Nonviolent activism was successful. Peace and nonviolence became the object of sustained reflection. Scholars and activists clarified the power of nonviolence and the ongoing challenge of violence in all of its forms, including cultural violence, institutional violence, and structural violence. In the early part of the century important philosophers and scholars reflected on pacifism and often engaged in peace activism: William James, Jane Addams, John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and others. After the Second World War, pacifism and peace activism focused on the problem of the Cold War and the absurdity of nuclear weapons. Throughout this period, peace activists honed their skills, learning from Gandhi and others. The field of peace studies developed in an effort to systematically understand how peace is made and violence can be diminished.
By the end of the twentieth century, an extensive scholarly literature had developed that focused on philosophical puzzles regarding pacifism in ethics and with regard to those aspects of political and social life that contribute to peace. In the twenty-first century, pacifism is still a fruitful subject of critical reflection. The non-pacifist alternative of the just war tradition has been honed and shaped by pacifist critique. Committed pacifists have developed a set of concepts and an intellectual apparatus that helps them understand their own commitments and ideals. In the twentieth century we get detailed accounts of “the military-industrial complex,” “militarism,” “warism,” and “war crimes,” as well as theories of contingent pacifism, just war pacifism, political pacifism, personal pacifism, and other concepts described throughout the present anthology.
The first phase developed under the shadow of Tolstoy and in relation to the First and Second World Wars. The second phase developed during the Cold War and includes pacifism as a response to nuclear weapons as well as the successful application of strategies of nonviolence in liberation movements. A third phase is currently under development, as we respond to the end of the Cold War and the ongoing “war on terrorism.” Also in recent years, there has developed an all-inclusive critique of violence that considers the ubiquity of structural violence and cultural violence, building on the work of Johan Galtung, one of the giants of peace studies. In general, in the twentieth century we see a productive dialectic between pacifism and its critics; and in general, the world has become sympathetic to the insights of advocates of pacifism and nonviolence.
British People and Religious Institutions in Sixteenth Century
