Università Roma Tre

For centuries mankind has desired peace and a peaceful resolution of conflicts; only in the last few centuries peace has been perceived as an attainable political objective. In this way, the idea of the abolition of war became conceivable, associations dedicated to peace arose (and pacifism was also considered as a kind of peace party) and international organisations were founded, with the aim of banning war and promoting peacekeeping operations.

The course offers a historical introduction to the theme of peace as one of the focal points of contemporary politics until the beginning of the 21st century. It is dedicated to the international history of peace ideas, peace movements and peace institutions.

The course aims to encourage students to think critically on the theme of war/peace in history, focusing on past centuries, but with an introduction to why, during Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern age, the desire for peace and the rejection of war never became a political objective.

By the end of the course, students will be able to better comprehend the main aspects of the peace/war debate and the importance and limitations of peace movements and peace institutions in the contemporary world. Furthermore, they will acquire an understanding of the main interpretations and methodologies proposed and used by scholars to analyze the history of peace.

The course is taught in English.

Introduction: Peace and Historical Research
Week 1
Introduction and description of the course. Methodological issues and new approaches: The concept of peace; ‘Peace history’; Pacifism and ‘pacificism’.


PART I – The inevitability of war

Week 2
Antiquity: Ancient Eastern Civilizations, War and peace in the Bible, Ancient Greece, Rome. The Christian Tradition: Early Christianity and military service: A Christian pacifism?; The Constantinian turn; Augustine’s synthesis.

Week 3
The Middle Ages: Islam, Christianity and holy war; the ‘just war’ theory; Christians refuse war (Bogomils, Cathars, Waldensians, Lollards, Taborites, Bohemian and Moravian Brethren). Refusal of war in the age of absolute Monarchies: Erasmus’s humanist irenism, Anabaptist, Memmonite, Anti-Trinitarian Not-Resistance, Quaker ‘peace testimony’. Restraint of war in the age of absolute monarchies: Victoria and Grotius.


PART II
Peace As a Political Aim

Week 4
The idea of a ‘perpetual peace’ (1712-1814): Enlightenment and peace projects; Rousseau; Kant; Revolutionary war and the birth of the ‘friends of peace’.

Week 5
Peace and war in the age of nations (1815-1870): Conservatism, liberalism, radicalism, socialism and the peace issue; Moderates and radicals inside peace societies; The Peace Congress Movement and its politicization.

Week 6
The age of militarism and pacifism (1870-1914): The birth of pacifism as an international movement for international law and arbitration; Socialist anti-militarism; Tolstoyanism; The difficulties of pacifists and socialists.


PART III
Total Peace in the Age of Total War

Week 7
The failure of peace and a new pacifism (1914-1918): Nationalism and peace; New associations: Women’s International League, Union of Democratic Control, League of Nations Society, No-Conscription Fellowship, Fellowship of Reconciliation. ‘No More Wars’ (1914-1931): Wilsonianism and the League of Nations; Gandhi and nonviolence; A peace mass movement.



Week 8
Pacifism and Totalitarianism (1931-1945): Warlike totalitarianisms; A divided peace movement; The Peace Pledge Union; Against fascism and war?.


PART IV
The Age of Peace Movements

Week 9
‘One World or None’ (1939-1947): the UN; World federalism; A physicists’ anti-nuclear weapons movement; New anti-war constitutions. ‘Does the Dove Fly to East?’ (1947-1953): The communist ‘partisans od peace’; World federalism’s rise and fall; Peace at the core of the Cold War political debate.

Week 10
Peace and Protest (1954-1978): Atomic consciousness; the Pugwash movement; The anti-nuclear protest; Churches and peace; ‘Make Love, Not War!’: young culture and the Vietnam War; Peace and revolution; The Peace Research. Missiles and Peace Culture (1979-1989): Eco-Pax; the Transnational peace movement.

Week 11
The Peacekeeping Years (1989-2001): UN peace-keeping and its theory; Clinton administration and ‘democratic peace’; Peacekeepers vs. pacifists. War and Peace at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Tomahawks vs. Kalashnikov: A decline of ‘Great Wars’? US Mars vs. EU Venus?

Week 12
A final appraisal: Pacifism or pacifisms? Peace and Politics. What results? Policies or politics changed?

REQUIRED READINGS:
David Cortright, Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Michael Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience (London: Temple Smith, 1978) (or any later edition).


REQUIRED WORK FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS (ONLY FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS STUDENTS)
• In English:
1. David Cortright, Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
2. Michael Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience (London: Temple Smith, 1978) (or any later edition).
3. One book chosen among the recommended readings
4. Another book chosen among the recommended readings