From Maude Royden's Peace Army to the Gulf Peace Team: An Assessment of Unarmed Interpositionary Peace Forces
From Maude Royden's `Peace Army' in the 1930s to the recent Gulf Peace Team, there has been a rich but little known history of attempted unarmed interpositionary peace-keeping. Most of these initiatives have stalled at the proposal stage primarily because of a lack of money and the absence of international organizational and logistical support. The Gulf Peace Team was perhaps the least well thought through attempt; however, it did manage, for the first time, to place a group of peace campaigners between belligerents in a time of war. It would appear that with the passing of time gains have been achieved on the physical plane - the attempts are increasingly getting volunteers closer and closer to the interpositionary ideal. However, the corresponding analytical gains have not been made. It is doubtful whether independent interpositionary peace-keeping ventures will ever be able to command the economic and logistical resources required and, more importantly, raise enough volunteers to achieve a critical mass that would make a difference in terms of preventing or stopping hostilities. It would appear that the most appropriate tasks for those advocating the establishment of such `forces' are in the realms of peace-keeping limited to non-violent escort duties and the like (that is, small-scale interventionary rather than large-scale interpositionary peace-keeping), and especially peace-making and peace-building, while continuing in their efforts to encourage the establishment of local peace brigades and to interest the United Nations in the creation of a truly non-violent and unarmed peace-keeping force.
Year of publication: |
1993
|
---|---|
Authors: | Weber, Thomas |
Published in: |
Journal of Peace Research. - Peace Research Institute Oslo. - Vol. 30.1993, 1, p. 45-64
|
Publisher: |
Peace Research Institute Oslo |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Gandhian Philosophy, Conflict Resolution Theory and Practical Approaches to Negotiation
Weber, Thomas, (2001)
-
Gandhi, Deep Ecology, Peace Research And Buddhist Economics
Weber, Thomas, (1999)
-
ZP-Stichwort: Total Cost of Ownership
Götze, Uwe, (2008)
- More ...