INTERNATIONAL HISTORY ELI ANIBRA

DR. JULIA TIMPE

BREMEN AND JACOB’S UNIVERSITY

MAIR: GLOBAL GOVERNANCE & SOCIAL THEORY

SEMINAR TITLE: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

INSTRUCTOR: DR. JULIA TIMPE

BOOK REVIEW ON PEACE: A HISTORY OF MOVEMENT AND IDEAS

BY
ELI KOJO ANIBRA
anibreli@uni-bremen.de
Matriculation Number: 3210921
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY ELI ANIBRA
DR. JULIA TIMPE

PEACE: A HISTORY OF MOVEMENTS AND IDEAS is a book written by David Cortright in

2008. The book has 16 chapters and is structured, into an introduction, part I: Movements, and
part II: Themes. The book's stated purpose is to provide an overview of the central issues
surrounding the development, operation, and effectiveness of peace operations'. 'David
Cortright's Peace shows that it is possible to prevent the scourge of war and create a more just
and peaceful future if we are prepared to learn the lessons of history and apply proven
peacemaking knowledge. The book concludes by suggesting and discussing ten challenges for
future peace keeping operations.

The main argument of the book is that there has been a great deal of misconception as to what the
real meaning of peace is, if any, and what is the right way to execute it?. Peace has not be taken
very well in international history. The idea of peae has been seen by some as lacking patriotism
and even denouncing pacifism. The author aims to defend these allegations and to put up a strong
argument in favor of the ideology and notion of peace. He tried to do so by exploring the
different ideas, movements and developments. He does this by assessing and evaluating the
strengths and weaknesses of different theories and movements.

In 'Movements', the author begins by laying out the nature of defining peace-related concepts. He
chronicles the first peace societies and the European rationalism and American religious
inspiration that undergirded many of them. Part One introduces the reader to the major peace
movements of modern history: the first “peace societies”, international approaches, the
movement against fascism, issues of disarmament, the period of the Cold War, nuclear weapons
and “Refusing war” (Iraqi war).

In ‘Themes’ the author provides a historical typology of the themes present in modern
peacemaking and pacifism. The second part showcases the contributions of the world's major
religious traditions to peacemaking are documented here. Gandhian influences on the
nonviolence movement, the relationship between democracy and peace, evolutionary interactions
between pacifism and socialism to inform social justice, and the fermenting support from the
'responsibility to protect' movement are present in the second part of the book.

On the positive side, the book is very comprehensive whiles devoting little time to a particular
era. For example it spoke about the creation of the United Nations in just 4 pages. The book
provides a coherent framework through which to read the history of peace advocacy. By focusing
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY ELI ANIBRA
DR. JULIA TIMPE

on the history of pacifism as it has formed and been informed by internationalism, Cortright has
given us a new angle from which to view the history of peace.

Again, the book also made mention of the forces that undermine the work of peace when it really
mattered. One of the key themes that consistently shows up is nationalism functioning as a
barrier to peace efforts.

Furthermore, the book is easy to read and aims for scope rather than detail in its effort to
highlight the main issues for, in particular, UN-led operations.

In addition, the book covers a lot of ground without appearing rushed and covers some interesting
detail along the way on the origins of key concepts, the roles of religion and international law,
and the continuing struggle against charges of cowardice and a lack of patriotism.

On the downside, the time period he chose in this book is not an adequate choice as it does not
allow his audience, to get an understanding of how peace has evolved in the past.

Again, In emphasizing the political actions of pacifism as opposed to its internal logic, much of
the richness of the internal vision of pacifism is muted. While doing much to shed light on the
peacemaking backbone of political internationalism, the distinctiveness of the pacifist outlook,
from this angle, ultimately resembles political pragmatism rather than idealism.

Thirdly, the nature of Cortright’s analysis tends toward simplification of the various rationales for
pacifism. The first fifteen hundred years of Christian history of peace prior to the Anabaptists, for
example, is summed up in one and a half pages, creating a smooth picture of war and peace in the
Christian tradition.

Additionally, Cortright fails to provide a clear definition of “peace”. Therefore, giving rise to
confusion. It would have been better to give a defintion of peace to support his arguments.

Furthermore, when linking religion to peace, he focused mainly on the theories proposed by
Reinhold Nieburh and did not really talk about the actual religious teachings from Islam or
Christianity.

Lastly, Cortright claims that it was a result of internationalism that the ideas of peace gained the
attention of policymakers. This is also not entirely correct and clear because what does he mean
by “internationalism”.
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY ELI ANIBRA
DR. JULIA TIMPE

In conclusion, the book provides an important reinterpretation of pacifism and peace movements
and will generate scholarly debate. The book also provides a helpful overview of the religious
roots and democratic impulses behind peace movements. However, I think a better approach
would have been to pick a particular period or event or actor, which significantly highlights the
developments of peace movements and advocacy throughout history as this approach gives too
much informaton.