There is a long tradition of opposition to war and organized peace campaigns date from 1815. Since 1945, however, modern weapons technology has threatened world wide destruction and has stimulated widespread protests. This book sketches in the background of thinking about peace and resistance to war before 1945, and then examines how public opposition to nuclear weapons and testing grew in the 1950s and early 1960s. Later chapters cover the major ressurgence of nuclear disarmament campaigns in the 1980s. The book also looks at how peace protest has spread from its origins in North America and North West Europe to embrace many parts of the world; opposition to nuclear testing has indeed been particularly strong in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. The period 1945 to 1990 was dominated by the Cold War between the USA and USSR, and the role of the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council caused difficulties for indeptendent peace groups in the West. During the 1980s the emergence of autonomous peace activity in a number of East European countries, and even on a very small scale in the USSR itself, transformed the possibilities for East-West co-operation between citizens to urge disarmament and political change. A chapter examines these developments. Opposition to all forms of militarism has spread in the last 30 years. This book charts the struggles to extend the right to conscientious objection to military service, and draft resistance to particular wars - for example in Southern Africa and Israel. It also looks in some detail at the growing opposition to the war in the Vietnam. The recent protests against the Gulf War are surveyed briefly in an epilogue.

This three-volume anthology is a comprehensive overview of how the human yearning for peace has played out, and is playing out, on this planet. Peace Movements Worldwide is quite simply the most comprehensive work of its kind on this important subject. In its three volumes, experts document the history and growth of the peace movement, why it is important, who gets involved, and how it can succeed. Organized by major themes and issues, the work examines every facet of human striving for peace, from the global to the personal. The first volume, History and Vitality of Peace Movements, explores the meaning of peace—its historical, philosophical, and biological foundations and related spiritual, gender, social, and economic viewpoints. The second volume, Players and Practices in Resistance to War, discusses control over weapons, efforts to prevent and end violent conflict, and efforts to heal the traumatic aftereffects of violence. The third volume, Peace Efforts That Work and Why, looks at how mankind can build a new world order by building communities with a sustainable culture of peace.

From Anger to Action tells the stories of the citizens' movements charting new paths to tackle the big global challenges that lie behind the political upheavals of our times. Drawing on candid insights from citizens, activists, and innovators, and their own experiences as leaders of internationally recognized advocacy organizations, the authors give an insider account of the battle for change and how it can be won – as well as trenchant criticism of where traditional civil society has lost its way and needs renewal. While unflinching on the dangers of the current political crises, the book offers hard-edged hope and a vision for citizen-led change to reshape our fractured politics. We meet communities in economically-battered towns welcoming refugees and Syrian peacebuilders reaching across impossible divides, go behind the scenes with Fairtrade banana farmers and hear of frenzied climate campaigners pushing divestment from oil companies and using social media to drive change. Lamb and Jackson explore how citizens’ movements are transforming our global politics, refashioning internationalism and fighting back against narrow nationalism. The book analyses why some movements secure lasting change – and others fail. And they show how these insights could shape a wider strategy for grassroots-up transformation. From Anger to Action will be of interest to social activists and anyone interested in social movements, global change, and civil society.

People come together in movements to end war from many political traditions. They are socialists, communists and anarchists, people of a variety of faiths, secularists, pacifists and feminists. They share a belief that peace is possible, but have divergent views on the causes of militarism and strategies to end it. As both peace activist and social researcher, Cynthia Cockburn is well placed to ask, 'How coherent and cohesive are we?' The book presents original case studies of anti-war, anti-militarist and peace movements in Japan, South Korea, Spain, Uganda and the UK, of international networks against military conscription and the proliferation of guns, and of singular campaigns addressing aggression against Palestinians and the expansion of NATO. The stand-alone chapters make ideal course readings. Scanning the political spectrum, but always with a gender lens, the author carefully uncovers the movements' many tensions and antagonisms, looking for the source of alliance that may make of these and a multitude of other groups, organizations and networks worldwide an unstoppable movement for change. Between the nihilist view that violence is inevitable and the utopian belief in the possibility of a violence-free world is an achievable goal of violence reduction, both in times of war and in times called peace. Violence is, much more often than we think, a choice.

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The concept of peace has always attracted radical thought, action, and practices. It has been taken to mean merely an absence of overt violence or war, but in the contemporary era it is often used interchangeably with 'peacemaking', 'peacebuilding', 'conflict resolution', and 'statebuilding'. The modern concept of peace has therefore broadened from the mere absence of violence to something much more complicated. In this Very Short Introduction, Oliver Richmond explores the evolution of peace in practice and in theory, exploring our modern assumptions about peace and the various different interpretations of its applications. This second edition has been theoretically and empirically updated and introduces a new framework to understand the overall evolution of the international peace architecture. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The impact of Communism on the twentieth century was massive, equal to that of the two world wars. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historians knew relatively little about the secretive world of communist states and parties. Since then, the opening of state, party, and diplomatic archives of the former Eastern Bloc has released a flood of new documentation. The thirty-five essays in this Handbook, written by an international team of scholars, draw on this new material to offer a global history of communism in the twentieth century. In contrast to many histories that concentrate on the Soviet Union, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism is genuinely global in its coverage, paying particular attention to the Chinese Revolution. It is 'global', too, in the sense that the essays seek to integrate history 'from above' and 'from below', to trace the complex mediations between state and society, and to explore the social and cultural as well as the political and economic realities that shaped the lives of citizens fated to live under communist rule. The essays reflect on the similarities and differences between communist states in order to situate them in their socio-political and cultural contexts and to capture their changing nature over time. Where appropriate, they also reflect on how the fortunes of international communism were shaped by the wider economic, political, and cultural forces of the capitalist world. The Handbook provides an informative introduction for those new to the field and a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship for those seeking to deepen their understanding.

This edited volume highlights how individuals, communities and nations are addressing a history of protracted violence in the transition to peace. This path is not linear or straightforward. The volume integrates research from peace processes and practices spanning over 20 countries. Four thematic areas unite these contributions: formal transitional justice mechanisms, social movements and collective action, community-driven processes, and future-oriented initiatives focused on children and youth. Across these chapters, the volume offers critical insight, new methods, conceptual models, and valuable cross-cultural research. The chapters in this volume balance locally-situated realties of peace, as well as cross-cutting similarities across contexts. This book will be of particular interest to those working for peace on the frontlines, as well as global policymakers aiming to learn from other cases. Academics in the fields of psychology, sociology, education, peace studies, communication, community development, youth studies, and behavioral economics may be particularly interested in this volume.