Peace

Peace, river, 945 mi (1,521 km) long, formed by the junction of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers at Williston Lake, N central British Columbia, Canada. It flows east through the Rocky Mts., then generally northeast across N Alberta and onto the Northern Plains where it meanders to the Slave River at Lake Athabasca. From the head of the Finlay River the Peace River is 1,195 mi (1,923 km) long; it is one of the chief headstreams of the Mackenzie River. At the mouth of the Peace River is Wood Buffalo National Park. The valley of the middle Peace is fertile, with wheat the chief crop; it is the northernmost commercially important agricultural region of Canada. Large natural gas reserves are tapped along the river; oil, coal, salt, and gypsum deposits are also worked. Near Hudson Hope, British Columbia, W. A. C. Bennett Dam (625 ft/191 m high; opened 1967) impounds Williston Lake (680 sq mi/1,761 sq km). The dam's power plant (present generating capacity 2.1 million kW), the sixth largest in Canada, provides electricity for Vancouver. The Peace River was probably visited (1775-78) by Peter Pond, the American fur trader, and first explored (1792-93) by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the Canadian explorer. It was long an important route of fur traders. Settlement in the valley began in the early 1900s.

In Anglo-American legal systems, a local magistrate empowered chiefly to administer justice in minor cases. In the U.S., justices of the peace are elected or appointed and hear minor civil matters and petty criminal cases. They may also officiate at weddings, issue arrest warrants, deal with traffic offenses, and hold inquests.

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(1648) European settlements that ended the Thirty Years' War, negotiated in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück. The deliberations began in 1644 and ended in 1648 with two assemblies that produced the treaty between Spain and the Dutch (signed January 30) and another between Emperor Ferdinand III, the other German princes, France, and Sweden (signed October 24). Territorial changes gave Sweden control of the Baltic Sea, ensured France a firm frontier west of the Rhine River, and provided their allies with additional lands. Independence was confirmed for the United Provinces of the Netherlands and for the Swiss Confederation. The treaties also confirmed the Peace of Augsburg and extended the religious toleration of Lutherans to include toleration of the Reformed (Calvinist) Church. The Holy Roman Empire was forced to recognize its German princes as absolute sovereigns in their own dominions, which greatly weakened its central authority.

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(1713–14) Series of treaties concluding the War of the Spanish Succession. One series was signed between France and other European powers; another series was signed between Spain and other powers. France concluded treaties with Britain, the Dutch Republic, Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy, in which it ceded various territories, including regions in Canada, to Britain. France also recognized Queen Anne as the British sovereign, acknowledged Frederick I's royal h1, and recognized Victor Amadeus II as king of Sicily. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain. In a separate accord, the asiento agreement, Spain gave Britain the exclusive right to supply the Spanish colonies with African slaves for 30 years. Emperor Charles VI concluded a separate peace with France in the Treaty of Rastatt and Baden. The Spanish succession was settled in favour of the Bourbon Philip V. The treaties gave Britain the largest portion of colonial and commercial spoils and made it the leader in world trade.

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(November 7, 1659) Peace treaty between France and Spain. From the end of the Thirty Years' War (1648) until 1659, Spain and France fought almost continuously. When Philip IV of Spain did not receive the expected Habsburg support against France, he concluded a peace settlement that ceded border regions to France. The treaty also involved a marriage compact between Louis XIV and the Spanish infanta Maria Teresa, which established Louis as the most powerful monarch in Europe.

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(1648) European settlements that ended the Thirty Years' War, negotiated in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück. The deliberations began in 1644 and ended in 1648 with two assemblies that produced the treaty between Spain and the Dutch (signed January 30) and another between Emperor Ferdinand III, the other German princes, France, and Sweden (signed October 24). Territorial changes gave Sweden control of the Baltic Sea, ensured France a firm frontier west of the Rhine River, and provided their allies with additional lands. Independence was confirmed for the United Provinces of the Netherlands and for the Swiss Confederation. The treaties also confirmed the Peace of Augsburg and extended the religious toleration of Lutherans to include toleration of the Reformed (Calvinist) Church. The Holy Roman Empire was forced to recognize its German princes as absolute sovereigns in their own dominions, which greatly weakened its central authority.

Learn more about Westphalia, Peace of with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(1713–14) Series of treaties concluding the War of the Spanish Succession. One series was signed between France and other European powers; another series was signed between Spain and other powers. France concluded treaties with Britain, the Dutch Republic, Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy, in which it ceded various territories, including regions in Canada, to Britain. France also recognized Queen Anne as the British sovereign, acknowledged Frederick I's royal h1, and recognized Victor Amadeus II as king of Sicily. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain. In a separate accord, the asiento agreement, Spain gave Britain the exclusive right to supply the Spanish colonies with African slaves for 30 years. Emperor Charles VI concluded a separate peace with France in the Treaty of Rastatt and Baden. The Spanish succession was settled in favour of the Bourbon Philip V. The treaties gave Britain the largest portion of colonial and commercial spoils and made it the leader in world trade.

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Convention promulgated in 1555 by the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, which provided the first permanent legal basis for the existence of Lutheranism in addition to Catholicism in Germany. The Diet determined that no member of the empire would make war against another on religious grounds. It recognized just two denominations, the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, and it stipulated that in each territory of the empire, only one denomination was allowed. However, people were allowed to move to states where their faith was adopted. Despite numerous shortcomings, the accord saved the empire from serious internal conflicts for over 50 years. Seealso Reformation.

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U.S. government agency of volunteers, formed in 1961 by Pres. John F. Kennedy. Its purpose is to assist other countries in their development efforts by providing skilled workers in the fields of education, agriculture, health, trade, technology, and community development. Volunteers are expected to serve for two years as good neighbours in the host country, to speak its language, and to live on a level comparable to that of the local residents. By the early 21st century, more than 165,000 volunteers had served in the corps.

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(1919–20) Meeting that inaugurated the international settlement after World War I. It opened on Jan. 12, 1919, with representatives from more than 30 countries. The principal delegates were France's Georges Clemenceau, Britain's David Lloyd George, the U.S.'s Woodrow Wilson, and Italy's Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, who with their foreign ministers formed a Supreme Council. Commissions were appointed to study specific financial and territorial questions, including reparations. The major products of the conference were the League of Nations; the Treaty of Versailles, presented to Germany; the Treaty of Saint-Germain, presented to Austria; and the Treaty of Neuilly, presented to Bulgaria. The inauguration of the League of Nations on Jan. 16, 1920, brought the conference to a close. Treaties were subsequently concluded with Hungary (Treaty of Trianon, 1920) and Turkey (Treaties of Sèvres, 1920, and Lausanne, 1923).

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Convention promulgated in 1555 by the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, which provided the first permanent legal basis for the existence of Lutheranism in addition to Catholicism in Germany. The Diet determined that no member of the empire would make war against another on religious grounds. It recognized just two denominations, the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, and it stipulated that in each territory of the empire, only one denomination was allowed. However, people were allowed to move to states where their faith was adopted. Despite numerous shortcomings, the accord saved the empire from serious internal conflicts for over 50 years. Seealso Reformation.

Learn more about Augsburg, Peace of with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Peace, in the modern usage, is a concept defined by the ideal state of relationship as absence of hostility, at the international level, that of a war.

Derived from the Anglo-Norman pas c.1140, and meaning "freedom from civil disorder", it came into use in various personal greetings from c.1300 as a Biblical translation of the Latin pax and Greek eirene, which were used by translators to render Hebrew shalom, which has multiple meanings of "safety, welfare, prosperity". The personalised meaning is reflected in a non-violent lifestyle which also describes a relationship between any people characterized by respect, justice, and goodwill. This latter understanding of peace can also pertain to an individual's sense of himself or herself, as to be "at peace" with one's own mind attested in Europe from c.1200. This approach to life with a sense of "quiet" attested in Europe by 1300, reflects a calm, serene, and meditative approach to the family or group relationships that avoids any quarrels, and seeks tranquility — an absence of disturbance or agitation. On the whole peace represents contentment.

In many ways these core meanings of peace define origins of conflict as insecurity, social injustice, economic inequality.

"Peace" is an ideal state that is used to describe the end of a conflict.

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to notable peacemakers and visionaries who have overcome violence, conflict or oppression through their moral leadership, those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations". The prize has often met with controversy, as it is occasionally awarded to people who have formerly sponsored war and violence but who have, through exceptional concessions, helped achieve peace.

Understandings of peace

Many different theories of "peace" exist in the world of peace studies, which involves the study of conflict resolution, disarmament, and cessation of violence. The definition of "peace" can vary with religion, culture, or subject of study.

Peace as the presence of justice

Mahatma Gandhi suggested that if an oppressive society lacks violence, the society is nonetheless not peaceful, because of the injustice of the oppression. Gandhi articulated a vision of peace in which justice is an inherent and necessary aspect; that peace requires not only the absence of violence but also the presence of justice. Galtung described this peace, peace with justice, as "positive peace," because hostility and further violence could no longer flourish in this environment.

During the 1950s and 60s, when Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement carried out various non-violent activities aimed at ending segregation and racial persecution in America, they understood peace as more than just the absence of violence. They observed that while there was not open combat between blacks and whites, there was an unjust system in place in which the government deprived African Americans of equal rights. While some opponents criticized the activists for "disturbing the peace", Martin Luther King observed that "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

Galtung coined the term structural violence to refer to such situations, which although not violent on the surface, harbor systematic oppression and injustice.

Peace in the presence of injustice

Since classical times, it has been noted that peace has sometimes been achieved by the victor over the vanquished by the imposition of ruthless measures. In his book Agricola the Roman historian Tacitus includes eloquent and vicious polemics against the rapacity and greed of Rome. One, that Tacitus says is by the British chieftain Calgacus, ends Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. (To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. — Oxford Revised Translation).

Peace and development

One concept or idea that often complements peace studies is development. Economic, cultural, and political development can supposedly take "underdeveloped" nations and peoples out of poverty, thus helping bring about a more peaceful world. As such, many international development agencies carry out projects funded by the governments of industrialized countries, mostly the western, designed to "modernize" poor countries.

The concept of peace has been linked to the wide idea of development, assuming that development is not the classical pursuit of wealth. Peaceful development can be a set of many different elements such as good governance, healthcare, education, gender equality, disaster preparedness, infrastructure, economics, rule of law, human rights, environment and other political issues. The measuring of development uses not only GDP but also numerous measures such as:

• Literacy rates
• Life expectancy
• Gini coefficient
• Per capita income
• Maternal survival rate
• HIV infection rates
• Number of doctors per capita
• Human Development Index
• and others

In this frame, the problem of peace fully involves the complex matter of human development, what explains the complexity of any peace-building processus.

Peace is what happens when all peoples are free to develop themselves in the way they want, without having to fight for their rights.|||Bruno Picozzi

Democratic peace theory

Proponents of the democratic peace theory argue that strong empirical evidence exists that democracies never or rarely make war against each other. An increasing number of nations have become democratic since the industrial revolution, and thus, they claim world peace may become possible if this trend continues.

Capitalism peace theory

In her capitalism peace theory, Ayn Rand holds that the major wars of history were started by the more controlled economies of the time against the freer ones and that capitalism gave mankind the longest period of peace in history -- a period during which there were no wars, involving the entire civilized world -- from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

It must be remembered that the political systems of the nineteenth century were not pure capitalism, but mixed economies. The element of freedom, however, was dominant; it was as close to a century of capitalism as mankind has come. But the element of statism kept growing throughout the nineteenth century, and by the time it blasted the world in 1914, the governments involved were dominated by statist policies.

Peace movements and activism

Main article: Peace movement

Peace movements are comprised of socially active individuals and groups that seek to achieve ideals such as the ending of a wars and minimizing inter-human violence. Means to achieve these ends usually include advocacy of pacifism, non-violent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, moral purchasing, supporting anti-war political candidates, demonstrations, and National Political lobbying groups to create legislation.

Plural peaces

Following Wolfgang Dietrich, Wolfgang Sützl, and the Innsbruck School of Peace Studies, some "peace thinkers" have abandoned any single and all-encompassing definition of peace. Rather, they promote the idea of many peaces. They argue that since no singular, correct definition of peace can exist, peace should be perceived as a plurality.

For example, in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the word for peace is kindoki, which refers to a harmonious balance between human beings, the rest of the natural world, and the cosmos. This vision is a much broader view of peace than a mere "absence of war" or even a "presence of justice" standard.

These thinkers also critique the idea of peace as a hopeful or eventual end. They recognize that peace does not necessarily have to be something humans might achieve "some day." They contend that peace exists in the present, we can create and expand it in small ways in our everyday lives, and peace changes constantly. This view makes peace permeable and imperfect rather than static and utopian.

Such a view is influenced by postmodernism.

Inner peace

One meaning of peace refers to inner peace, a state of mind, body and mostly soul, a peace within ourselves. People that experience inner peace say that the feeling is not dependent on time, people, place, or any external object or situation, asserting that an individual may experience inner peace even in the midst of war. One of the oldest writings on this subject is the Bhagavad Gita, a part of India's Vedic scriptures.

Sevi Regis describes inner peace as, "the state or condition of restfulness, harmony, balance, equilibrium, longevity, justice, resolution, timelessness, contentment, freedom, and fulfillment, either individually or simultaneously present, in such a way that it overcomes, demolishes, banishes, and/or replaces everything that opposes it."

Nonviolence and pacifism

Mahatma Gandhi's conception of peace was not as an end, but as a means: "There is no way to peace; peace is the way." Gandhi envisioned nonviolence as a way to make a political statement. Judeo-Christian tradition declares "Thou shalt not kill," although there is no consensus on the most accurate interpretation.

Followers of some religions, such as Jainism, go to great lengths to avoid harming any living creatures, including insects. Pacifists, such as Christian anarchists, perceive any incarnation of violence as self-perpetuating. Other groups take a wide variety of stances, many maintaining a Just War theory. Peace alta Peace euda

See also

• The McGill Middle East Program of Civil Society and Peace Building
• Islamic Peace
• Democratic peace theory
• Anarchy
• Inner peace (or peace of mind)

• Moral syncretism
• Pacifism
• Peace and Conflict Studies
• Peace symbol
• Peacetime

• Satyagraha: philosophy of non-violent resistance most famously employed by Mahatma Gandhi.
• Peace War Game, not a wargame as such, rather a simulation of economic decisions underlying war, with surprising results.
• Children's Peace Pavilion
• University for Peace
• Dayton International Peace Museum

• Japanese Peace Bell
• Nobel Peace Prize
• Catholic Peace Traditions
• Peace In Islamic Thought
• International Festival of Peace Poetry

Notes

References

1. The Path to Peace, by Laure Paquette

External links

• United Nations/peace
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Peace Corps
• All Nobel Peace Prize Laureates