Justice and Peace

New issue of HSFK-Standpunkte by Lothar Brock on the perfidy of a virtuous connection

In our imagination of an ideal order, peace and justice always go together – in real-life politics they often don’t. Hence, shall we favour justice if it collides with peace or prioritise peace if it is opposed by any ideas of justice?

 

The theory of a just war proclaims that resorting to violence may be just. Yet, the idea of a just peace suggests that wars can never be just. Lothar Brock explains in HSFK-Standpunkte 10/2010 "Gerechtigkeit und Frieden. Die Tücken einer tugendhaften Verbindung", (Justice and peace. The perfidy of a virtuous connection) that both leitmotifs may actually be outdated and that the just peace theory holds permanent frictions.

 

He suggests transforming the idea of just peace into social practice and using it as guideline for a policy that regularly questions its own conflicts of goals and does not just rely on the assumption that peace and justice naturally go together. Additionally, the author provides insights into PRIF’s new research programme "Just Peace Governance".

 

This issue can be downloaded as PDF for free.