[ Fortunately, there is another way―one that major thinkers and
even, at times, national governments have promoted. And that is
strengthened global governance.]
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THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO WAR  
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Lawrence Wittner
October 9, 2022
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_ Fortunately, there is another way―one that major thinkers and
even, at times, national governments have promoted. And that is
strengthened global governance. _

The site of 445 mostly unmarked graves in Izium, Ukraine, on Sept.
16., Nicole Tung for The New York Times

 

The war in Ukraine provides us with yet another opportunity to
consider what might be done about the wars that continue to ravage the
world.

The current Russian war of aggression is particularly horrific,
featuring a massive military invasion of a smaller, weaker
nation, threats of nuclear war
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war crimes [[link removed]], and
imperial annexation
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But, alas, this terrible war is but one small part of a history of
violent conflict that has characterized thousands of years of human
existence.

Is there really no alternative to this primitive and immensely
destructive behavior?

One alternative, which has long been embraced by governments, is to
build up a nation’s military might to such an extent that it secures
what its proponents call “Peace through Strength.”  But this
policy has severe limitations.  A military buildup by one nation is
perceived by other nations as a danger to their security.  As a
result, they usually respond to the perceived threat by strengthening
their own armed forces and forming military alliances.  In this
situation, an escalating atmosphere of fear develops that often leads
to war.

Actually, governments are not entirely wrong about their perception of
danger, for nations with great military power really do bully and
invade weaker countries.  Furthermore, they wage wars against one
another.  These sad facts are not only demonstrated by the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, but by the past behavior of other “great
powers,” including Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, China,
and the United States.

If military strength brought peace, war would not have raged over the
centuries or, for that matter, be raging today.

Another war-avoidance policy that governments have turned to on
occasion is isolation, or, as its proponents sometimes say, “minding
one’s own business.”  Sometimes, of course, isolationism does
keep an individual nation free from the horrors of a war engaged in by
other nations.  But, of course, it does nothing to stop the war—a
war that, ironically, might end up engulfing that nation anyway. 
Also, of course, if the war is won by an aggressive, expansionist
power or one grown arrogant thanks to its military victory, the
isolated nation might be next on the victor’s agenda.  In this
fashion, short-term safety is purchased at the price of longer-term
insecurity and conquest.

Fortunately, there is a third alternative―one that major thinkers
and even, at times, national governments have promoted.  And that is
strengthened global governance.  The great advantage of global
governance is its replacement of international anarchy with
international law. What this means is that, instead of a world in
which each nation looks exclusively after its own interests―and
thus, inevitably, ends up in competition and, eventually, conflict
with other nations―there would be a world structured around
international cooperation, presided over by a government chosen by the
people of all nations.  If this sounds a bit like the United Nations,
that is because, in 1945, toward the end of the most destructive war
in human history, the world organization was created with something
like that in mind.

Unlike “peace through strength” and isolationism, the jury is
still out when it comes to the usefulness of the United Nations along
these lines.  Yes, it has managed to pull the nations of the world
together to discuss global issues and to create global treaties and
rules, as well to avert or end many international conflicts and to use
UN peacekeeping forces to separate groups engaged in violent
conflict.  It has also sparked global action for social justice,
environmental sustainability, world health, and economic advance.  On
the other hand, the United Nations has not been as effective as it
should be, especially when it comes to fostering disarmament and
ending war.  All too often the international organization remains no
more than a lonely voice for global sanity in a world dominated by
powerful, war-making nations.

The logical conclusion is that, if we want the development of a more
peaceful world, the United Nations should be strengthened.

One of the most useful measures that could be taken would be to reform
the UN Security Council.  As things now stand, any one of its five
permanent members (the United States, China, Russia, Britain, and
France) can veto UN action for peace.  And this is often what they
do, enabling Russia, for example, to block Security Council action to
end to its invasion of Ukraine.  Wouldn’t it make sense to scrap
the veto, or change the permanent members, or develop a rotating
membership, or simply abolish the Security Council and turn over
action for peace to the UN General Assembly―an entity that, unlike
the Security Council, represents virtually all nations of the world?

Other measures to strengthen the United Nations are not hard to
imagine.  The world organization could be provided with taxing power,
thus freeing it from the necessity for begging nations to cover its
expenses. It could be democratized with a world parliament
representing people rather than their governments.  It could be
bolstered with the tools to go beyond creating international law to
actually enforcing it.  Overall, the United Nations could be
transformed from the weak confederation of nations that currently
exists into a more cohesive federation of nations―a federation that
would deal with international issues while individual nations would
deal with their own domestic issues.

Against a backdrop of thousands of years of bloody wars and the
ever-present danger of a nuclear holocaust, hasn’t the time arrived
to dispense with international anarchy and create a governed world?

_Lawrence S. Wittner (__https://www.lawrenceswittner.com/_
[[link removed]]_ ) is Professor of History
Emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of __Confronting the Bomb_
[[link removed]]_ (Stanford
University Press)._

* anti-war
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* United Nations
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* Ukraine invasion
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