DOCSLIB.ORG

Mahatma Gandhi and World Peace

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Orissa Review * January - 2009 Mahatma Gandhi and World Peace Prof. Brahmananda Satapathy The context is the 'Global Peace' in the modern degradation in the forms of abuse and overuse of world and the text is 'Gandhian philosophy for its nature and pollution and growing paucity of attainment. The broad hypothesis is :" World resources, denial of human rights, gender bias and peace can only be realized through non-violence. injustice, crisis in the field of energy, mounting There is no alternative to non-violence". insecurity and violence, terrorism, war and The objectives of this paper are as conflicts, drug trafficking, AIDs. Besides, there following: are corruption, communalism, unemployment, regionalism, problems of language, ethical and (i) to state the problems/ crises of the modern moral degradation in private and public life. All world ; these together pose a grave challenge to the (ii) to analyse the multi-dimension of Gandhi's world. Peace is far away so long as these concepts of Non-violence and Truth; problems exist. (iii) to examine Gandhi's views on state and his II vision of democracy ; Among the various political ideologies, (iv) to present Gandhi's interpretation and democratic governance appears to be best contribution to the formulation of India's because it is this very system which provides foreign policy and world-views ; and maximum opportunities of public progress and (v) to establish an organic relationship between development. People can themselves decide the Gandhian principle and world peace. mode of their welfare. But, is the democratic system of governance free from above problems ? The modern world is facing a multi- Therefore Gandhian Philosophy is very much dimensional crisis; a crisis that poses challenge to contextual today on this accord. each and every aspect of our life. Among the outstanding aspects of this crisis are; over- Mahatma Gandhi treated his individual life militarization, nuclear proliferation and global reach in accordance with his ideas. He said "my life is of arms, overdevelopment and underdevelopment my message". Therefore Gandhism is a mixture resulting in mal-development, a vast number of of Gandhi's concepts and practices. The basic people suffering from poverty, hunger and groundship happens to be "Non-violence". He marginalization. Added to these are environmental practiced and prescribed non-violence as a 5 Orissa Review * January - 2009 remedy against all social evils. It is the most ancient body and mind. It is the voice of God, the voice eternal values and culture of India. He said on of Truth within us. this account, " I have nothing new to teach you« Both are two sides of the same coin. Both Truth and non-violence are as old as hill." Non- have same value. Difference consists in approach violence and Truth are two sides of a same coin. only. The derivation is that Truth stays with A. Non-violence permanence and that Truth is permanent. Non- violence on account of being permanently present Total non-violence consists in not hurting stays to be true. Non-violence is both a means some other one's intellect, speech or action per and an end in itself. own thought, utterance or deeds and not to deprive some one of his life." In essence, (D) Non-Violence is the strongest weapon. abstinence in toto from violence is non violence. It is not a weapon of the weak. It has no In this context Gandhi clarified in an edition of place for cowardice. It is an active force. Non- young India. violence is impossible without bravery / courage/ "..... to hurt someone, to think of some evil fearlessness. Doing at any cost something that one unto some one or to snatch one's life under anger ought to do. The courage of dying without killing. or selfishness, is violence. In contrast, purest non- Having decided upon the rightness of a situation, violence is an epitome in having a tendency and Gandhi would not like one to be passive spectator presuming towards spiritual or physical benefit to evil. This is the essence of Non-Alignments unto everyone without selfishness and with pure which is different from neutrality. "When freedom thought after cool and clear deliberations« The is menaced or justice is threatened or where ultimate yardstick of violence or non-violence is aggression takes place we can not and shall not the spirit behind the action." be neutral." B. Non-Violence is perpetual. (E) Non-Violence has individual and social aspects too. It fosters co-operation and From beginning unto now man has been cooperative progress. Progress is difficult to ultimately treading path of non-violence. It came achieve without co-operation. Co-operation is into existence along with man. It is co-terminus possible only when there is no violence. To him, with life. In case, it has not with man from the regulation of mutual relations in society is through very beginning, there might have been self-dom non-violence to considerable extent. He wished by man. Besides there has been gradual it to be developed on large scale. He called upon enhancement in development and proximity in the people to continue to develop it in practice spite of presence of various obstacles and hurdles. throughout life as the basis of life. (C) Non-violence and Truth both are (F) Non-Violence is not utilitarianism. complementary to each other. It is more appropriate to say " Truth is God," rather than It is all - timely and all welfaristic. A non- saying "God is Truth". He equated God with violent is always ready to face punishment for the Absolute Truth as ultimate reality , Soul is the maximum benefit of all whereas a utilitarian is not. spark of this God of Truth. It is the moral, The (G) Complete unity and integrity of body, mind spiritual force, the divine spirit which regulates our and soul are in the individual human being. The 6 Orissa Review * January - 2009 body should be controlled by mind and the mind across the world and seems to be having no by the soul - a harmony among three. But this respite. control is not to be achieved by despising or Gandhi is certainly a staunch supporter of neglecting either the body or mind or soul. democracy. He believed that state is best which (H) Means are at least as important as, and governs least and this is his second best ideal. He often more important than, ends. It is, of course, held the view that there are certain things which desirable that ends should be good and cannot be done without political powers, even reasonable. They give direction to life while the though there are numerous other things which do means adopted constitute life itself. The means not at all depend upon political power. While in confirm to the test of truth and no-violence, even ideal society, there is no room for the military and mistakes, errors, and failures aid the growth of police, yet in the actual state there is provision for the individual. We can not get a rose by planting it according to the moral level of its citizens. a noxious weed. There is an inviolable connection Democracy should be intermingled with non- between the means and end as there is between violence in even manner and governmental the seed and tree. The relationship between the interference is minimum. The present democratic two is organic. There must be purity of means. systems can overcome the problems most Those who grow out of violence, they will end in importantly "violence and terrorism" only when violence. This is what makes Gandhi distinctly non-violence is accorded supreme status in different form Kautilya, Machiavelli, Bentham, practice as well as in principle and at social as well as individual plane. Only such a democracy Karl Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and others. can be successful in its real goal. The existing III democratic deficit can be overcome by Examination of Gandhi's view on State may, incorporating "Gandhism in democracy". Violence perhaps, lead to a better understanding of his vision is not sacred, pure or welfaristic from any point of democracy. Sometimes a confusion is made of view. Whatever is gained on the basis of it is between the acts of the individuals and those of impure and temporary. Democracy and violence the State, and it is expected tht Gandhi's State is can never be mutual. The basis of democracy is to be non-violent. But how is the State act non- non-violence in toto. In it, people will grow violently, when it represents violence in a accustomed spontaneously to observe their social concentrated and organized form ? Indeed a non- obligations without the operation of the State The violent state is a contradiction in terms. It could more the individuals have imbibed the spirit of non-violence, the less the necessity of state. This only be called a non-violent stateless society. This is the implication of Gandhi's concept of Swaraj. is the ideal for Gandhi. Non-existence of State as " The attempt to win Swaraj is Swaraj itself. It is cherished by Gandhi is impossible instantly or in a developing ideal and is "better than the best". near future. At the level of imperfect nature of Gandhi calls it "indefinable". Whatever political man, among the existing states, democratic institutions Gandhi accepted, he did so as a governance appears to be best. transitional device, to be transcended by better But the paradox is that being theoretically ones. No institutional device is final. They must the best system of government, there is tidal waves involve with the evolution of the individuals. The of violence and other related problems sweeping state should work in the direction of development 7 Orissa Review * January - 2009 of non-violence at individual, community, social that if need be the whole of the country may die and national levels.
Recommended publications
  • Nonviolence and Peace Psychology

    Nonviolence and Peace Psychology

    Nonviolence and Peace Psychology For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/7298 Daniel M. Mayton II Nonviolence and Peace Psychology Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Societal, and World Peace Daniel M. Mayton II Lewis-Clark State College Lewiston ID USA ISBN 978-0-387-89347-1 e-ISBN 978-0-387-89348-8 DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-89348-8 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009922610 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword The UNESCO constitution, written in 1945, states, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” This is an appeal for peace psychology. It is a call to understand the values, philoso- phies, and competencies needed to build and maintain intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, and international peace.
  • HUMS 4904A Schedule Mondays 11:35 - 2:25 [Each Session Is in Two Halves: a and B]

    HUMS 4904A Schedule Mondays 11:35 - 2:25 [Each Session Is in Two Halves: a and B]

    CARLETON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF THE HUMANITIES Humanities 4904 A (Winter 2011) Mahatma Gandhi Across Cultures Mondays 11:35-2:25 Prof. Noel Salmond Paterson Hall 2A46 Paterson Hall 2A38 520-2600 ext. 8162 [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00 - 4:00 (Or by appointment) This seminar is a critical examination of the life and thought of one of the pivotal and iconic figures of the twentieth century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – better known as the Mahatma, the great soul. Gandhi is a bridge figure across cultures in that his thought and action were inspired by both Indian and Western traditions. And, of course, in that his influence has spread across the globe. He was shaped by his upbringing in Gujarat India and the influences of Hindu and Jain piety. He identified as a Sanatani Hindu. Yet he was also influenced by Western thought: the New Testament, Henry David Thoreau, John Ruskin, Count Leo Tolstoy. We will read these authors: Thoreau, On Civil Disobedience; Ruskin, Unto This Last; Tolstoy, A Letter to a Hindu and The Kingdom of God is Within You. We will read Gandhi’s autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, and a variety of texts from his Collected Works covering the social, political, and religious dimensions of his struggle for a free India and an India of social justice. We will read selections from his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the book that was his daily inspiration and that also, ironically, was the inspiration of his assassin. We will encounter Gandhi’s clash over communal politics and caste with another architect of modern India – Bimrao Ambedkar, author of the constitution, Buddhist convert, and leader of the “untouchable” community.
  • Nirodbaran Talks with Sri Aurobindo 01

    Nirodbaran Talks with Sri Aurobindo 01

    Talks with Sri Aurobindo Volume 1 by Nirodbaran Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry NOTE These talks are from my notebooks. For several years I used to record most of the conversations which Sri Aurobindo had with us, his attendants, and a few others, after the accident to his right leg in November 1938. Besides myself, the regular participants were: Purani, Champaklal, Satyendra, Mulshankar and Dr. Becharlal. Occasional visitors were Dr. Manilal, Dr. Rao and Dr. Savoor. As these notes were not seen by Sri Aurobindo himself, the responsibil- ity for the Master's words rests entirely with me. I do not vouch for absolute accuracy, but I have tried my best to reproduce them faithfully. I have made the same attempt for the remarks of the others. NIRODBARAN i PREFACE The eve of the November Darshan, 1938. The Ashram humming with the ar- rival of visitors. On every face signs of joy, in every look calm expectation and happiness. Everybody has retired early, lights have gone out: great occa- sion demands greater silent preparation. The Ashram is bathed in an atmos- phere of serene repose. Only one light keeps on burning in the corner room like a midnight vigil. Sri Aurobindo at work as usual. A sudden noise! A rush and hurry of feet breaking the calm sleep. 2:00 a.m. Then an urgent call to Sri Aurobindo's room. There, lying on the floor with his right knee flexed, is he, clad in white dhoti, upper body bare, the Golden Purusha. The Mother, dressed in a sari, is sitting beside him.
  • How to Choose a Political Party

    How to Choose a Political Party

    FastFACTS How to Choose a Political Party When you sign up to vote, you can join a political party. A political party is a group of people who share the same ideas about how the government should be run and what it should do. They work together to win elections. You can also choose not to join any of the political parties and still be a voter. There is no cost to join a party. How to choose a political party: • Choose a political party that has the same general views you do. For example, some political parties think that government should No Party Preference do more for people. Others feel that government should make it If you do not want to register easier for people to do things for themselves. with a political party (you • If you do not want to join a political party, mark that box on your want to be “independent” voter registration form. This is called “no party preference.” Know of any political party), mark that if you do, you may have limited choices for party candidates in “I do not want to register Presidential primary elections. with a political party” on the registration form. In • You can change your political party registration at any time. Just fill California, you can still out a new voter registration form and check a different party box. vote for any candidate in The deadline to change your party is 15 days before the election. a primary election, except If you are not registered with a political party and for Presidential candidates.
  • Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land

    Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land

    1 MEDIA EDUCATION F O U N D A T I O N 60 Masonic St. Northampton, MA 01060 | TEL 800.897.0089 | [email protected] | www.mediaed.org Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Transcript (News clips) Narrator: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominates American news coverage of International issues. Given the news coverage is America's main source of information on the conflict, it becomes important to examine the stories the news media are telling us, and to ask the question, Does the news reflect the reality on the ground? (News clips) Prof. Noam Chomsky: The West Bank and the Gaza strip are under a military occupation. It's the longest military occupation in modern history. It's entering its 35th year. It's a harsh and brutal military occupation. It's extremely violent. All the time. Life is being made unlivable by the population. Gila Svirsky: We have what is now quite an oppressive regime in the occupied territories. Israeli's are lording it over Palestinians, usurping their territory, demolishing their homes, exerting a very severe form of military rule in order to remain there. And on the other hand, Palestinians are lashing back trying to throw off the yoke of oppression from the Israelis. Alisa Solomon: I spent a day traveling around Gaza with a man named Jabra Washa, who's from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and he described the situation as complete economic and social suffocation. There's no economy, the unemployment is over 60% now. Crops can't move.
  • THE RISE of COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM Steven Levitsky and Lucan A

    THE RISE of COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM Steven Levitsky and Lucan A

    Elections Without Democracy THE RISE OF COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way Steven Levitsky is assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University. His Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Lucan A. Way is assistant professor of political science at Temple University and an academy scholar at the Academy for International and Area Studies at Harvard University. He is currently writing a book on the obstacles to authoritarian consolidation in the former Soviet Union. The post–Cold War world has been marked by the proliferation of hy- brid political regimes. In different ways, and to varying degrees, polities across much of Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbab- we), postcommunist Eurasia (Albania, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine), Asia (Malaysia, Taiwan), and Latin America (Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru) combined democratic rules with authoritarian governance during the 1990s. Scholars often treated these regimes as incomplete or transi- tional forms of democracy. Yet in many cases these expectations (or hopes) proved overly optimistic. Particularly in Africa and the former Soviet Union, many regimes have either remained hybrid or moved in an authoritarian direction. It may therefore be time to stop thinking of these cases in terms of transitions to democracy and to begin thinking about the specific types of regimes they actually are. In recent years, many scholars have pointed to the importance of hybrid regimes. Indeed, recent academic writings have produced a vari- ety of labels for mixed cases, including not only “hybrid regime” but also “semidemocracy,” “virtual democracy,” “electoral democracy,” “pseudodemocracy,” “illiberal democracy,” “semi-authoritarianism,” “soft authoritarianism,” “electoral authoritarianism,” and Freedom House’s “Partly Free.”1 Yet much of this literature suffers from two important weaknesses.
  • IV-His-EM-Gandhi and National Movement 10-Apr-2020

    IV-His-EM-Gandhi and National Movement 10-Apr-2020

    Gandhi and National Movement Gandhian Tools and Early Struggles Gandhian Ideology Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), herein after Gandhiji, was undoubtedly the most authentic and celebrated representative of the wisdom and culture of India in our times. His countrymen address him, with respect, as the Mahatma. For Many, among the greatest, Gandhiji was the great. He was a social reformer, an economist, a political philosopher and a seeker of truth. We consider him as a 'yugapurusha', one who inaugurated a new era. The contribution of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to the Indian national movement was un-paralleled. He made the Indian National Congress a peoples' Congress and the national movement a mass movement. He made people fearless and bold and taught them the non- violent method for fighting against injustice. He had a passion for individual liberty which was closely bound with his understanding of truth and self realization. His search for truth led him to make deep forays within Iiis own inner self as it led him to probe into the natural and social world around him, particularly the tradition which he considered his own. Gandhi’s philosophy was a profound engagement with modernity and its pitfalls. Against the evils of wan.ton industrialization, materialism and selfish pursuits, Gandhi suggested, in , turn, swadeshi, primacy of the self and trusteeship; against the institution of state, as the force personified, and the prevalent notion of democracy where only heads are counted, he - favored a swaraj type of democracy where everything springs from the free individual and where decisions are made bottom-up with the locus of power below.
  • Noam Chomsky: Turning the Tide

    Noam Chomsky: Turning the Tide

    NOAM CHOMSKY TURNING THE TIDE US Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace ESSENTIAL CLASSICS IN POLITICS: NOAM CHOMSKY EB 0007 ISBN 0 7453 1345 0 London 1999 The Electric Book Company Ltd Pluto Press Ltd 20 Cambridge Drive 345 Archway Rd London SE12 8AJ, UK London N6 5AA, UK www.elecbook.com www.plutobooks.com © Noam Chomsky 1999 Limited printing and text selection allowed for individual use only. All other reproduction, whether by printing or electronically or by any other means, is expressly forbidden without the prior permission of the publishers. This file may only be used as part of the CD on which it was first issued. TURNING THE TIDE US Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace Noam Chomsky 4 Copyright 1985 by Noam Chomsky Manufactured in the USA Production at South End Press, Boston Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Chomsky, Noam Turning the tide. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Central America—Politics and government—1979- . 2. Violence—Central America—History—20th century. 3. Civil rights—Central America—History—20th century. 4. Central America—Foreign relations—United States. 5. United States— Foreign relations—Central America. I. Title F1 436. 8. U6 1985 327. 728073 ISBN: 0-7453-0184-3 Digital processing by The Electric Book Company 20 Cambridge Drive, London SE12 8AJ, UK www.elecbook.com Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky 5 Contents Click on number to go to page Introduction................................................................................. 8 1. Free World Vignettes .............................................................. 11 1. The Miseries of Traditional Life.............................................. 15 2. Challenge and Response: Nicaragua......................................
  • 'Peace Process' Prospects

    'Peace Process' Prospects

    5 ‘Peace The latest AP report from Camp David (evening, July 25) begins: ‘The Middle East Process’ peace talks at Camp David collapsed Tuesday Prospects over rival claims to East Jerusalem. Disappointed, President Clinton said he tried several approaches but could not come up with a solution.’ Clinton expressed hope that the process would continue to a resolution of the East Jerusalem problem, at which point the fundamental outstanding issue would have been overcome. To have a sense of what is taking place, it is useful to back off a few steps and to look at the Noam Chomsky immediate events from a somewhat broader perspective. Any discussion of what is called a ‘peace process’ – whether the one underway at Camp David or any other – should keep in mind the operative meaning of the phrase: by definition, the ‘peace process’ is whatever the US government happens to be pursuing. Having grasped that essential principle, one can understand that a peace process can be advanced by Washington’s clearly-proclaimed efforts to undermine peace. To illustrate, in January 1988 the press reported Secretary of State George Shultz’s ‘peace trip’ to Central America under the headline ‘Latin Peace Trip by Shultz Planned.’ The subheading explained the goal: ‘Mission Would Be Last-Ditch Effort to Defuse Opposition on Contra Aid.’ Administration officials elaborated that the ‘peace mission’ was ‘the only way to save’ aid to the contras in the face of ‘growing congressional opposition.’ The timing is important. In August 1987, over strong US objections, the Central American presidents had reached a peace Noam Chomsky is Professor agreement for the bitter Central American of Linguistics at the conflicts: the Esquipulas Accords.
  • Partment of Political Affairs - Security Council Affairs Division Security Council Practices and Charter Research Branch

    Partment of Political Affairs - Security Council Affairs Division Security Council Practices and Charter Research Branch

    ADVANCE VERSION Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council 20th Supplement 2016-2017 Department of Political Affairs - Security Council Affairs Division Security Council Practices and Charter Research Branch Part III Purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations Repertoire website: http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council ADVANCE VERSION 20th Supplement (2016 – 2017) Contents Introductory note ................................................................................................................. 2 I. The principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples under Article 1, paragraph 2.......................................................................................................................... 3 Note ..................................................................................................................................... 3 A. Decisions relating to Article 1 (2) .................................................................................. 3 B. Constitutional discussion relating to Article 1 (2) ......................................................... 5 C. Invocation of the principle enshrined in Article 1 (2) in other instances ....................... 6 II. Prohibition of the threat or use of force under Article 2, paragraph 4 ........................... 8 Note ..................................................................................................................................... 8 A. Decisions relating to Article
  • Bertrand Russell's Work for Peace [To 1960]

    Bertrand Russell's Work for Peace [To 1960]

    �rticles BERTRAND RUSSELL’S WORK FOR PEACE [TO 1960] Bertrand Russell and Edith Russell Bertrand Russell may not have been aware of it, but he wrote part of the dossier that was submitted on his behalf for the Nobel Peace Prize. Before he had turned from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to the Committee of 100 and subsequent campaigns of the 1960s, his wife, Edith, was asked by his publisher, Sir Stanley Unwin, for an account of his work for peace. Unwin’s purpose is not known, but it is not incompatible with the next use of the document. Lady Russell responded: You have set me a task which I am especially glad to do, and I enclose a screed made up of remarks which I have extracted (the word is deliberate!) from my husband since the arrival of your letter. If there is any more information about any part of his work for peacez—zwhich has been and is, much more intensive and absorbing than this enclosure sounds as if it werez—z I should be glad to provide it if I can and if you will let me know. (7 Aug. 1960) The dictation, and her subsequent completion of the narrative (at RA1 220.024190), have not previously been published, though the “screed” was used several times. She had taken the dictation on 6 August 1960 and by next day had completed the account. Russell corrected her typescript by hand. Next we learn that Joseph Rotblat, Secretary-General of Pugwash, enclosed for her, on 2 March 1961, a copy of the “ex­ tracts” that were “sent to Norway” (RA1 625).
  • IS the WORLD on the ROAD to PEACE OR WAR? Hans Blix

    IS the WORLD on the ROAD to PEACE OR WAR? Hans Blix

    SIPRI Lecxture IS THE WORLD ON THE ROAD TO PEACE OR WAR? hans blix SIPRI Lecture 01 STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The Governing Board is not responsible for the views expressed in the publications of the Institute. GOVERNING BOARD Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Chair (Sweden) Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar (Indonesia) Dr Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi (Algeria) Espen Barth Eide (Norway) Jean-Marie Guéhenno (France) Dr Radha Kumar (India) Dr Patricia Lewis (Ireland/United Kingdom) Dr Jessica Tuchman Mathews (United States) DIRECTOR Dan Smith (United Kingdom) © SIPRI 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of SIPRI or as expressly permitted by law. Is the world on the road to peace or war? SIPRI Annual Lecture No. 1 hans blix Preface On 28 May 2018, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute proudly hosted the inaugural SIPRI Lecture, in the presence of His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf and Her Majesty Queen Silvia. The conceptional basis for the SIPRI Lecture recognizes oration as particularly important in light of today’s impulsive media landscape. A monograph may strug- gle to captivate a reader’s attention while short interviews may reduce nuances to soundbites. A lecture allows for the articulation of complex thoughts while directly engaging with an audience.