Peace in the Contemporary World

 Peace in the Contemporary World'

Pigeon: symbol of Peace 

Conflict and Peace have been the key drivers of world history and civilizations. When Hegel discussed conflicts from a philosophical perspective, it played a key role in constructing civilizations with advanced stages in every context. But to balance or counter such conflicts, mainly from the political philosophy of realism and idealism, pursue different methods and guidance to reach the goal: stability (from realism) and Peace (from idealism). During the age of European conflicts, Immanuel Kant provides in his book Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch some key requirements to deconstruct such conflict-prone culture in Europe and establish permanently, which later became a foundation of the liberal theory of International Relations. 

However, conflicts continued, and WWI showed the world the devastating face of conflict and the Europeans, who were proud of their conflict/war-prone culture, came to a conclusion to stop it. Then, both the academic discourse IR and Security Studies (in which conflict and peace studies have been a key point) commenced to understand the reasons behind such conflicts in their foreign relations and focus on securitization, primarily social security through liberal institutionalism. But the interwar period showed that whether there was no war, Peace was still not there, leading to the most disastrous conflict in history: WWII. However, the re-establishment of global institutions, i.e., the United Nations, examined the interwar period's social security aspect and upheld the motto of maintaining security and international Peace. Therefore, the UN provides affiliation to other international organizations that work on the same motto. 

However, the background of the discourse of Peace in international relations may seem optimistic, but conflicts are still apparent and the desire for Peace is increased gradually. In the present times, the conflicts ongoing in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia remind us of the value of sustaining Peace. The history-long conflict in Palestine and the recent Israeli genocide against Palestinians is against Peace. What is happening to Ukrainians, Uughur, Africans, Rohingya people, Syrians, and many more shows how conflicts destroy the prospect of Peace globally. However, it is not conflict that destabilizes Peace only; social security, economic deprivation, health issues, etc., also hampers the very existence of Peace. Similarly, it is not international events that problematize Peace; many domestic aspects, like political despotism, economic vulnerabilities, climate change, unemployment, human security crisis, etc., impact Peace. 

There are many reasons for conflicts over Peace. Domestic political structure has been a key reason for such conflict. In the present context, democratic norms versus authoritarian rule bisect most of the world's countries. When in a democracy, the rule of law, human rights, social security, etc., get highlighted, the authoritarian regime suppresses such rights and norms to prolong its power-holding. Such regimes often discriminate against society by facilitating some groups of people that neglect the rights of others, which often foster secessionist movements, i.e., Kurdish in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and Baloch in Pakistan. Economic inequality has been a significant cause of domestic conflicts and insecurity. In the age of capitalism, few people controlled a significant part of society's wealth. Such discrimination weakens the social bond; people without economic solvency are forced to live marginal lives, which often leads them to illegal or to the movement for equal distribution prospects. Thus, social insecurity violated their human rights issues, too. For example, India's farmer-led movement is also based on such a premise. 

Political deprivation of different ethnic groups and religious people also initiates conflicts. For example, in Africa, the artificial boundary that separated ethnic groups has been one of the reasons for instabilities, the same as Crimea when Putin annexed it on the excuse of protecting Russian ethnic people in India. BJP led a religious exclusionist policy against Muslims and Christians also caused domestic tension and social insecurity. In international relations, territorial disputes often destabilize the Peace and stability of the region, for example, China's rapid military presence in the South China Sea and claim of the South China Sea as China's sea despite the sea having boundary lines with others. Therefore, tension is already visible there. The same tension is apparent in the Indo-Pak and Sino-India border. Like boundary issues, competition among significant powers often leads to state conflicts. Since the Cold War, such a realpolitik aspect is still dominant in international relations. However, there are many other reasons for conflicts and the absence of Peace both domestically and internationally.

However, to establish Peace in the contemporary world, states must examine the deep roots of the conflict, whether it's for discrimination and economic vulnerabilities or political instabilities and others, etc. This is very important to overcome such challenges. Another is to promote multilateral ideas to strengthen international institutions to uphold the rule of law and customs that focus on building Peace in the world. Though conflict has been inherent to world history, diplomacy has been a key tool for states to settle or mediate the crisis peacefully to reduce the intensity of the conflict. Nowadays, Track II diplomacy focuses on a multilevel approach to the peaceful settlement of disputes. Another reason for wars and conflicts sustained in the present time is the military-industrial complex, which fosters armament and arms production. In Middle Eastern conflicts, secessionist groups and terrorists get more weapons from different sources, prolonging conflicts in the Middle East. Therefore, the rule of disarmament and arms control are essential steps for a secure international domain that fosters Peace. Moreover, fostering peace studies and more cultural exchange reduces the possibility of global and national conflict or tension. Thus, cultural collaboration and people-to-people connection are essential in diplomacy or foreign policy-making, particularly in the present context when globalization constructs the world in a single family. 

However, with such instruments, Peace can be attained. Though conflict fosters Peace and vice versa, a narrative long persists in international relations; how to attain Peace and prolong it should be the key element of states' domestic and international developments.