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The aim of this paper, which more generally is a contribution to political theology, is to show in what way the conception of peace in Nicholas of Cusa's De Pace Fidei is dependent upon a specific philosophical anthropology. Within it any link between human being and law is replaced by the subject of faith. Central to the argument is demonstrating the ways in which this anthropological position is necessarily interarticulated with the larger metaphysical positions that are advanced across a range of Cusanus' texts. Keywords: belief, faith, Nicholas of Cusa, Paul, political theology, The project of this paper is to contribute to political theology. (1) However, rather than structure political theology in terms either of a set of arguments concerning the secularisation of [...]

In Defensor Pacis Marsilius of Padua grounds the legitimacy of the kingdom, or the state (civitas), on the peace that rule provides the citizens. Looking at Aristotle's claim that the civitas strives to be like an animal in which all parts in the right proportion for the sake of health, Marsilius argues that 'the parts of the kingdom or state will be well disposed for the sake of peace [tranquilitas].' Marsilius goes on to define peace as the agreeable 'belonging together' of all members of the kingdom or the state. In this way, Marsilius moves away from a theological ground of the legitimacy of the state towards one that is entirely secular. However, the ground is an unstable one in that it acknowledges the fact that the 'members' of the body politic are characterised by difference. As such, the ground of legitimate authority will be characterised as much by force as by peace or by the relation of force to peace. Keywords: Marsilius of Padua, Defensor Pacis, peace, sovereignty, glory, While there is no doubt of the importance of Marsilius of Padua (c. 1275-c. 1342) as a contributor to the history of political theory, the exact nature of that contribution [...]

This article examines some of the ways in which Plato conveys a concern with peace and what conceptions of peace he has a concern with. I first consider Plato's attitude to war ([phrase omitted]) and its conventional opposite, peace ([phrase omitted]). In this context we find very little concern with peace at all and, by contrast, a somewhat disturbing emphasis on the importance of war. However, if we turn from war to a different type of conflict, faction ([phrase omitted]), we find a distinct difference. Plato considers faction unproductive because of the internal divisions it sustains. Yet Plato does not specifically call the opposite of faction 'peace'; instead, he uses terms that have different extensions for us, such as [phrase omitted] ('justice'). Nevertheless, it is possible to outline a positive Platonic conception of peace by tabling a set a of peace-related terms. I distinguish three categories of terms that describe (1) conditions of peace (or negative peace), (2) dispositions of peacefulness, and (3) relations of peace, where such relations result from the expression of peaceful dispositions. My examination suggests that positive peace, for Plato, is founded on the unity and integrity of character. Only when individuals are at peace with themselves can peace within society be achieved. Keywords: character, justice , peace, stasis, war, The most general problem facing an attempt to describe Plato's conception of peace is the problem of conceptual change. The historical outline of a normative concept is amoebic. Even within [...]

This article seeks to reimagine peace against the backdrop of a Foucauldian understanding of politics. Most conventional accounts are based on a sharp distinction between war and peace and alternate [...]

This experimental essay attempts to show how alternative methods and approaches are valuable in interrogating the ways in which orthodox theories of international relations (IR) approach peace. Drawing on a [...]

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the links among food insecurity, globalization and conflict. We summarize and critically evaluate existing studies on conflict as a cause of food insecurity; food [...]

Of approximately 100 empirical democratic peace articles published in journals and papers presented at conferences over the last 10 years, none identifies a positive and statistical]y significant relationship between democratic [...]

Peace and regime type can be examined at the dyadic, nation, and system levels. At the dyadic level, it is well established that democracies rarely if ever fight each other. At the national level, the broad consensus is that there is no significant relationship between democracy and war participation, but this conclusion remains controversial. At the system level, there has been little research; most scholars have taken for granted that the answer can be inferred from the findings at the dyadic or national levels. The authors show that, if the conventional wisdom holds at the dyadic and national levels, the probability of war in a politically mixed dyad must be higher than the probability of war between two nondemocracies, and the relationship between democracy and war at the system level must be parabolic. Thus increasing democratization initially produces more war, and the reduction of war starts only at a higher level of democratization., DEMOCRACY AND PEACE THREE QUESTIONS In this article we investigate the relationship between democracy and peace at three levels of analysis: Dyadic: Do democracies usually keep the peace among themselves? [...]