From ‘Just War’ to ‘Just Peace’
Just peace: just peace should be defined as a process whereby peace and justice are reached together
by two or more parties resting on 4 necessary and sufficient conditions…
1. Thin recognition: the other is accepted as autonomous
2. Thick recognition: identities need to be accounted for
3. Renouncement: significant sacrifices from all parties
4. Rule: objectification by a ‘text’, requiring a common language, defining rights and duties
(Pierre Allan & Alexis Keller)
1.1 World Council of Churches
Largest economical body of Christian faith in the world
Today,
● Ca. 350 Member Churches
● From 110 countries
● Ca. 560 Million Christians of different denominations/streams
○ Orthodox
○ Angelicans
○ Protestants
○ (Historic) Peace-Churches
○ Independent Churches
○ Pentecostals
In 2011, the World Council of Churches decided to embark itself in discerning the meaning of ‘Just
Peace’ → wrote a text titled ‘Just Peace Companion’
● Interest: how is justice framed in the perspective of the council?
1.1.1 An Ecumenical Call to Just Peace
Goal: building an ecumenical consensus on Just Peace
An Ecumenical Call to Just Peace
‘Too often, we pursue justice at the expense of peace, and peace at the expense of justice. To conceive
peace apart from justice is to compromise the hope that ‘justice and peace shall embrace’ (Psalm
85:10). When justice and peace are lacking, or set in opposition, we need to reform our ways. Let us
rise, therefore, and work together for peace and justice.’
→ redefining what we understand about justice and peace: eg seeing justice as ‘punishment’, or peace
as ‘the end of warfare’
,Defining just peace (11): just peace is a collective and dynamic yet grounded process of freeing
human beings from fear and want, of overcoming enmity, discrimination and oppression, and of
establishing conditions for just relationships that privilege the experience of the most vulnerable and
respect the integrity of creation
● Political framework of human rights; understanding that the series of rights are
fundamental/foundational
● Just peace is not an end point, but a process/way of life
● ‘Fear and want’: consider how politicians frame their political agenda
Defining just peace (10): the way of Just Peace is fundamentally different from the concept of ‘Just
War’; and much more than criteria for protecting people from the unjust use of force; in addition to
silencing weapons it embraces…
● Social justice,
● The rule of law,
● Respect for human rights, and
● Shared human security (eg being able to trust the government for the security of the civilians)
Dimensions of Just Peace
a. Peace in the Community → Justice within Societies
b. Peace among Peoples → War and Peace, International Law
c. Peace in the Marketplace → Economic Justice
d. Peace with the Earth → Ecological Justice, Climate Justice
, Just Peace
From ‘Just War’ to ‘Just Peace’
‘Si vis pacem para bellum’ → ‘if we want peace, prepare for war’
‘In most cases it is a cultural predisposition or presumption to take war for granted as a normal,
natural and justifiable feature of national activity. War is simply what nations do, and powerful nations
pride themselves on doing war well. It rarely occurs to most people to wonder whether war itself may
be morally problematic. When presumed uncritically, warism is like racism and sexism, a prejudicial
bias that war is morally justifiable – even morally required – which guides attitudes and institutions
amiss’ (Duane Cady, Ashgate, p194)
→ there is no question - at any point - why we do war; lacking critical reflection
‘War may inevitably follow from particular conditions of injustice, but such conditions are contingent,
not necessary. Personal, social, and international relationships can be arranged to avoid persistent
injustices. This is why pacifism goes beyond a spectrum of anti-war forms to embrace positive
conception of peace” (Duane Cady, Ashgate 197)
→ even if a system is constructed in a certain way, they do not belong to what we are as human beings
(avoidable)
Note: pacifism and militarism is not binary but exist on a spectrum with many positions
‘Si vis pacem para pacem’ → ‘if we want to make peace, we have to prepare for peace’
→ means should be consistent with your goals
Peace is more than the absence of war (Duane Cady, Ashgate 197)
● Viewed positively, peaced is a social order based on agreement arising from within groups
through the cooperative participation of members
● This stands in contrast to social order imposed from the outside, by force
● Making positive peace involves identifying and building conditions that create and sustain
cooperative internal order
, ● Much of this work goes on within a conceptual framework that takes war for granted and thus
distorts the concept of peace, narrowing it to concern for one’s own immediate nation,
religion, culture and so on, often denying such peaceful concern to distant, different and
‘foreign’ others
● But when positive peace is built… the circle of concern is widened by opposition to war and
universal recognition to human rights
‘Si vis pacem cole iustitiam’ → ‘if we want peace, foster justice’
→ consider the conditions of a good society/institution
● Just not in the sense of justice tribunal but fairness in the way people live (not the institution
of the law but the conditions that allow for various different people to exist and express
themselves)
Eg Rwanda’s reconciliation process → society plays an important function for justice to be
achieved
Just peace: just peace should be defined as a process whereby peace and justice are reached together
by two or more parties resting on 4 necessary and sufficient conditions…
1. Thin recognition: the other is accepted as autonomous
2. Thick recognition: identities need to be accounted for
3. Renouncement: significant sacrifices from all parties
4. Rule: objectification by a ‘text’, requiring a common language, defining rights and duties
(Pierre Allan & Alexis Keller)
1.1 World Council of Churches
Largest economical body of Christian faith in the world
Today,
● Ca. 350 Member Churches
● From 110 countries
● Ca. 560 Million Christians of different denominations/streams
○ Orthodox
○ Angelicans
○ Protestants
○ (Historic) Peace-Churches
○ Independent Churches
○ Pentecostals
In 2011, the World Council of Churches decided to embark itself in discerning the meaning of ‘Just
Peace’ → wrote a text titled ‘Just Peace Companion’
● Interest: how is justice framed in the perspective of the council?
1.1.1 An Ecumenical Call to Just Peace
Goal: building an ecumenical consensus on Just Peace
An Ecumenical Call to Just Peace
‘Too often, we pursue justice at the expense of peace, and peace at the expense of justice. To conceive
peace apart from justice is to compromise the hope that ‘justice and peace shall embrace’ (Psalm
85:10). When justice and peace are lacking, or set in opposition, we need to reform our ways. Let us
rise, therefore, and work together for peace and justice.’
→ redefining what we understand about justice and peace: eg seeing justice as ‘punishment’, or peace
as ‘the end of warfare’
,Defining just peace (11): just peace is a collective and dynamic yet grounded process of freeing
human beings from fear and want, of overcoming enmity, discrimination and oppression, and of
establishing conditions for just relationships that privilege the experience of the most vulnerable and
respect the integrity of creation
● Political framework of human rights; understanding that the series of rights are
fundamental/foundational
● Just peace is not an end point, but a process/way of life
● ‘Fear and want’: consider how politicians frame their political agenda
Defining just peace (10): the way of Just Peace is fundamentally different from the concept of ‘Just
War’; and much more than criteria for protecting people from the unjust use of force; in addition to
silencing weapons it embraces…
● Social justice,
● The rule of law,
● Respect for human rights, and
● Shared human security (eg being able to trust the government for the security of the civilians)
Dimensions of Just Peace
a. Peace in the Community → Justice within Societies
b. Peace among Peoples → War and Peace, International Law
c. Peace in the Marketplace → Economic Justice
d. Peace with the Earth → Ecological Justice, Climate Justice
, Just Peace
From ‘Just War’ to ‘Just Peace’
‘Si vis pacem para bellum’ → ‘if we want peace, prepare for war’
‘In most cases it is a cultural predisposition or presumption to take war for granted as a normal,
natural and justifiable feature of national activity. War is simply what nations do, and powerful nations
pride themselves on doing war well. It rarely occurs to most people to wonder whether war itself may
be morally problematic. When presumed uncritically, warism is like racism and sexism, a prejudicial
bias that war is morally justifiable – even morally required – which guides attitudes and institutions
amiss’ (Duane Cady, Ashgate, p194)
→ there is no question - at any point - why we do war; lacking critical reflection
‘War may inevitably follow from particular conditions of injustice, but such conditions are contingent,
not necessary. Personal, social, and international relationships can be arranged to avoid persistent
injustices. This is why pacifism goes beyond a spectrum of anti-war forms to embrace positive
conception of peace” (Duane Cady, Ashgate 197)
→ even if a system is constructed in a certain way, they do not belong to what we are as human beings
(avoidable)
Note: pacifism and militarism is not binary but exist on a spectrum with many positions
‘Si vis pacem para pacem’ → ‘if we want to make peace, we have to prepare for peace’
→ means should be consistent with your goals
Peace is more than the absence of war (Duane Cady, Ashgate 197)
● Viewed positively, peaced is a social order based on agreement arising from within groups
through the cooperative participation of members
● This stands in contrast to social order imposed from the outside, by force
● Making positive peace involves identifying and building conditions that create and sustain
cooperative internal order
, ● Much of this work goes on within a conceptual framework that takes war for granted and thus
distorts the concept of peace, narrowing it to concern for one’s own immediate nation,
religion, culture and so on, often denying such peaceful concern to distant, different and
‘foreign’ others
● But when positive peace is built… the circle of concern is widened by opposition to war and
universal recognition to human rights
‘Si vis pacem cole iustitiam’ → ‘if we want peace, foster justice’
→ consider the conditions of a good society/institution
● Just not in the sense of justice tribunal but fairness in the way people live (not the institution
of the law but the conditions that allow for various different people to exist and express
themselves)
Eg Rwanda’s reconciliation process → society plays an important function for justice to be
achieved
