Goliath vs David: A Short History of the Fight Against Organised Peace Work

Abstract

In most political theory it is assumed that a nation’s ‘sovereignty’ rests on possessing a monopoly of power or force. Because of this, political leaders tend to stress ‘security first’ when thinking about the building and maintenance of effective and capable states. It is assumed that states can only survive through time if they have a coercive capacity greater than that available to any single internal actor or combination of actors. It is also assumed that any state worth its salt will have a capacity to defend itself against external threat. National defence, therefore, provides additional justification for a complex and intertwined national security system. At the heart of all state systems, therefore, lies an ‘iron fist’ of military and police power. In the West, this iron fist is normally covered in a velvet glove so that citizens do not think – too often – about the coercive capacity of the state. The velvet glove is what the state provides its citizens in terms of education, health and welfare benefits and collective goods such as national infrastructure, roads, railways and other transport and communications systems. Modern state systems, therefore, derive their power from coercive capacity but they get their legitimacy and authority from development benefits and wise rule. Effective, capable and legitimate states will ensure that political leaders, legislatures, judiciaries etc. function with minimal use of force. Those that choose to rule with an iron fist tend to be repressive dictatorships and autocracies. The reality, however, is that all state systems accord very particular privileges to the military and their associated intelligence, surveillance and other agencies. When these institutions are questioned, challenged or opposed by citizens (spontaneously or in an organised fashion) most state systems are very quick to reinforce patriotic sentiment, suppress dissent and marginalise the dissenters either through ridicule, imprisonment or, in extreme cases, torture and death. This book is a fascinating collection of cases documenting the ways in which different states target and have targeted organised peace groups and peace movements through the ages. It starts with the famous quote from Hermann Goring: