What explains the widening and deepening of international peace Essay

What explains the widening and deepening of international peace operations after the Cold War - Essay Example Promise of Peace The ideal state of freedom, security and happiness among peoples and nations in the world perfectly outlines the concept of world peace, which has been extremely elusive to humankind since the dawn of a competitive civilization. Non-violence, understanding and cooperation among countries as well as their leaders signify the essence of this universal aspiration, which for many is a seeming Utopian dream. But, in theory and practice, peace is never impossible.1 While it is believed that it is already embedded in human nature to be violent and adversarial, it is also factually acceptable that war is only man-made and could be prevented through a firm resolve and humane freewill. Immanuel Kant in his classical treatise entitled Perpetual Peace, upheld that the epitome of humanity only occurs when there is a total cessation of hostilities and not just a temporary suspension of conflicts.2 It should be noted, however, that Kant did not imply that there should be a total ab sence of disputes and conflicts before peace is attained. Theoretically, the stress was only placed on the term ‘hostilities’ and that it also implied the polite way of handling issues and settling differences. There has been a wide-ranging scope of theories and conjectures about the idea of peace. Various interpretations were already offered and at times disputed. According to Kacowicz, there is a threefold typology of peace.3 First is precarious peace, which is the temporary absence or armed conflict between nations (some Arab states and Israel). Second is conditional peace, where one or both sides see the necessity of deterrent activities to avoid war (United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War). Third and lastly is the stable peace, which neither side employs force or make a threat of force in any of its disputes (United States and United Kingdom during the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis). As an ongoing and dynamic process, stable peace involves the process of achie ving a continuum of absence of war resulting from a balance of power, deterrence to conflict resolution and consolidation of societal security. For most part, stable peace is the one denoted by historicists and written about by romanticists. Beginning and End of the Cold War Dubbed as a war on ideology, the Cold War (1947-1941) was a period of tension, conflict and competition between the capitalist West and the socialist East. Spearheaded by world superpowers, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic ventured into a prolonged political and military struggle that also involved other countries, called satellites (Eastern block) and allies (Western block). The rivalry for influence in the Third World and dominance in the military force was said to be the major germ that caused the war.4 A considerable mix of calm and high tension appeared in the international stage during this period. The Berlin Siege of 1948, the Korean Civil War in 1950-1953, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam War in 1959-1975, the Missile Attacks in Cuba (1962) and the Soviet-Afghanistan War in 1979-1989 all accounted for the terrible lethal strikes that occurred within this span of time. An imminent nuclear war precipitated by the Able Archer 83 Exercises of NATO was also documented. Nevertheless, the fear of a guaranteed mutual destruction engendered by their own sophisticated nuclear weapons served as a reason for a