Armed Peace
Armed peace, like many concepts in social and political sciences, does not have a single definition. Some equate it with the absence of war, while others associate it with the concept of security.
From the perspective of international relations theories, the realization of peace depends on various prerequisites. Realists believe that a balance of power prevents war, while idealists and liberals see cooperation and the pursuit of democracy as the path to peace.
Critical theory emphasizes the role of non-governmental and consultative organizations in achieving peace.
Constructivists consider the dominance of Kantian and Lockean cultures in international relations and among countries as factors for peace. Normative theories incorporate ethical imperatives and issues of rights and justice in defining peace.
Ideology plays a significant role in the view of peace. One ideology might interpret peace as weakness or even betrayal of ideals, while another might see it as diplomacy, dialogue, and equality.
Here, we are not seeking to define peace and its propositions, as that requires a separate discussion. The focus is on peace in its general sense.
In its general sense, peace refers to the actions of individuals or groups to end conflicts and establish relations based on diplomacy.
The second concept is terror. Terror precisely embodies the view that interprets peace as betrayal or deviation from ideals, aiming to eliminate the results of peaceful actions by targeting peace advocates.
These concepts can evoke different meanings in each country. This text attempts to provide four examples to further explain these two concepts, even though the geographical and temporal dimensions of these examples vary.
United States
In U.S. history, four presidents have been assassinated. However, what relates to the topic of this text is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, in 1865. In the early 1860s, a civil war broke out in the U.S. between the southern states, which supported slavery, and the northern states.
The southern states wanted an independent confederation from the northern states and opposed the abolition of slavery and granting voting rights to black people. However, President Lincoln’s demand was the abolition of slavery, which led to the defeat of the southern states, the abolition of slavery, and the end of the civil war.
This was not the end, as the peace advocate, President Lincoln, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a supporter of slavery and opponent of granting voting rights to slaves, on April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theatre.
India
India’s independence from Britain was achieved in 1947 under the leadership of great figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Gandhi, as a leader and advocate of non-violence, was highly influential in India’s struggle for independence.
Immediately after independence, the issue of the separation of Muslims from Hindus led to the formation of the countries of West Pakistan and East Pakistan (Bangladesh), which faced strong opposition from Hindu nationalists.
Nationalists considered Gandhi’s peaceful and non-violent approach as the main reason for this separation. Thus, on January 30, 1948, an individual named Nathuram Godse assassinated Gandhi in the courtyard of a residential complex.
From the nationalist perspective, the formation of the Muslim country of Pakistan was seen as secessionism. They did not recognize rights for Muslims and could not prevent the separation of Pakistan.
For Gandhi, peace meant the necessity or coexistence of Muslims and Hindus.
Egypt
After the sudden death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt in 1970, who had severe hostility towards Israel and had experienced two wars with Israel in 1956 and 1967, Anwar Sadat succeeded him. Initially, Sadat followed Nasser’s hostile approach towards Israel, leading to the Six-Day War with Israel in 1973. However, his stance gradually shifted after the war, moving from hostility to a period of peace and reconciliation with Israel, culminating in the Camp David Accords in 1978.
However, this peace came at the cost of his assassination, and three years later, on October 6, 1981, he was assassinated by Khalid Islambouli, an Islamist opposed to peace with Israel.
The signing of the Camp David Accords led to Sadat from Egypt and Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.
Israel
About 17 years after the Camp David Accords, which led to Egypt being the first Arab country to reconcile with Israel, the issue of Arab-Israeli peace entered its first theoretical and practical steps.
With U.S. mediation, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority entered peace negotiations known as the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s, emphasizing the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the recognition of Israel by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).
In 1995, the Oslo II Accords were also signed. However, this compromise was not accepted by the Jewish extremists in Israel, and a young extremist named Yigal Amir assassinated Yitzhak Rabin by shooting him on November 4, 1995, in Tel Aviv.
Interpretations
Slavery in the U.S. was abolished through Lincoln’s actions, and although racial discrimination has remained a significant issue in American society, slavery in its past form did not resurface in this country.
Gandhi’s assassination could not prevent Pakistan’s independence and its return to Indian territory. The disputes between Pakistan and India have persisted for decades after the independence of both countries, and recently, with the rise of the nationalist party in India, Muslims in this country have faced increased pressure.
Sadat’s peace with Israel in the 1970s, although it did not have immediate results for other Arab countries, led to Jordan entering this phase in the 1990s, and nearly 20 years later, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain joined this trend.
This peace was pursued by Egypt more in line with its own goals, and with the Camp David Accords, Israel evacuated the Sinai Peninsula, which it had occupied in the 1967 war. Egypt’s peace policy with Israel continued and did not change even with the Arab Spring and the rise to power of Mohamed Morsi.
Rabin’s peace with Arafat, which initiated the formation of two states in Palestine, recognized some Palestinian rights in a limited area. However, the results of this peace were not extensively implemented, and numerous challenges have emerged in this area, especially after Hamas’s victory in the 2006 elections and the subsequent war between Fatah and Hamas in 2007 and beyond.