is equally obvious that the political relationships of nations will not be those we
have learned to take for granted, sometimes described as a global version of the
adversary system of our common law. But the social implications of peace
extend far beyond its putative effects on national economics and international
relations. As we shall show, the relevance of peace and war to the internal
political organization of societies, to the sociological relationships of their
members, to psychological motivations, to ecological processes, and to cultural
values is equally profound. More important, it is equally critical in assaying the
consequences of a transition to peace, and in deter- mining the feasibility of any
transition at all.
It is not surprising that these less obvious factors have been generally ignored in
peace research. They have not lent themselves to systematic analysis. They have
been difficult, perhaps impossible, to measure with any degree of assurance that
estimates of their effects could be depended on. They are "intangibles," but only
in the sense that abstract concepts in mathematics are intangible compared to
those which can be quantified. Economic factors, on the other hand, can be
measured, at least superficially; and international relationships can be
verbalized, like law, into logical sequences.
We do not claim that we have discovered an infallible way of measuring these
other factors, or of assigning them precise weights in the equation of transition.
But we believe we have taken their relative importance into account to this
extent: we have removed them from the category of the "intangible," hence
scientifically suspect and therefore somehow of secondary importance, and
brought them out into the realm of the objective. The result, we believe,
provides a context of realism for the discussion of the issues relating to the
possible transition to peace which up to now has been missing.
This is not to say that we presume to have found the answers we were seeking.
But we believe that our emphasis on breadth of scope has made it at least
possible to begin to understand the questions.
have learned to take for granted, sometimes described as a global version of the
adversary system of our common law. But the social implications of peace
extend far beyond its putative effects on national economics and international
relations. As we shall show, the relevance of peace and war to the internal
political organization of societies, to the sociological relationships of their
members, to psychological motivations, to ecological processes, and to cultural
values is equally profound. More important, it is equally critical in assaying the
consequences of a transition to peace, and in deter- mining the feasibility of any
transition at all.
It is not surprising that these less obvious factors have been generally ignored in
peace research. They have not lent themselves to systematic analysis. They have
been difficult, perhaps impossible, to measure with any degree of assurance that
estimates of their effects could be depended on. They are "intangibles," but only
in the sense that abstract concepts in mathematics are intangible compared to
those which can be quantified. Economic factors, on the other hand, can be
measured, at least superficially; and international relationships can be
verbalized, like law, into logical sequences.
We do not claim that we have discovered an infallible way of measuring these
other factors, or of assigning them precise weights in the equation of transition.
But we believe we have taken their relative importance into account to this
extent: we have removed them from the category of the "intangible," hence
scientifically suspect and therefore somehow of secondary importance, and
brought them out into the realm of the objective. The result, we believe,
provides a context of realism for the discussion of the issues relating to the
possible transition to peace which up to now has been missing.
This is not to say that we presume to have found the answers we were seeking.
But we believe that our emphasis on breadth of scope has made it at least
possible to begin to understand the questions.
