Do you think that a change towards a peaceful world, needs a change in the way people think? Can mind promote peace and is it enough to focus only on the human mind?
Yes, to have a peaceful world, it’s mandatory for the people to change the way they think. Because it’s the human brain from where all the roots of conflicts arises.
A peaceful world means, a world devoid of wars and conflicts. And the conflicts and wars are child of human brain. So to curb wars and conflicts , the way people thinks needs to be changed.
However the mind by itself is not sufficient to promote peace as the cause of violence also lies in social structure. Therefore structural violence also needs to be removed.
A State must protect the lives and rights of its citizens. However, at times its own actions are a source of violence against some of its citizens. Comment with the help of some examples
At present every state of the world is soverign, each state sees itself as a supreme and independent entity , hence it needs to protect its self interest and the citizens of the particular states. The states have their indigenous police force , army etc to protect the citizens.
But it also cannot be denied that many a times its own actions are a source of violence against some of its citizens.
1. The Armed forces deployed in Jammu & Kashmir , Arunachal , Assam , Manipur etc to protect the region from infiltrators, but these forces has been a source of violence against the citizens of these states.
2. State violence against citizens could also be observed while land acquisition.
3. Many a times when the citizens resists against any law or act of government, they are treated brutally.
In case of India such scenario are observed least, these situations are prevalent mostly in authoritarian regime and military dictatorship like Myanmar and Pakistan.
The long term solution to these problems lies in making states more accountable through meaningful democrisation via effective system of civil liberties.
Such examples could be taken from past, like in the case of post apartheid regime in South Africa , which is one of the prominent political success story.
Peace can be best realised when there is freedom, equality and justice. Do you agree?
It is right to say that Peace can be best realised when there is freedom, equality and justice.
a. Freedom allows people to express their views freely in the society and justice and equality helps in removing conflict from the society.
b. When equality exists in the society, most people get their share hence lesser confliction among the people. Henceforth peace could be established.
c. When a society is justiciable, people have lesser say against others. Because the citizens of the state are assured that any atrocity against them would be treated with justice. Hence peace gets established.
We can take example of India, where there are lesser confliction among the groups or people as compared to nations like Iraq, Iran, Myanmar etc. Because in Indian constitution the three feature equality, Freedom and Justice are imbibed and forms the basic structure. Henceforth we find lesser internal aggression or war like situation in our country.
Use of violence does not achieve just ends in the long run. What do you think about this statement?
The above said sentence “Use of violence does not achieve just ends in the long run” is very true.
Usually the results of any violence means do not establish justice in the regime.
Violence could only be justified when it is used in removing oppressors , freedom struggle , Self defence is justified.
But While removing the oppressor by the oppressed class through violent struggle leads to another violence.
So when violent means are used the ill effect caused by it prevails for very long duration.
Differentiate between the major approaches, discussed in the chapter, to the establishment of peace in the world.
Major approaches used to establish peace in the world:
First approach:
This accords centrality to states, respect their sovereignty and treats competition among them as a fact of life. This approach is primarily concerned with proper management of this competition. By upholding sovereignty of states , they try to establish peace.
Second Approach:
This approach grants the deep-rooted nature of interstate rivalry. It deals with economic integration and interdependence that leads to unify politics. Such cooperation tempers state sovereignty and promote international understanding.
Third Approach:
In this approach state is considered as passing phase of human history. It envisages the rising of global community surpassing the state system to maintain the world peace. Such communities are formed by expanding coalitions and interaction across state boundaries. The process of globalisation has also contributed to these global groupings. Example United Nations