Kenneth Boulding, "Stable Peace"

"The quest for peace must be part of an evolutionary process."


"Stable Peace" looks at the question of peace in very practical terms. The type of peace that Kenneth Boulding, an economist and peace activist/researcher, focuses on in this book is the absence of war rather than other positive or negative manifestations associated with the term. Boulding offers a peace-war model that is based on strengths and strains; strengths leading to peaceful situations and strains leading to instances of war. In such a model, myriad variables enter into what increases the strain or strength of a given state, including memories of past oppressions, the professionalization of the military, political structures, etc. He sees the dynamic of peace as one that is evolutionary and gradual rather than, as is often popularly represented, revolutionary. His proposal for international peace policy therefore seeks to foster an evolutionary process rather reaching equilibrium. Concrete examples of his proposal include 1) removing boundaries from political agendas, 2) pursuing a "Graduated and Reciprocated Initiative in Tension Reduction" (GRIT) in which interactions between international bodies involve an indefinite cycle of actions and reactions in the form of decisions and acts, 3) exploring and practicing nonviolence, 4) transforming the military into a peacekeeping organization, 5) "national policies for strengthening the structure of world political organizations," in large part to facilitate disarmament, 6) policies geared toward nongovernmental organizations, and 7) policies emphasizing peace research. Boulding sketches policies that do not seek perfect peace between international bodies, but rather stable peace fostered by evolving open and positive relationships.

Citation Information:
Boulding, K. E. (1978). Stable peace. Austin: University of Texas Press.