CHAPTER ONE
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION The Concept of Peace
The idea and search for peace is as old as humanity. Human societies have been fraught with conflictual contradictions that have necessitated the desire for peace. Such efforts have over the years found expressions through anti-war sentiments and the development of peace movements or peace ideas.
There is a tendency in peace and conflict studies to conceptualize peace as the conserve of war. War and peace are two sides of the same coin. In other words, peace is defined as the absence of war.1 There is peace because there is no war and there is war because there is no peace. Many philosophers see peace as a natural, original, God given state of human existence. Peace from the philosophical stand point is the pre-corruption state of man in the society as God has established it. Consequently, peace is a state of perfection, an earthly expression of God’s kingdom that is yet to be corrupted. St. Augustine of Hippo distinguished between two cities, namely; the city of God, which is founded on perfect heavenly, peace and spiritual salvation, and the earthly city of man, which is founded on appetitive and possible impulses which is corrupt and torn with strife.2
Sociologically, peace refers to a condition of harmony where there is no social antagonism. In other words, peace is a condition in which there is no social conflict and both individuals and groups are able to meet their needs and expectations.
Politically, according to the University of Peace, peace is a political condition that makes justice possible more strictly.3 Politically, peace entails political order that is, the institutionalization of political structures. As political order, peace entails that government minimally employ the right means, such as the police and the armed forces in dealing with citizens usually because there is no threat to the interest of the ruling class by the underprivileged class.
After giving these definitions from different aspects, what then is peace? Peace is a process involving activities that are directly or indirectly linked to increasing development and reducing conflict, both within specific societies and in the wider International community.4
Forms of Peace
We can identify four forms of peace process namely; peace keeping, peace enforcement, peace making and peace building.
A. Peace Keeping: The concept of peace keeping was developed by the United Nations at the start of the cold war in the 14th century because of the failure of the original collective security system, envisaged by the organization and the decreasing disagreement among the major powers. Peace keeping operations are essentially a practical mechanism developed by the United Nations to contain and control armed conflicts and to facilitate their resolution by peaceful means.
The function of peace keeping is carried out by lightly armed soldiers. Such forces play several roles. They can interpose themselves physically between warring parties to keep them apart. They can also be peace keepers who often try to negotiate with military officials on both sides. This channel of communication can bring about tactical actions and understandings that support a cease fire.5 Peace keeping deploys an international military force which under the aegis of an international organization such as the U.N to prevent fighting usually by acting as buffers among combatants.6 Peace keeping is a process whereby a group of soldiers are sent to a country where there is fighting in order to prevent more violence. Peace keeping forces are usually made up of troops from several countries. Peace keeping forces have generally been unable to make peace, only to keep it.