductions

Religion, Consciousness, and Peace Research

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Introduction to IJWP, December 2018 Social science research methods are able to produce verifiable knowledge about society that is more reliable than the seemingly arbitrary suppositions of religious traditions based on prophetic revelation or sacred texts, or on ideological belief systems based on other suppositions. Auguste Comte, “father of sociology,” proposed a threefold view of the evolution of social consciousness: (1) the theological stage, in which gods and spirits control our fate, (2) a metaphysical … Continue reading →

Nuclear NonProliferation, a NonKilling Index, and Nobel Prize Demographics

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Introduction to IJWP, September, 2018 Only people over 75 years of age can remember a world without nuclear weapons—a world before humans could end life on earth as we know it in a few hours. The possession of nuclear weapons by a few poses a threat to all. During the Cold War, the nuclear weapons race between the United States and the Soviet Union was rooted in a doctrine appropriately called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). … Continue reading →

Positive Peace and Transcendent Values

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2018 Positive peace is more than the absence of war and more than the absence of structural violence and oppression. Positive peace alludes to a world in which everyone has more than their basic needs met and has an opportunity to be healthy, pursue their dreams, and enjoy their relationships. Positive peace can be guided by science, but it is motivated by ideals and values. Since the rise of science and … Continue reading →

The Evolution of State and Global Social Consciousness

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Introduction to IJWP, March 2018 Grow…  seeds of evolution Revolution never won It’s just another form of gun To do again what they have done With all our brothers’ youngest sons —Mike Pinder, “Lost in a Lost World” in The Seventh Sojourn, by the Moody Blues The desire for social change has many times led to revolutionary fervor and the excitement for quick destruction of the old order, with the belief that society will magically … Continue reading →

Functional or Social Integration? The European Union at 60

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Table of Contents Purchase Online Introduction to IJWP, December 2017 This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Rome Treaties that created the European Economic Community (EEC). Since the origins of the nation-state system with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, it has been a long arduous path towards a stable and peaceful international system. The process, which began in Europe as a treaty among warring kingdoms, led to an international state system represented by … Continue reading →

Conflict Transformation: Thoughts on the 100th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and Recent Peace Agreements

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Introduction to IJWP, September 2017 This issue of IJWP coincides with the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917. In 19th century Europe, there had been a large-scale industrial revolution created with capital investment that produced massive amounts of goods. Heavy industry produced steel for railroads, ships, and other products that dramatically transformed traditional societies rooted in agriculture, family, and local communities. This social transformation affected businesses, jobs, and lifestyles as much … Continue reading →

Prospects for Democracy in the Middle East

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2017 This issue of IJWP focuses on the prospects for democracy in the Middle East. The larger question behind this is whether democracy is the most desirable form of government for the Middle East, or for anywhere else in the world. In the March 2017 issue, Professor Gafurov argued that democracy is a stage in social development that is higher than rule by dictatorship, the most common form of government in … Continue reading →

Social Development and the Evolution of Civil Society

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Contents Introduction to IJWP March 2017 The application of systems theory to social development has not been popular in political science for decades. Strategic thinking and conflict resolution have dominated, perhaps because they are employed to achieve immediate goals. But the refugee crisis created by the “Arab Spring” has forced some to conclude that a benevolent dictatorship is a precondition for democracy, and that toppling dictators and holding elections only brings anarchy and terror. This … Continue reading →

Creating Legitimate and Inclusive States

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Introduction to IJWP, December 2016 Table of Contents In this issue of International Journal on World Peace, three articles probe the creation of peaceful and legitimate states. Since the rise of modern democracies, people have believed that having elections would make states legitimate because every citizen would have a right to participate in governance. Such simple views fail to ask whether (1) the governance system gives all groups access to power, or (2) whether people … Continue reading →

Democratic Peace, IGOs, and Korean Unification

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Introduction to IJWP September 2016 Table of Contents This issue of IJWP has articles that discuss three topics: peace within democracies, the relationship between participation in IGOs and state military spending, and Korean unification. All of these articles relate to the issue of justice and security of groups, whether politically or culturally united. No state wants to lose its power and no cultural group wants to lose its identity or be treated as inferior. Violence … Continue reading →