WORLD
PEACE FORCE
—100
YEARS FOR TRANSITION
SYNOPSIS:
This chapter will explore the various problems
that must be overcome before a World Peace Force
will be fully in charge of peace on Earth.
When we speak of such a long period of transition,
we acknowledge that no particular generation of humans
will be in charge of the ultimate outcome.
But we also know that even such a long journey
will never be completed
unless it begins
sometime.
OUTLINE:
1.
WHEN WILL THE TRANSITION BEGIN?
2.
THE OLD FORMS OF LAW-AND-ORDER
WILL REMAIN IN
PLACE UNTIL THEY ARE NO LONGER
NEEDED.
3.
MAJOR RESISTANCE TO THE WORLD PEACE FORCE
CAN BE
EXPECTED FROM POLITICAL AND MILITARY
LEADERS.
4.
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS IN SMALL COUNTRIES
AS THE FIRST
STEPS TOWARD A WORLD PEACE FORCE.
A. Example—Sudan.
B. Peace-Keeping in Small Nations is Not
Controversial.
C. Successful Deployment of the World Peace Force
Will Prove its Value.
WORLD
PEACE FORCE
—100
YEARS FOR TRANSITION
by
James Leonard Park
1. WHEN WILL THE
TRANSITION
BEGIN?
Perhaps only in retrospect will it be possible to
say
just when the era of world peace began.
It might even be said that some of the efforts in the early 21st century
marked the beginning of the long transition to world peace.
Even early efforts that did not work
might later be seen as the beginning of a turn in world consciousness
so that people were more
concerned about the peace of our planet
than the power of any
nation-state.
2. THE OLD FORMS OF
LAW-AND-ORDER
WILL REMAIN IN PLACE UNTIL THEY
ARE NO LONGER NEEDED.
As we begin to imagine a new
Earth at peace,
we recognize that right now national military forces
are in charge of world order.
Most importantly, the United States of America
has been acting as the enforcer of its views.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say
that the President of the United States
took charge of world order in the early 21st century.
George W. Bush took military action in 2003 in Iraq
because there seemed to be no other way to solve the problem.
President Barack Obama took a different
approach, beginning in 2009.
And most U.S. military action in Iraq came to an end in 2012.
The previous state of affairs emerged
not because of any international decisions
to make the USA the enforcer of world peace and security.
But it was a decision-by-default:
No other national military force was strong enough to take over Iraq.
And perhaps other countries decided
that it was not proper
for them to attempt
to enforce their ideas of law-and-order on the world.
We might refer back to an earlier time when the
world was ruled
by the Pax Britannia—peace
enforced on the world
by the power of the royal navy and various colonial armed forces.
But the British Empire has now disappeared.
And it will not re-emerge.
It was not really replaced by the Pax Americana
because the United States of America
did not actually own
other territories as colonies.
And the military forces of the USA
were not used as the police forces
of other nations—with
a few minor exceptions,
which were always protested
by a significant segment of the American population.
And usually the Congress of the USA
was the means by which foreign military adventures
begun by the President of the United States were ended.
A useful analogy might be the old west in the USA.
Before recognized sheriffs and their deputies enforced law-and-order,
each individual in the wild west had a gun
in order to protect himself or herself from
hostile Indians and outlaws.
In many cases, such ad-hoc 'justice' was not really justice.
It was whatever order the
armed people thought they should
impose.
But over a period of perhaps 50 years,
real law-and-order did emerge in the wild west.
And it was no longer necessary for each individual to carry a gun.
And now the emergence of modern means of communication
has made it mostly unnecessary for individuals to own guns.
It is better to call the local police to deal with outlaws.
There will probably never be a time in human history
when police will no longer be necessary.
There might be some advanced cultures
where the people are so peaceful that the police are rarely needed.
But even in the most law-abiding societies,
there will always be a few individuals who violate the laws
and who need to be controlled by the established police
forces.
The same is true on the international scale:
Law-and-order on the planet Earth
must be maintained by national military forces
until there is a better
World Police Force
that can replace the ad-hoc, self-appointed
sheriff of
the world.
There have been meaningful international efforts to
create peace.
And we should expect more moves toward planetary peace
during the 100 years of transition to the World Peace Force.
When rogue nations such as Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan
decided to take over the world,
the rest of the world was unified in opposing them.
The Second World War, 1939-1945,
was a genuine combined effort of the peaceful nations of the Earth
to resist the attempt of the Axis powers to rule the world.
The Korean war, 1949-1954, was also an international
effort
coordinated by the United Nations
to prevent North Korea from taking over South Korea.
Since then, we have seen more unilateral efforts by
the United States
to impose its will on other nations such as Vietnam and Iraq.
In Vietnam we claimed we were fighting Communism.
In Iraq we claimed we were fighting terrorism.
The war in Afghanistan was more international in
scope
than the American occupation of Iraq.
Several other nations besides the USA were meaningfully involved
in trying to settle the problems of Afghanistan.
If and when a World Peace Force emerges,
then the WPF will be the logical military force to call upon
whenever law-and-order breaks down anywhere on planet Earth.
When the WPF has one million
men and women armed and ready,
then national military forces
will be a relic of the past.
Just as there will always be a need for police
in the city of Minneapolis, where I live,
since there will always be a fringe population of law-violators,
so there will always be a need for the World Peace Force,
since there will always be a fringe of political and military leaders
who will lead their tribes or nations into behavior
no longer accepted by the world community.
As the city police become more effective in
enforcing the law,
there is less need for individual citizens
to take responsibility to enforce law-and-order.
Most major cities still do have problems with gun-toting criminals.
But with each gun taken off the streets,
the people become more safe.
And as law-and-order is better established in
our local communities,
the demand by law-abiding citizens to own guns becomes less valid.
But there will always be a need for armed police
to control the armed criminals.
3. MAJOR RESISTANCE TO
THE
WORLD PEACE FORCE
CAN BE EXPECTED FROM POLITICAL AND
MILITARY LEADERS.
Because the world is so familiar with national
military forces,
the peoples of the world will not believe that any World Peace Force
will work until it actually proves
effective in real battles.
And the national military heritage of each nation
will also be a barrier to developing a World Peace Force.
National pride and the honor extended to soldiers
who lost their lives
in various wars
will not be diminished until world
pride and honor
is extended to soldiers who
lost their lives defending world peace.
This is one significant reason that 100 years will
be
required
to make the transition to the World Peace Force.
Past generations of national pride will not easily disappear.
It will take two or three generations of new experiences
before the military culture
of any nation will diminish.
And there will be a long period of overlap
when national military forces will be maintained
while the World Peace Force finds its footing.
Already it has been 75 years
since the first
and
last use of
the atomic bomb.
But the United States is still a long way from giving up this
weapon.
Such voluntary disarmament will not take place
until we citizens of the USA are convinced
that nuclear weapons are no
longer needed.
Will the USA keep its nuclear missiles
until after a credible World
Peace Force
has shown by its successes
that it can enforce
the peace even better
than nuclear arms deployed by various nation-states?
4. INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS IN
SMALL COUNTRIES
AS THE FIRST STEPS TOWARD A WORLD
PEACE FORCE.
Because all national leaders will be leery of any
World Peace Force,
they will keep control of their national military forces
for as long as such armed forces are needed
—or
as long as the national leaders can convince their people
to support national armed forces.
But perhaps small military actions of a
few thousand soldiers
drawn from the national military forces of various nations
and used to enforce law-and-order in small nations
where the government has not been able to maintain peace and security
will be a transitional phase toward a World Peace Force.
A. Example—Sudan.
For example, Sudan was an ethnically-divided nation
in Africa.
In 2011 Sudan was divided into two countries.
Similar situations might arise in other African
nations.
When ethnic strife becomes actual civil war,
international military forces could prevent further violence
and killing.
And if these soldiers are mostly from other nations in Africa,
it will not be seen as an attempt to revive Western imperialism.
The soldiers and the people they protect will have the same skin-color.
If soldiers from different nations in Africa
—speaking
different languages
and supported by disparate populations in their home countries—
can
in fact end ethnic
violence,
then this will be a small example of international cooperation
that might become a model for international
peace-keeping.
It might even become necessary to establish
a semi-permanent force of troops from other nations
because the government of Sudan is too identified with one ethnic group.
(And the president has been indicted for committing genocide.)
If the national armed forces of Sudan
cannot be trusted to maintain peace and security,
then other soldiers will have to take that responsibility.
When small nations descend into civil war,
other nations might have to end the bloodshed and preserve peace
until a new form of government emerges.
Will it be possible to stop the fighting
without favoring one ethnic group over other groups?
If and when that happens, the international forces could depart.
If there were a World Peace Force,
this would likely become the standard pattern
for handling internal strife and small civil wars:
There would be no delays
while the nations decide what to do:
As soon as it is known that genocide is happening,
the World Peace Force would
be there
with soldiers to separate the factions that want to kill one another.
The solution in Sudan divides the
country into two parts,
so that the basic tribal groups no longer need to fight.
This was actually accomplished in 2011,
with an ill-defined border between the two parts of the former Sudan.
International peace-keepers might be needed for a few more
years.
B.
Peace-Keeping in Small Nations is Not
Controversial.
The nations of the West had no national interests in
Sudan.
Outsiders only wanted the humanitarian goal of ending violence.
There was no particular reason to favor one ethnic group over another.
If there were a small World Peace Force already in
existence,
there would be near-unanimous approval for deploying those soldiers
to create and maintain peace in Sudan or other similar situations.
At first, it might be necessary to use troops
who do not speak the languages of the groups in conflict.
But once the killing stops,
then more appropriate soldiers can be employed to maintain the peace
over however many years are required
before the nation is able to handle its own internal affairs once again.
In small counties, political changes might mark an emerging solution.
However, it will never be the role of the World
Peace Force
to favor any one form of government over others.
The WPF is only there to prevent
killing.
Then the people will have to settle their disputes peacefully.
The people of each country will establish their own
government,
which will then enforce local and national law-and-order.
C. Successful
Deployment of the World Peace Force
Will Prove its Value.
After the World Peace Force (or similar
international efforts)
have actually been able to maintain the peace in a few small countries,
the peoples of the world will find it more reasonable and natural
to call upon the WPF than to send their own national
troops.
With each successful story of the World Peace Force
ending violent conflict in small, troubled nations
the reputation of the World Peace Force will grow.
There will be more financial support for the WPF
from everyone who
cares about peace.
And the children of the world will learn
that peace can be maintained by armed men and women
who do not work for
any of the nation-states of the planet Earth.
When children grow up in a world
where there are representatives of the World Peace Force
already stationed in every place on the Earth,
then the WPF will seem as reasonable as having local police.
As each succeeding generation
experiences the benefits of the World Peace Force,
the WPF will become a more 'natural' part of world
history.
When trouble breaks out anywhere on the Earth,
everyone will think first of the WPF
rather than beginning debate about sending in their national soldiers.
The world will realize that
the total cost of peace-keeping
is much less with the
World Peace Force
than when every nation had its own military forces.
As support for the World Peace Force grows,
support for national military forces will diminish.
And after about 100 years of success,
the armies, navies, & air forces of all of the nations on Earth
can be phased out—because
they are no longer needed.
AUTHOR:
James Park is an independent philosopher
living and
writing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Much more will be discovered about him on his website:
James
Leonard Park—Free
Library
World
Peace
Force—Early
Thinking
This
link leads to a collection of other essays
dealing with various dimensions of the proposed World Peace Force.
Created
October 4, 2008; Revised 11-22-2008;
1-29-2009; 3-27-2009; 5-6-2009;
5-8-2009;
3-25-2011; 9-29-2011; 10-21-2011;
2-1-2013; 8-29-2013; 9-17-2013;
9-23-2013;
8-15-2014; 4-8-2015; 7-16-2015; 8-5-2015; 4-22-2016; 1-4-2017;
12-9-2020;