ISSN: 2151-0806
Vol. 6, Issue 3 July, 2013
Power, Peace and the Political: Arendt’s Alternative to Perpetual Peace Author: Anya Topolski, Ph.D. FWO Postdoctoral Fellow Center for Ethical, Social and Political Philosophy KULeuven - University of Leuven Vesaliusstraat 2, # 3225, Office 2.20 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail: Anya.Topolski@hiw.kuleuven.be
POWER, PEACE AND THE POLITICAL: ARENDT’S ALTERNATIVE TO PERPETUAL PEACE (Essay) Abstract Why is it whenever we speak about peace, we begin by referring to war? Pacifism, rather than being defined as pro-peace, is seen as an ‘anti-war’ ideology. Peace activists do not march for peace; they protest war. It seems that our definitions of peace are always defined in relation to war. I think the answer lies in the most oft-quoted adage about war and peace, to be found in On War by Carl von Clausewitz: “To secure peace is to prepare for war ... war is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by other means” (1976, 28-32). Sadly, our ability to reflect on peace without reference to war has been dramatically limited by such thinkers as well as the reality of human history that often seems to be nothing but a series of wars temporarily interrupted by moments of peace.1 No exception to this trend, Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) nonetheless sought to appreciate peace on its own terms and not on those of war or violence. Thanks to her idiosyncratic approach to the political – the source of both immense inspiration and frustration to her readers – one can unearth a notion of peace that is not simply the cessation of war. Arendt’s notion of political peace is a powerful one, rooted in plurality and relationality that arises from horizontal relations of solidarity between people. By contrast to many notions of peace that have become part of our contemporary game of politics, it is thus neither rooted in a notion of sovereignty, nor is it connected to a vertical hierarchy of violence (or the threat of violence). Given humanity’s failure to create real peace, it is perhaps time to realise how problematic it is that our definition of peace is determined by our notion of war. In order to shed Peace Studies Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 3, July 2013
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