In Czechoslovakia this was called the velvet revolution or the gentle revolution. There was hope for global disarmament and the growth of peaceful globalization connected to the spread of liberal-capitalism and democracy. Unfortunately, violence and war did not go away. Terrorism and mass violence continues to plague the world, and war was declared against terrorism. Ongoing conflicts remain unsolved. The geopolitical situation has remained fractious. Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction continue to exist. And technological developments have changed the nature of warfare, which now includes cyberwar, drone attacks, precision guided missiles, missile defense systems, and so on. Throughout this period, international organizations have continued to grow, including international tribunals that try war crimes and international peacekeeping forces that intervene under the developing idea of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect innocent people who are being persecuted and slaughtered by their own governments. If the era of total and global wars appears to be over, there still remains significant violence and the ongoing challenge of justifying military responses to violence.
Philosophers and activists continue to reflect on the nature of violence and the question of peace. A significant amount of scholarship has developed that is focused on the question of justice in war and the just war tradition. Scholarship on peace has also grown to include a field known as “peace studies,” which often focuses on empirical inquiries. Guided by the work of seminal thinkers such as Gene Sharp and Johan Galtung, we now have a deep and comprehensive understanding of the power of nonviolence. Philosophers have continued to probe and question the ethics of pacifism: many of the key authors in the ongoing debate about the ethics of pacifism and peace philosophy are included in this anthology. One conclusion to be derived from the past 25 years of conversations about peace, war, and violence is that these things are philosophically complex. There are varieties of pacifism. Peace and violence are complicated topics with multiple meanings, iterations, and applications.
The theory and practice of pacifism and nonviolence has benefited from a long century of debate. The world has benefited, as well, from the work of nonviolent activists and theorists of nonviolence. In 2011, the psychologist Steven Pinker published a book explaining “why violence has declined”. The good news is that the empirical data show us that violence is declining. Pinker’s complex thesis about the decline in violence includes reflections on psychology, politics, and philosophy. Although he does not directly attribute the decline of violence to the development of pacifism and nonviolence outlined here, the implication is clear. The work of many of the authors and activists cited in this chapter and discussed in the rest of this anthology have been instrumental in changing our attitudes about violence, in clarifying the power and value of nonviolence, and in helping us to understand how we can build a global culture of peace. There is still much work to be done on behalf of peace. But thanks to the heroic efforts of those discussed in this chapter, we are already on our way toward a better world.
Nonviolence Activism in Twentieth Century
