Global Violence and a Just World Order
| Author | Samuel S. Kim |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234338402100208 |
| Date | 01 June 1984 |
| Published date | 01 June 1984 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Global
Violence
and
a
Just
World
Order*
SAMUEL
S.
KIM
Department
of
Political
Science,
Monmouth
College
and
World
Policy
Institute,
New
York
Conceptualizing
a
just
and
humane
world
order
in
terms
of
the
minimization
of
violence
in
both
a
narrow
(direct/physical)
and
broad
(indirect/structural)
sense,
this
paper
suggests
an
’epidemiological
approach’
to
the
study
of
the
global
security
problematique.
Based
on
a
broad
and
integrated
notion
of
’social
health’,
as
found
in
the
Constitution
of
the
World
Health
Organization,
the
paper
argues
that
war/peace
needs
to
be
more
broadly
understood
in
terms
of
the
domestic
and
international
structures
and
processes
at
work.
Specifically,
the
paper
(1)
examines
the
dynamics
of
global
violence
in
both
ideological
and
structural
dimensions,
(2)
evaluates
the
consequences
of
global
violence
in
terms
of
its
life-destroying,
life-diminishing,
life-devaluing,
and
life-degrading
effects
in
four
world
order
value
domains,
and
(3)
explains
the
global
security
problematique
as
a
cluster
of
interwoven
and
interacting
conceptual,
normaltive,
psychological,
and
structural
variables
that
together
sustain
the
maladaptive
elite
behavior
of
pursuing
’peace’
by
preparing
for
war.
By
way
of
conclusion,
the
paper
briefly
assesses
the
prospect
of
a
relevant
utopia
(a
demilitarized
world
order)
and
suggests
five
’principled
processes’
that
should
guide
our
journey
from
here
to
there,
the
world
order
transition
to
a
more
peaceful,
humane,
just,
and
safe
future.
I.
The
epidemiology
of
global
violence
Human
security
has
both
positive
and
negative
dimensions.
The
minimization
of
violence,
or
the
maximization
of
nonviolence,
in
both
a
narrow
(direct/physical)
and
broad
(indirect/
structural)
sense
is
what
a
just
and
humane
world
order
is
all
about.
If
we
see
this
planet
as
a
web
of
interconnected
ecosystems
-
and
follow
Plato’s
analogy
of
politics
to
medicine
as
the
art
of
healing
the
soul
and
of
helping
the
body
polity
-
violence
can
be
defined
as
a
pathological
element
that
destroys
or
dimin-
ishes
life-sustaining
and
life-enhancing
proces-
ses,
hence
the
principal
source
of
human
insecurity.
Violence
may
be
direct,
killing
swiftly
through
war,
or
indirect,
killing
slowly
and
invisibly
through
poverty,
hunger,
disease,
repression,
and
ecocide.
Violence,
like
disease,
is
inherently
anti-life,
and
is
antithetical
to
human
security.
In
our time
war
has
increasingly
become
the
tip
of
the
iceberg,
the
most
visible
part
of
a
militarized
global
structure.
War/peace
there-
fore
needs
to
be
more
broadly
understood
in
terms
of
the
domestic
and
international
structures
and
processes
at
work. ’In
this
essay
we
follow
what
may
be
called
an
epidemi-
ological
world
order
approach
to
global
violence.
Anchored
in
a
broad
and
integrated
definition
of
social
health,’
this
approach
sees
the
global
security
problematique
as
a
set
of
interlocking
processes
and
relationships
between
and
among
the
seemingly
discrete
global
problems
-
an
all-embracing
and
mutually
interlocking
structure
of
normative,
institutional,
and
behaviorable
variables,
in
which
’the
war
system’2
works
as
the
ultimate
arbiter
of
social
conflicts
in
the
world.
Violence
in
general
is
not
the
outbreak
of
isolated,
random
and
discrete
processes;
it
is
a
function
of
interlocking
dominant
processes
and
struc-
tures
at
both
intranational
and
international
levels.
A
world
order
approach
to
global
violence
proceeds
on
the
basis
of
the
following
pro-
positions :
-
Violence
as
a
social
(man-made)
disease.
is
not
a
natural
or
inevitable
feature
of
the
human
condition;
it
is
an
avoidable
evil.
-
Violence
as
expressed
in
the
modern
arms
*
This
article
is
drawn
from
the
author’s
book,
The
Quest
for
a
Just
World
Order,
especially
chapter
4
(Boulder,
Colorado:
Westview
Press, 1984).
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