Peace

Why this chapter matters for UPSC: Peace theory underpins every international relations question in GS2 — from UN peacekeeping to nuclear disarmament, arms control treaties to India's foreign policy doctrine. The distinction between negative and positive peace, just war criteria, and peace-building vs peacekeeping concepts are tested in both Prelims and Mains essays.

Contemporary hook: The Russia-Ukraine war (2022-present), Israel-Hamas conflict (2023-present), and India's consistent stand on dialogue-based resolution at the UN General Assembly reflect live debates on the nature of peace, the limits of just war theory, and the relevance of non-violence in contemporary world politics.

PART 1 — Quick Reference Tables

Negative Peace vs Positive Peace

Just War Theory — Criteria

Key Arms Control Treaties

India's Arms Control Positions

PART 2 — Detailed Notes

What is Peace?

The common-sense understanding of peace as "no war" is what Johan Galtung (Norwegian peace theorist) called negative peace. True or positive peace requires:

• Justice and equality (no structural violence — poverty, discrimination)
• Human rights and dignity
• Cooperation between peoples and nations
• Environmental sustainability (environmental violence as a threat to peace)

Violence is not only physical:

• Direct violence: War, terrorism, murder
• Structural violence: Poverty, discrimination, deprivation built into institutions (a society where people die of preventable diseases due to inequality)
• Cultural violence: Norms, ideologies that justify direct and structural violence (racism, casteism, religious extremism)

Gandhi and Non-Violence

Gandhi's Peace Philosophy:

• Means and ends are inseparable: Violent means cannot produce a peaceful end. A free India achieved through violence would carry violence in its foundations.
• Individual transformation: Peace begins with inner transformation — overcoming greed, anger, fear. Social peace requires personal non-violence.
• Sarvodaya: "Welfare of all" — peace cannot be peace for one nation/class if achieved at the expense of others.
• Constructive programme: Gandhi believed peace requires building just institutions, not just opposing unjust ones.

Gandhi's influence globally:

• Martin Luther King Jr. (US Civil Rights Movement) — explicitly modelled his strategy on Gandhian non-violence
• Nelson Mandela (anti-apartheid, South Africa) — drew on Gandhi's South Africa period
• Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar) — cited Gandhian non-violence (though subsequently contested)

Just War Theory

The just war tradition is centuries old (Augustine, Aquinas, Grotius) but remains the primary moral framework for evaluating the legitimacy of armed conflict.

Two parts:

1. Jus ad bellum (justice in going to war) — criteria for when it is permissible to start a war
2. Jus in bello (justice in the conduct of war) — rules governing behaviour once war begins (forms the basis of international humanitarian law/Geneva Conventions)

Modern just war debates:

• Self-defence: Article 51 of the UN Charter permits states to use force in self-defence — the one universally accepted "just cause" in international law.
• Humanitarian intervention: Is it just to go to war to protect civilians in another country from genocide? NATO's Kosovo intervention (1999), Libya intervention (2011) — debated cases.
• Pre-emptive vs preventive war: Pre-emptive (attack imminent) may be justified; preventive (attack not imminent but feared) is much harder to justify under just war criteria. US Iraq War 2003 used "preventive" logic and remains highly contested.
• Terrorism and just war: Non-state actors (terrorists) don't follow jus in bello; does this change the rules for states fighting them?

Nuclear Weapons and Peace

Arguments for deterrence:

• No world war since 1945 — the "Long Peace" is partly attributed to nuclear deterrence
• Rationalist model: Leaders are deterred by the catastrophic consequences
• Stability: States with nuclear weapons rarely fight direct wars with each other

Arguments against nuclear deterrence:

• Near misses: Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Able Archer exercise (1983), Stanislav Petrov incident (1983) — deterrence nearly failed multiple times
• Irrational actors: Deterrence assumes rational decision-makers — not guaranteed
• Proliferation risk: More nuclear states = more risk (Pakistan-India, North Korea)
• Accidental launch: Technical failures, miscommunication
• Humanitarian catastrophe: No "winnable" nuclear war; even a limited nuclear exchange causes nuclear winter affecting global food supply

India's Nuclear Doctrine:

• No First Use (NFU): India will not be the first to use nuclear weapons
• Massive retaliation: In case of nuclear attack on India, response will be punishing
• Civilian control: Nuclear command authority rests with the Political Council (PM at head)
• Non-weaponisation against non-nuclear states: Will not threaten non-nuclear states

United Nations and Peace

UN's role in maintaining peace:

1. UN Security Council (UNSC):

   • 15 members: 5 permanent (P5: US, Russia, UK, France, China) + 10 non-permanent (2-year terms)
   • Primary responsibility for international peace and security
   • Can impose sanctions, authorise force, refer cases to ICC

2. UN General Assembly (UNGA):

   • All 193 member states; one country, one vote
   • Makes recommendations but not binding decisions on peace and security
   • Can act when UNSC is deadlocked (Uniting for Peace Resolution)

3. UN Peacekeeping:

   • Blue Helmets deployed to conflict zones with consent of parties
   • Mandate: Monitor ceasefires, protect civilians, support elections, help post-conflict reconstruction
   • India is among the largest troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions (has contributed over 2.5 lakh troops since 1950, with 180+ soldiers killed in service)
   • Current missions: India deploys troops to multiple active missions (South Sudan, Congo, Lebanon, etc.)

UN peace-building vs peacekeeping:

Panchsheel and India's Peace Doctrine

Limitations of Panchsheel in practice:

• China violated Panchsheel by attacking India in 1962 — a major diplomatic setback
• Critics argue non-interference can shield authoritarian regimes from accountability
• Tension between Panchsheel (sovereignty) and R2P (humanitarian intervention) in modern discourse

India's broader peace doctrine:

• Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): Founded 1955, Bandung Conference — India under Nehru was a founding force
• Strategic Autonomy: India refuses to join military blocs; preserves independent foreign policy
• "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (World is One Family): Cited by India at G20 (2023 Presidency) as its civilisational approach to peace

PART 3 — Frameworks & Analysis

Peace — Multiple Dimensions for Mains

Peace as a spectrum:

• No war → Negative peace → Positive peace → Just peace
• Gandhi would argue even "negative peace" under oppression is not true peace

Causes of war (three levels analysis):

• Individual level: Human nature (aggression, greed) — Hobbes' view
• State level: Internal politics — democracies more peaceful? (Democratic Peace Theory — democracies rarely fight each other)
• International level: Anarchy — no world government to enforce peace

Democratic Peace Theory:

• Immanuel Kant's "Perpetual Peace" (1795) — republics won't fight each other
• Empirical finding: Democracies have almost never fought other democracies (though they fight non-democracies)
• Explanation: Shared values, public accountability, economic interdependence
• Critique: Doesn't prevent democracies from fighting authoritarian states; recent democratic backsliding complicates the theory

India's Approach to Peace — Summary Framework

India's peace philosophy integrates:

1. Gandh'is ahimsa — non-violence as first principle
2. Panchsheel — sovereignty-based peaceful coexistence
3. NAM — strategic autonomy, oppose military blocs
4. UN multilateralism — reform the system from within
5. Nuclear doctrine — minimum credible deterrence + NFU

Exam Strategy

Prelims traps:

• Panchsheel was signed in 1954 (India-China Tibet trade agreement) — not 1955 (which was Bandung Conference)
• NPT recognises 5 nuclear weapon states — US, Russia, UK, France, China. India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea are outside NPT
• CTBT is not in force — US, China, India, Pakistan, Israel have not ratified it
• UN peacekeeping — India is a top troop contributor, not a P5 member of UNSC
• International Day of Non-Violence = October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti)

Mains frameworks:

• On peace and conflict: Negative peace vs positive peace → structural violence → Galtung framework → India's approach (Panchsheel, NAM, UN) → contemporary challenges
• On nuclear disarmament: Deterrence theory → near misses → humanitarian costs → NPT discrimination → India's stand → way forward (TPNW, CTBT ratification)
• On UN reform: UNSC veto → India's case for permanent seat → P4+1 coalition → reform proposals → prospects

Previous Year Questions

Prelims:

1. Which of the following is the correct sequence for 'Just War' criteria? (a) Just cause, right intention, last resort, proportionality (b) Just cause, first strike, proportionality, victory (c) Self-defence, pre-emption, deterrence, retaliation (d) Sovereignty, non-interference, coexistence, deterrence

2. With reference to Panchsheel, consider the following:

   1. It was adopted at the Bandung Conference 1955
   2. Non-interference in internal affairs is one of the five principles
   3. India and China signed it as part of a Tibet trade agreement Which is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 only (c) 2 and 3 (d) All three

Mains:

3. "Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice." Examine this statement in the context of Johan Galtung's concept of positive peace and India's foreign policy approach. (GS2, 15 marks)

4. Critically analyse the theory of nuclear deterrence. Is India's No First Use (NFU) policy consistent with the logic of deterrence? Discuss. (GS2, 10 marks)