The imperfect Positive peace: misunderstandings, ambivalence towards war, nonviolent alternatives

Authors

  • Tiziano Telleschi CISP-Centro Interdisciplinare Scienze per la Pace, Università di Pisa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58508/cultpaz.v6.171

Keywords:

noviolence, Positive peace, conflict network, compatibility of opposities, open dialectic

Abstract

Positive Peace is well established in Peace Studies as an original 'good' state (of man, of society) which has been broken, but which can be restored through the mitigation/elimination of 'negative' factors be they inequalities, dehumanizing technology, corrupt institutions, asymmetries of power. As if to say that the negative/evil is an accident of history and, by fighting it with positive means (empathy, charity, welfare, empowerment, economic interdependence, international agreements, etc.), it will have to reconcile with the good/the positive: underlying idea of peace and. conflict-free future societies

This imperfect version did not consider the dialectic of opposites in its full meaning, ending up ostracizing the conceptions that raise distinctions on the 'goodness' of man. It translated them into almost exclusively intimidating aphorisms, spreading ambivalence towards war. The contract theory (Hobbes) wants to demonstrate that the State has the role of mediator and controller of selfish and destructive tendencies of individuals; in this way it acts as guarantor of agreements between individuals for mutual security (propitiating the idea of civil society). Sociality (Rousseau) is understood as a secondary, non-natural act, invented by human beings out of fear of the other and of the unknown, moved by both good and negative passions. In Vom Kriege (von Clausewitz) war is a tragedy led by misuse of politics: explaining it in its matrices and techniques has the aim of developing strategies for making both war and peace.

Today the story of war through images conceals its tragedy and highlights the impersonality of the effects by upsetting the compatibility between positive and negative means: it raises strong emotions that decrease the possibilities of ritualizing the conflict, indulging in the release of tension through negative means (violence, weapons). Changing the narrative: thinking of peace as a temporary conflict balance oriented towards an ideal coexistence; unlearn the habitus of indulgence towards war; give to nonviolence the aim of overcoming war.

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Published

2022-12-31

How to Cite

Telleschi, T. (2022). The imperfect Positive peace: misunderstandings, ambivalence towards war, nonviolent alternatives. Revista De Cultura De Paz, 6, 44–64. https://doi.org/10.58508/cultpaz.v6.171

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Articles