Peace As the Product of Peace Movements

The Anti-Vietnam War Movement

But what was it? Contending views:

•  An extension of the civil rights movement?
• An anti-war movement?
• A protest movement with the war as the main issue, but with government, the draft, capitalism and racism as related issues
  
• A peace movement?
• A movement for social change and a different kind of America?
  

What are peace movements?

•  Organized groups of citizens which reject war as a way of doing political business
• With the exception of the pacifist protests in the early Christian Church in Rome, these are essentially post-19th century movements
• Highly correlated with democracy, literacy, transnational contact, and periods of change
  

Three types of peace movements

1. To stop a particular war (nation- and conflict-specific, sometimes transnational)
2. To stop particular practices, weapons systems, or aspects of a war (often occur after a war and link citizens with government. May lead to treaties and the creation of agencies)
3. To stop (outlaw) war
   

Characteristics of peace movements

• Arise from certain traditions and/or prior ideas or movements
• Always debating final goals vs. intermediate ones
• Always debating how large and varied their “coalition” will be
• Always under assault for some practice or contact with “the enemy”
• Debating methods (especially the use of violence or not) and lack of consensus (regarding partial vs. total victory against the government/war) often fractures movements and dissipates their impact
• Have difficulty forming a “viable alternative”
• Have difficulty sustaining momentum over time unless government unwittingly cooperates (credibility; Spiro Agnew)
  

Why do peace movements often fail?

• Loyalty issues and ends-means tests are tough to handle
• Stretch people too far beyond their cultural boundaries (save the ‘60s where being counter-cultural was the collegiate cultural norm)
• It’s difficult to respond to change and concessions “on the ground” (real or manipulated)
• Difficult to present a “viable alternative” in full.
• Underlying the action and beliefs of many peace movements is a fundamentally different conception of war, the state, and other forces which are usually accepted unconsciously by the bulk of the population. Thus change moves at a glacial pace.
  

Assignment

 On the peace movement side, how much will Iraq be like Vietnam?
 Set up the research design for how we would assess this.