Peace Movements International Protest And World Politics Since 1945

There is a long tradition of opposition to war and organized peace campaigns date from 1815. Since 1945, however, modern weapons technology has threatened world wide destruction and has stimulated widespread protests.

There is a long tradition of opposition to war and organized peace campaigns date from 1815. Since 1945, however, modern weapons technology has threatened world wide destruction and has stimulated widespread protests. This book sketches in the background of thinking about peace and resistance to war before 1945, and then examines how public opposition to nuclear weapons and testing grew in the 1950s and early 1960s. Later chapters cover the major ressurgence of nuclear disarmament campaigns in the 1980s. The book also looks at how peace protest has spread from its origins in North America and North West Europe to embrace many parts of the world; opposition to nuclear testing has indeed been particularly strong in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. The period 1945 to 1990 was dominated by the Cold War between the USA and USSR, and the role of the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council caused difficulties for indeptendent peace groups in the West. During the 1980s the emergence of autonomous peace activity in a number of East European countries, and even on a very small scale in the USSR itself, transformed the possibilities for East-West co-operation between citizens to urge disarmament and political change. A chapter examines these developments. Opposition to all forms of militarism has spread in the last 30 years. This book charts the struggles to extend the right to conscientious objection to military service, and draft resistance to particular wars - for example in Southern Africa and Israel. It also looks in some detail at the growing opposition to the war in the Vietnam. The recent protests against the Gulf War are surveyed briefly in an epilogue.

There is a long tradition of opposition to war and organized peace campaigns date from 1815. Since 1945, however, modern weapons technology has threatened world wide destruction and has stimulated widespread protests. This book sketches in the background of thinking about peace and resistance to war before 1945, and then examines how public opposition to nuclear weapons and testing grew in the 1950s and early 1960s. Later chapters cover the major ressurgence of nuclear disarmament campaigns in the 1980s. The book also looks at how peace protest has spread from its origins in North America and North West Europe to embrace many parts of the world; opposition to nuclear testing has indeed been particularly strong in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. The period 1945 to 1990 was dominated by the Cold War between the USA and USSR, and the role of the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council caused difficulties for indeptendent peace groups in the West. During the 1980s the emergence of autonomous peace activity in a number of East European countries, and even on a very small scale in the USSR itself, transformed the possibilities for East-West co-operation between citizens to urge disarmament and political change. A chapter examines these developments. Opposition to all forms of militarism has spread in the last 30 years. This book charts the struggles to extend the right to conscientious objection to military service, and draft resistance to particular wars - for example in Southern Africa and Israel. It also looks in some detail at the growing opposition to the war in the Vietnam. The recent protests against the Gulf War are surveyed briefly in an epilogue.

The interwar peace movements were, according to conventional interpretations, naive and ineffective. More seriously, the standard histories have also held that they severely weakened national efforts to resist Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. Cecelia Lynch provides a long-overdue reevaluation of these movements. Throughout the work she challenges these interpretations, particularly regarding the postwar understanding of Realism, which forms the basis of core assumptions in international relations theory.The Realist account labels support for interwar peace movements as idealist. It holds that this support—largely pacifist in Britain, largely isolationist in the United States—led to overreliance on the League of Nations, appeasement, and eventually the onset of global war. Through a careful examination of both the social history of the peace movements and the diplomatic history of the interwar era, Lynch uncovers the serious contradictions as well as the systematic limitations of Realist understanding and outlines the making of the structure of the world community that would emerge from the war.Lynch focuses on the construction of the United Nations as evidence that the conventional history is incomplete as well as misleading. She brings to light the role of social movements in the formation of the normative underpinnings of the U.N., thus requiring scholars to rethink their understanding of the repercussions of the interwar experience as well as the significance of social movements for international life.

This is an annotated bibliography of nearly 1000 itemised references, providing a guide both to recent campaigns and to the theory and practice of nonviolent action. It covers diverse movements, some not exclusivly nonviolent, and raises highly controversial issues.

The book is a major contribution to our understanding of peace movements and pacifism after 11 September. While most people tend to take the importance of 11 September for granted, the book challenges the general understanding of the development and implications of the events. . . In addition, the philosophical, religious and theoretical discussion enriches peace research scholarship. Jian Yang, New Zealand International Review Noted international scholars from a range of disciplines present in this book Japanese and East Asian perspectives on the changed prospects for international peace post September 11. Because East Asia has not been preoccupied with the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the authors views serve as a balance to the war on terror declared in the United States. The book begins with chapters that explore the attacks from an historical perspective, and discuss whether they were indeed watershed events that changed the world. Further chapters explore pacifism in philosophy and religion through Kant, Christianity, Islam and constitutional pacifism in postwar Japan. The concluding chapters discuss concrete ways to move toward peace in the twenty-first century. Scholars of international studies and politics, the Middle East and religion will find this insightful book a valuable addition to their library.

This Book Presents In-Depth Observation And Analysis Of Global Peace Movement Organizations, Both In Historical As Well As Contemporary Dimmension.

Thoughtfully examines the paradox of peace activism in postwar Germany

In the early 1980s the peace movements in most of the Western countries captured public attention as never before. This largely resulted from NATO’s decision in 1979 to deploy new medium range missiles in Europe in 1983 if negotiations with the Soviet Union to limit this type of weapon system failed. The main purpose of the peace movements in Europe was to put pressure on their respective governments to accept Soviet proposals in negotiations and not to deploy new missiles. Many large demonstrations and other ‘happenings’ were organised for this purpose. The Soviet and other Warsaw Pact countries accompanied and supported the activities of the peace movements by propaganda and disinformation campaigns. The national peace movements, despite their common aims, had different historic backgrounds and characteristics. This book, originally published in 1985, presents an authoritative review of the peace movements in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States. The authors discuss not only the history and organisation of each peace movement, but also their international cooperation, media coverage and prospects for the future.