Category Archives: Introductions

Peace in an Imbalanced World

International Journal on World Peace Posted on by

Introduction to IJWP, December 2011 This issue of IJWP contains three articles that reveal some of the toughest challenges to peace that relate to imbalances in power, imbalances in wealth, and imbalances in the treatment of individuals and groups. Our first article, by Nasreen Akhtar, is an analysis of Pakistan-US relations that, in many respects, complements the article on “The Obama Administration’s Strategy in Afghanistan” in the September 2011 issue of IJWP. It presents a … Continue reading →

Balancing Rule of Law and Self-determination

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Introduction to IJWP, September 2011 Rule of law is necessary for the order, stability, and peace of any nation.Without rule of law there is anarchy in which gangs, warlords, and conquerors compete for control to establish their own rule of law. As Augustine of Hippo said, Even while waging a war, every man wants peace; whereas no one wants war while he is making peace. And even when men are plotting to disturb the peace, … Continue reading →

Nation-States, CSOs, and Second-Track Diplomacy

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Introduction to IJWP, June 2011 As the Soviet empire collapsed around 1990, there was great hope that the many peoples whose national identities had been suppressed would get their own nation-states. The ideal of a nation-state as the normal form of society has been emblazoned on Western consciousness since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. However, a “nation-state” implies a “culture on a territory” and in Europe today there are few, if any, territories with … Continue reading →

The Chinese Miracle, Turkey, and Zionism

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Download .pdf from Paragon House, $5.95 Introduction to IJWP, March 2011 This issue of IJWP contains articles on three different topics, Chinese economic growth, politics in Turkey, and Zionism. The first article, “Re-Interpreting the ‘Chinese Miracle’” by Xingyuan Feng, Christer Ljungwall, and Sujian Guo seeks to explain the phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy over the last thirty years. Naturally, other societies will want to learn how the Chinese have accomplished this growth. They argue … Continue reading →

Research on Democracy

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Download .pdf from Paragon House, $5.95 Introduction to IJWP, December 2010 This issue of IJWP focuses on democracy: how to establish it and its relation to violence. We continue from the September issue’s last article “Internal vs. External Requisites of Democracy” by Kunihiko Imai with two additional research articles related to democracy. The first article, by Gary A. Stradiotto and Sujian Guo, is on “Transitional Modes of Democratization and Democratic Outcomes.” This is particularly significant … Continue reading →

The Importance of Systems Theory in Politics

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Download .pdf from Paragon House, $5.95 Introduction to IJWP, September 2010 Twenty-five years ago, from August 16-20, 1985, the Professors World Peace Academy sponsored a conference on “The Fall of the Soviet Empire: Prospects for Transition to a Post-Soviet World,” organized by Professor Morton A. Kaplan of the University of Chicago and Lithuanian-born Soviet scholar Alexander Shtromas, who was teaching at the University of Salford in the UK. As an insider, Shtromas was one of … Continue reading →

Resolving Ethnic Conflicts in Nation States

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Download .pdf from Paragon House, $5.95 Introduction to IJWP, June 2010 With the rise of the sovereign nation-state, after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, came a period of great scientific and technical advancement as well as the rise of national and international wars in which millions of people have perished. The modern state, which has the capacity for efficiently providing rule of law in which large populations can live peacefully, is more often than … Continue reading →

Power Politics in Southwest Asia

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[singlepic id=104 w=125 h=187 float=right]Intro­duc­tion to March 2010 IJWP We can better understand the War on Terror and the role of Western military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan by learning the history of the politics in the region. Southwest Asia is marked by many weak state governments and competition for control of them by more powerful neighbors, international superpowers, and non-state actors that include religious jihadists and independence movements. In the September 2009 issue … Continue reading →

Realpolitik and World Peace

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Introduction to December 2009 IJWP Realpolitik is a term derived from German. It refers to a politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives (Merriam-Webster dictionary). Historically, many political platforms have been based on theoretical, religious, ideological, or moral arguments. Most visions of ideal societies, as disparate as Plato, Confucius, Jesus, and Marx, all rely on changing basic human behavior. If we can only learn to love one another, … Continue reading →

Anarchy in Unsecured Territories

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Introduction to September 2009 IJWP The modern desire for democracy and self-rule is largely a reaction against a history of oppression and exploitation following military conquest and imposed rule. World history is predominantly shaped by conquerors, yet most people desire to live their own lives and not serve as a means to someone else’s ends. While self-rule requires the overthrow of imposed rule, it is more difficult than the mere overthrow of a regime and … Continue reading →