Category Archives: Introductions

Democratic Peace, IGOs, and Korean Unification

International Journal on World Peace Posted on by

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 →

“Good” and “Bad” Traditionalists and Modernists

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2016 Table of Contents One of the fundamental tensions in the contemporary world has been between traditional societies and modernity. “Traditional societies” refers to those who are connected to traditional communities or cultures. This includes accepting received religious beliefs and/or scriptures, loyalty to community leaders, and shaping one’s life based on how things were done in the past. “Modernist societies,” on the other hand, refers to those societies who have faith … Continue reading →

Pluralism and the Modern State

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Table of Contents Introduction to IJWP, March 2016 The modern world is still coming to grips with the concept of a nation-state and the degree to which states can be at peace when laws promote the cultural values of one group over another. For example, is it possible to have a religious state (e.g., a Jewish, Christian, Islamic, or a Buddhist state) that does not inhibit freedom and development by imposing a past worldview and … Continue reading →

The Influence of the Media and Globalization on Cultural Consciousness and Violence

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Introduction to IJWP, December 2015 The articles in this issue of IJWP are related to the cultural consciousness that influences group-on-group violence. The pursuit of group interest with disregard to the interests of other groups can either be the willful result of selfishness or actions based on ignorance of the situation of other groups. The photos of the body of the three-year-old son of Syrian Abdullah Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach helped fuel … Continue reading →

Conquest or Coexistence? The Future of a post-Colonial World

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Introduction to IJWP, September 2015 This issue of IJWP looks at contemporary centers of conflict where the goal of protagonists appears to be conquest rather than coexistence. Conquerors insist on imposing their will on others by force and want to control as much of the world as possible. They often justify the conquest by arguing that they are carrying out the will of God, or that they have a superior plan for the world and … Continue reading →

Violence, Truth, and Culture

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2015 This issue of IJWP looks at the relationship of violence to what might be called “maturity of truth,” or personal and cultural wisdom. “Truth” is both individual and social. It is individual when it refers to a person’s attainment of an awareness of others as equally valuable and worthy of life in a shared world, and the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve a happy and fulfilling life through productive … Continue reading →

Politics or Principles of Good Governance?

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Introduction to IJWP, March 2015 All three articles in this issue of IJWP are concerned with interest group influence on state policy and the negative effects it creates. In On War, Carl von Clausewitz described war as “politics by other means.” In this assertion, he recognized that “politics” is a contest of power over control of governance and resources and not necessarily “governance” itself. Politics tends to be about who controls power and not about … Continue reading →

One Hundred Years of Global War

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Introduction to IJWP, December 2014 The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I (WWI), the beginning of modern mechanized war at the global level. WWI represented a watershed in which war fought between traditional kings and their armies was transformed into wars among states whose policies are determined by political parties and bureaucrats. It also represented a huge technological shift, beginning with rifles, bayonets, pistols and calvaries, and ending … Continue reading →

Raising Political Consciousness: From Violence to Responsible Actions in a Complex World

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Introduction to IJWP, September 2014 This issue of IJWP begins with an article by Norman K. Swazo on the biography of the jihadist Abu Zubaydah, who has spent many years in Guantanamo Bay detention. It is the story of a young man struggling with a conflicted identity rooted in his own upbringing in a rigid Islamic family in Saudi Arabia and his experiences related to more complex and secular Western societies. The meaning this young … Continue reading →

Beyond Realism: Values, Interests, Levels, and Spheres in International Relations Theory

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2014 From Kant’s influential Perpetual Peace to the social scientific studies of society in the twentieth century many writers argued that cultural values and economic interests needed to be satisfied to achieve a lasting peace. However, Hans Morgenthau, a highly influential professor of international politics disagreed. He wrote in 1948: The main signpost that helps political realism to find its way through the landscape of international politics is the concept of … Continue reading →