摘要：The world has yet to evolve a coherent theory of peace. As health is commonly understood as the absence of disease, peace is broadly conceived as the absence of war. This is a negative ideal that merely eschews physical violence rather than replacing the urge for aggression with a positive and self-existent sense of security. It addresses the visible symptoms but neglects the essential reality that constitutes the foundations for lasting peace, social stability and security. So too, insufficient attention is given to the essential role played by war and violence in the evolution of the human community from small, isolated units into larger national and regional entities now in the process of converging into a single global community. The emergence of the modern nation-state over the past few centuries has largely pushed violence and war from the domestic domain into the sphere of international relations. This shift reached a peak during the Cold War when every nation sought protection from external security threats. We are now in the midst of a further stage in social evolution to forge a single global community in which violence is no longer regarded as a legitimate means for exercise of power, either domestically or internationally. But the essential conditions for peace and security still elude us at all levels. Security remains under threat from sources at all levels—excluded, disadvantaged, oppressed individuals; insecure nation-states; and the absence of an inclusive global cooperative security system. But the most pressing sources of threat now beset humanity as a whole in the form of COVID-19, the climate emergency, the resurgence of competitive nationalism and the nuclear arms race, rising inequality and aggravated cultural tensions. This article examines the relationship between peace, violence, warfare and the evolution of the human community in its age-old quest to safeguard the peace and security of all human beings.
