Pacifism, the ethical stance against war and violence, and peace studies, the interdisciplinary examination of conflict resolution and the promotion of peace, are closely interrelated fields rooted in moral philosophy, religious traditions, and contemporary political activism. The term pacifism was coined by Emile Arnaud in France in 1901, to designate and promote the peace movement as an ideology that incorporates disarmament, arbitration, and a European confederation. While the ideals of peace have been present across civilizations for millennia, the systematic study and advocacy of pacifism and peace as academic and political disciplines only emerged prominently in the modern era.

                     Historical Foundations of Pacifism

Pacifism has deep religious and philosophical roots. In ancient India, Jainism and Buddhism espoused ahimsa, the principle of non-violence toward all living beings. Jain monks went so far as to sweep the ground in front of them to avoid stepping on insects. In the West, early Christianity, particularly during its formative centuries under Roman rule, emphasized non-violence and martyrdom. Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, especially "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9) and the call to "turn the other cheek," have often been cited as foundational texts for Christian pacifism.

From the Middle Ages through the Reformation, pacifist ideals persisted, particularly among minority Christian sects such as the Anabaptists, Quakers (Religious Society of Friends), and Mennonites. These groups often faced persecution for their refusal to bear arms or swear oaths of loyalty to nation-states, highlighting the tension between pacifist ethics and political authority.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, secular pacifism gained traction alongside religious variants. Thinkers like Leo Tolstoy, influenced by both Christian ethics and anarchist ideas, advocated radical nonviolence and criticized the state as inherently violent. His writings, especially The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), had a profound influence on future peace activists, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Mahatma Gandhi's campaigns against British colonial rule in India demonstrated the political efficacy of organized, nonviolent mass action. His principle of satyagraha ("truth-force") became a blueprint for civil rights struggles around the world, from the American South to apartheid South Africa.

In the USA, feminist thinkers such as Jane Adams, Emily Green Balch, and Emma Goldman were some of the strongest and vocal proponents of pacifism at the beginning of the 20th century.  Throughout her life, Jane Addams, as a fiery pacifist, fought for the end of all wars and wrote books dealing with these topics - New Ideals of Peace (1907) and Peace and Bread in Time of War (1922). Her pacifist efforts were crowned with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Emily Green Balch was the leader of the women's peace movement during and after the First World War, which is why she lost her professorship at Wesley College. She was among the founders of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Emma Goldman, who greatly contributed to the philosophical and ideological tenets of anarcho-feminism, linked the ideas of anarchism with feminist and pacifist ideas. 

The first organizations and societies promoting pacifism were formed in New York (1815), London (1816), Paris (1821), and Geneva (1830). Some of the first international peace organizations include Association de la paix par le droit (ADP, Association for Peace through Law), which was formed in Paris in 1887, the International Peace Bureau, founded in 1892 in Bern, Switzerland, and War Resisters’ International (WRI), founded in 1921.

                       The Emergence of Peace Studies

Peace studies emerged as an academic field in the mid-20th century, shaped by the aftermath of global conflict and the existential threat of nuclear war. The first university peace studies program was established in 1948 at the University of Manchester in the UK. The discipline grew rapidly in Scandinavia and the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, amid the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and a rising global interest in human rights and international development.

Peace studies is an interdisciplinary field, drawing on political science, sociology, psychology, history, philosophy, and more. It examines the causes of war, the structures of oppression, the psychology of conflict, and the strategies for building sustainable peace. Crucially, peace studies distinguishes between "negative peace" (the absence of direct violence or war) and "positive peace" (the presence of justice, equality, and social harmony), a concept popularized by Norwegian scholar Johan Galtung, one of the field’s founding figures.

Galtung also introduced the influential distinction between direct, structural, and cultural violence. Direct violence refers to physical harm, such as war or assault. Structural violence describes social systems that harm individuals by preventing them from meeting basic needs (e.g., poverty, racism). Cultural violence involves the societal norms and ideologies that legitimize or normalize the other two forms. These distinctions have deepened peace studies’ capacity to address not only overt conflicts but also the underlying conditions that perpetuate injustice.

                    Theoretical Perspectives on Pacifism

Some authors treat pacifism as only concerning relations between nation states, while others extend its scope to include peaceful relations between groups and individuals in a country. A distinction can be made between those who view peace as a stable state and those who view peace as a constant process.

Pacifism, both as a moral stance and a political strategy, encompasses several theoretical perspectives: Deontological Pacifism – This approach holds that violence is inherently wrong, regardless of context or outcome. Influenced by religious and Kantian ethics, it asserts that individuals must never treat others as means to an end, even in war. Consequentialist Pacifism – Rooted in utilitarianism, this view opposes war because its consequences—death, destruction, and long-term trauma—are overwhelmingly negative. This perspective can support selective or conditional use of force in extreme cases. Strategic Nonviolence – Popularized by Gene Sharp and others, this approach views nonviolence not primarily as a moral imperative but as a practical tool for achieving political goals. It emphasizes planning, discipline, and the mobilization of public opinion. Feminist and Intersectional Pacifism – These frameworks critique militarism as a gendered and racialized system, linking peace to broader struggles for gender justice, racial equality, and economic liberation. Feminist scholars such as Cynthia Enloe have analyzed how war and peace are experienced differently based on identity and power.

                       Factors that Impede Peace

Military–industrial complex  - a network of elite within the state administration, the elite who run corporations that produce weapons and other military supplies, and military elite – that exists in the USA, Russia, and other powerful countries, promotes wasteful military budgets, exports of weapons, and investment in new weapons systems. For this complex to survive, there has to exist a constant threat of wars or active wars in the World. That is the reason why military–industrial complexes are one of the main structural factors that impede international peace. Another factor is the existence and spread of ethno-nationalist ideologies. Racial, ethnic, and religious divisions within a country are the main factors that impede peace and solidarity on a national level. Other factors are poverty, economic inequality, authoritarian government, and political instability.

                          Factors that Promote Peace

Authors such as Martin Wight (Power Politics, 1978) and Hedley Bull (The Anarchical Society, 1977) posit that the balance of power between the most powerful countries in the world positively contributes to international peace. Many proponents of free international trade argue that economic integration and interdependence promote peaceful international relations because countries that have peaceful economic exchange profit from that exchange, while wars only lead to a decrease in economic wealth for countries that wage them. This approach is known as commercial peace theory. The third factor that promotes peace is democracy. Proponents of democratic peace theory argue that democracy promotes international peace. This theory has several variations. "Monadic" forms of this theory posit that, in general, democratic countries engage in wars less often than autocratic countries. The "dyadic" forms of this theory argue that democratic countries don’t wage war against each other. The third of "systemic" forms of democratic peace theory states that the proliferation of democracy in the world makes the whole globe more peaceful and less prone to wars. Fourth factor that promotes international peace are intergovernmental organizations (United Nations, the Council of Europe, African Union, Mercosur, ASEAN, BRICS, World Trade Organization, and International Monetary Fund, and international nongovernmental organizations (Amnesty International, Greanpeace, Human Rights Watch, etc.) promote peace, democracy, cooperation, human rights, and conflict resolution.

References:

Addams. Newer Ideals of Peace (1907);

     -     A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil (1912);

     -     The Women at the Hague (1915);

     -     Peace and Bread in Time of War (1922);

Balch. Approaches to the Great Settlement (1918);

Barash, David P. Introduction to Peace Studies (1991);

Boulding, Elise. Building a Global Civic Culture: Education for an Independent World (1990) ;

Brock, Peter. Pacifism in Europe to 1914 (1972);

Burton, John. Conflict: Resolution and Prevention (1990);

Bouglé. De la sociologie à l'action sociale: Pacifisme – Féminisme – Coopération (1931);

Ceadel, Martin. Thinking about Peace and War (1987);

Cockburn. From Where We Stand: War, Women's Activism and Feminist Analysis (2007);

     -     Antimilitarism: Political and Gender Dynamics of Peace Movements (2012);

     -     Looking to London: Stories of War, Escape and Asylum (2017)

Cooper, Sandi. Patriotic Pacifism: Waging War on War in Europe, 1815–1914 (1991);

Etzioni, Amitai. Political Unification (1965);

Fromm. The Sane Society (1955);

     -     The Art of Loving (1956);

     -     Socialist Humanism (1965);

     -     The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973);

Galtung, Johan. The True Worlds: A Transnational Perspective (1980);

     -     Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization (1996);

Gamson, William A., and Andre Modigliani. Untangling the Cold War (1971);

Goldman. What I Believe (1908);

     -     Anarchism and Other Essays (1910);

Hampson, Fen Osler. Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed or Fail (1996);

Ingram, Norman. The Politics of Dissent: Pacifism in France 1919-1939 (1991);

Irigaray. Speculum of the Other Woman (1985, in French 1974);

     -     An Ethics of Sexual Difference (1993, in French 1984a);

     -     Thinking the Difference: For a Peaceful Revolution (1993, in French 1989);

     -     Democracy Begins Between Two (2000, in Italian 1984b);

Joseph, Paul. Peace Politics: The United States between the Old and New World Orders (1993);

Klandermans, Bert. (ed.). Peace Movements in Western Europe and the United States (1991);

Kriesberg, Louis. International Conflict Resolution: The US–USSR and Middle East Cases (1992);

     -     Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution (1998);

Lederach, John Paul. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (1997);

Lofland, John. Polite Protestors: The American Peace Movement of the 1980’s (1993);

Martin. Pacifism: A Historical and Sociological Study (1965);

Marullo, Sam, and John Lofland (eds.). Peace Action in the Eighties (1990);

Myrdal A. The Game of Disarmament: How the United States and Russia Run the Arms Race (1977); 

     -     Wars, Weapons, and Everyday Violence (1977); 

     -     Dynamics of European Nuclear Disarmament (1981);

Patchen, Martin. Resolving Disputes between Nations: Coercion or Conciliation (1988);

Ruddick. Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace (1989).

Segal, David R., and Mady Wechsler Segal. Peacekeepers and their Wives: American Participation in the Multinational Force and Observers (1993);

Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973);

Tilly, Charles. From Mobilization to Revolution (1978);

van der Merwe, Hendrik. Pursuing Justice and Peace in South Africa (1989);

Vasquez, John A. The War Puzzle (1993);