The Ethics of Peace in World Politics

A PhD course within the UiO-NTNU-PRIO Research School in Peace and Conflict.

  • Venue: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Hausmanns gate 7, Oslo, Norway.
  • Dates: 26–28 November 2012.
  • Coordinators: Henrik Syse and Kristoffer Lidén, PRIO.
  • Credits: For participation and approved essay: 5 ECTS (10 ECTS with a paper presentation etc).
  • Contact: Kristoffer Lidén, Research School Coordinator, kristoffer@prio.no.

  

What are the meanings of peace in world politics, and how ought peace to be achieved? What is the role of religion in this equation? Is peace a human right? What are the contemporary conditions for peace in a changing world order? What ethical lessons can we learn from recent experiments in post-conflict peacebuilding?

These are among the questions to be addressed in this research course on the ethics of peace in world politics. The course is directed towards students working on matters of peace and conflict within disciplines like political science, international relations, sociology, anthropology, history, law religion, theology and philosophy. While springing from a philosophical perspective, the course does not necessitate a background in Philosophy. In addition to lectures by the coordinators, the course features Professor Cecilia Bailliet (University of Oslo) and Professor Georg Sørensen (University of Aarhus), among others.             

Research on peace in world politics is often divided between realistic and empirically sophisticated debates without an ethical corrective, and idealistic ethical debates with poor empirical groundings. Ethically informed considerations of concrete institutional measures to prevent and manage future warfare are in short supply. With dramatic changes in global politics associated with globalization, the War on Terrorism and the rise of new global powers, such measures ought to be revisited from both realistic and principled perspectives.

This research course addresses this task by combining and contrasting prominent literature on peace in global politics within the fields of Philosophy, Law, Religion and International Relations. Through classroom discussions, these writings will be applied to the analysis of UN resolutions and strategies, as well as to the reignited debate on humanitarian intervention. The course includes a seminar on the ethics of international responses to the recent crises in Libya and Syria.

 

Schedule (preliminary)

Monday 26 November

09:15–10:00        1. Introduction

10:15–12:00        2. Henrik Syse & Kristoffer Lidén: Normative approaches to peace in world politics.

13:00–15:00        3. Henrik Syse and Greg Reichberg (PRIO): Ethics of peace in the Christian tradition and the question of inter-religious relations. 

Tuesday 27 November

09:15–11.00        4. Cecilia Bailliet: The right to peace: a legal perspective.

11:45-13:30         5. Georg Sørensen: A liberal world order in crisis.

14:00-16:00         6. Public seminar: The ethics of international responses to the recent crises in Libya and Syria. Introduction by invited speaker (TBC). Comments by Bailliet, Sørensen, Syse and Lidén.

Wednesday 28 November

09:15–11:00        7. Kristoffer Lidén: The ethics of transnational governance: the case of liberal peacebuilding.

12:00–15:00        8. Paper presentations (or additional lecture)

15:15-16:00         9. Concluding discussion and practical information.

 

Admission

The deadline for application is 15 October 2012. Applicants who are not enrolled in the Research School in Peace and Conflict should include a very brief description of their doctoral research and details about their university affiliation. Please send applications by e-mail to the Research School Coordinator, Kristoffer Lidén at kristoffer@prio.no. There is no participation fee, but the cost of transportation and accommodation, if needed, must be covered by participants. No financial assistance is available. Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their application as quickly as possible after the deadline.

Evaluation

In order to obtain 5 ECTS credits for the course, participants must get an overview of the readings, participate actively in the lectures and submit a paper of 3000–5000 words by 15 January 2013. An idea for the essay should be submitted by 30 November for acceptance by the coordinators.  

10 ECTS credits can be obtained by submitting a paper proposal (200-400 words) by 1 November. A maximum of 6 papers will be accepted, based on criteria of quality and relevance. The papers should be developed into full research articles (6000-9000 words) by 15 February 2013.

Course literature

(preliminary)

Required readings

Cortright, David. Peace: A History of Movements & Ideas. Cambridge, 2008. Chapters 1-7.  

Nigel Dower. The Ethics of War and Peace. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009.

Kant, Immanuel. Perpetual Peace, in: Political Writings, 2nd ed., ed. Hans Reiss, trans. H. B. Nisbet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Lidén, Kristoffer. ‘Building Peace between Global and Local Politics: The Cosmopolitical Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding. International Peacekeeping 16(5): 616-634.

Habermas, Jürgen. “Kant’s Perpetual Peace, with the Benefit of 200 Years’ Hindsight,” in: James Bohman and Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, eds., Perpetual Peace: Essays on Kant’s Cosmopolitan Ideal. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997, pp. 113-144.

Pogge, Thomas W. “Moralizing Humanitarian Intervention: Why Jurying Fails and How Law Can Work,” in: Terry Nardin and Melissa Williams, eds.: Humanitarian Intervention. New York: New York University Press, 2005, pp. 158–187.

Rawls, John. The Law of Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Reichberg, Gregory, Henrik Syse & Endre Begby (eds.), The Ethics of War – Classic and Contemporary Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Excerpts: Augustine (pp. 70-90); Thomas Aquinas (pp. 169-182); Francisco de Vitoria (pp. 218-316); John Locke (pp. 462-468).

Richmond, Oliver. Peace in International Relations. London: Rutledge, 2008.

Sargent, Wendy. Civilizing Peace Building: Twenty-First Century Global Politics. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. Chapter 3.

Sørensen, Georg. A Liberal World Order in Crisis: Choosing between Imposition and Restraint. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011. (Lidén 2009)

 Recommended

Barkawi, Tarak and Mark Laffey, “The Imperial Peace: Democracy, Force and Globalization,” European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1999, pp. 403-434.  

Beck, Ulrich. “War is Peace: On Post-National War,” Security Dialogue, vol. 36, no. 1, 2005a, pp. 5-26.

Beck, Ulrich. Power in the Global Age. Cambridge: Polity, 2005b. Introduction, pp. 1-34.

Carr, Edward. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1951.

Hardt, Michael & Antonio Negri. Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. New York; Penguin, 2004.

Jackson, Robert. The Global Covenant. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Linklater, Andrew. The Transformation of Political Community, Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.

Mouffe, Chantal. On the Political. London: Routledge, 2005.

Pogge, Thomas W. ‘Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty.’ Ethics, vol. 103, no. 1, 1992, pp. 48-75.

Walker, R.B.J. After the Globe, Before the World. London: Routledge, 2010.

Waltz, Kenneth. Man, the State and War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959.

Walzer, Michael. ‘Governing the Globe’, in Arguing about War. London, Yale University Press, 2004.

Wendt, Alexander (2003), ‘Why a World State is Inevitable’, European Journal of International Relations, vol. 9, pp. 491-542.

Instruments:

Briand-Kellog Pact: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/kbpact.htm

UN Charter, Preamble, Articles 1, 2(4), 26 and Chapter IX: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/

UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (1999): http://www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/declarations/2000.htm

UN Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/principles1970.html

1949 UN General Assembly (GA) Resolution 290 (IV) Essentials of Peace: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/4/ares4.htm

1970 Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f1cb5c.html

1974 Definition of Aggression: http://www.un-documents.net/a29r3314.htm

ILC Draft Code of Offences against the Peace and Security of Mankind: http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft%20articles/7_4_1996.pdf

 1974 Charter on Economic Rights and Duties of States: http://www.un-documents.net/a29r3281.htm

 UN General Assembly resolution 33/73 Declaration on the Preparation of Society to Live in Peace (1978): http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f1b81c.html 

UN General Assembly Resolution 34/88 (1979): http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/resins.htm

1984 Right to Peace Declaration ‘Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace of 1984’ UN: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/peace.htm

‘Implementation of the Right of Peoples to Peace’ UNGA Resolution 45/14 Nov 1990: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r014.htm

UNESCO Draft Declaration on the Human Rights to Peace: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001107/110795eo.pdf

‘Promotion of the Right of Peoples to Peace’ UNGA Resolution 57/216 Dec 2002: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/r57.htm

An Agenda for Peace A/47/277 – S24111: http://habitat.igc.org/open-gates/a47-277.htm

In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all A/59/2005, Peacebuilding Commission: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,45a5199f2,45a51ae72,4a54bbfb0,0,UNGA,THEMREPORT,.html

A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility – Report of the High‐level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (2004): http://www.un.org/secureworld/

Peace as a solidarity right. A legal approach (A/HRC/6/NGO/33): http://www.aedidh.org/?q=node/1205

OAS Charter: http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_A-41_Charter_of_the_Organization_of_American_States.htm

Luarca Declaration: http://www.concernedhistorians.org/content_files/file/TO/271.pdf

ICJ Case: Legality of Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, ICJ Reports, 1996, p. 226.: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=4&k=e1&p3=4&case=95

UN Human Rights Council Resolution 14/3 on the Promotion of the Right of Peoples to Peace (June 2010): http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/14session/resdec.htm

The UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the Right to Peace. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/AdvisoryCommittee/Pages/RightToPeace.aspx

2012 Report of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the right of peoples to peace. http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/jus/humanrights/HUMR5134/h12/undervisningsmateriale/a-hrc-20-31_en[1]-2.pdf

Required readings coupled with sessions 

2. Henrik Syse & Kristoffer Lidén: Normative approaches to peace in world politics.

Nigel Dower. The Ethics of War and Peace. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009.

Kant, Immanuel. Perpetual Peace, in: Political Writings, 2nd ed., ed. Hans Reiss, trans. H. B. Nisbet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Habermas, Jürgen. “Kant’s Perpetual Peace, with the Benefit of 200 Years’ Hindsight,” in: James Bohman and Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, eds., Perpetual Peace: Essays on Kant’s Cosmopolitan Ideal. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997, pp. 113-144.

Rawls, John. The Law of Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Richmond, Oliver. Peace in International Relations. London: Rutledge, 2008.

3. Henrik Syse and Greg Reichberg (PRIO): Ethics of peace in the Christian tradition and the question of inter-religious relations. 

Reichberg, Gregory, Henrik Syse & Endre Begby (eds.), The Ethics of War – Classic and Contemporary Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Excerpts: Augustine (pp. 70-90); Thomas Aquinas (pp. 169-182); Francisco de Vitoria (pp. 218-316); John Locke (pp. 462-468).

Sargent, Wendy. Civilizing Peace Building: Twenty-First Century Global Politics. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. Chapter 3.

4. Cecilia Bailliet: The right to peace: a legal perspective.

Cortright, David. Peace: A History of Movements & Ideas. Cambridge, 2008. Chapters 1-7.

The legal instruments listed above.

5. Georg Sørensen: A liberal world order in crisis.

Sørensen, Georg. A Liberal World Order in Crisis: Choosing between Imposition and Restraint. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011.

6. Public seminar: The ethics of international responses to the recent crises in Libya and Syria. Introduction by invited speaker (TBC). Comments by Bailliet, Sørensen, Syse and Lidén.

Pogge, Thomas W. “Moralizing Humanitarian Intervention: Why Jurying Fails and How Law Can Work,” in: Terry Nardin and Melissa Williams, eds.: Humanitarian Intervention. New York: New York University Press, 2005, pp. 158–187.

7. Kristoffer Lidén: The ethics of transnational governance: political interference and   self-determination in the case of post-conflict peacebuilding. 

Lidén, Kristoffer. ‘Building Peace between Global and Local Politics: The Cosmopolitical Ethics of Liberal Peacebuilding. International Peacekeeping 16(5): 616-634.