Pacifism, pacifisms: for a reflection on peace as a political and ethical concept (on-line)

The objective of the course is to introduce students to a critical understanding of peace as a political and ethical concept at the very heart of some relevant pacifist movements of thought. This course will show how such a view is reductive and simplistic, by arguing that pacifism has a normative status and proposes peaceful conflict solutions, assuming the consciousness of human, social and political complexity. More concretely, in order to critically address pacifism, the course will focus on three relevant pacifist movements: institutional pacifism, absolute pacifism and ecological pacifism.

1. Institutional pacifism interprets peace and conflict solutions as a matter of creating international institutions ad hoc, while empowering - for example - supra-national organizations and international law.
2. Absolute pacifism, which is maybe the most popular one, interprets peace as a result of an essentially moral choice and personal commitment for improving one's society.
3. With eco-pacifism the focus shifts to the eco-system, its fragility, the absolute importance of protecting all living beings, while fighting against social divide as necessary conditions to achieve a peaceful international order. At the end of the course these three important pacifist traditions will be put in comparison with each other to reflect on their differences and similarities and thus on the complexity and actuality of pacifism.