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A blurred future to Peace?



Response paper to Religion and Identity
Gregory Hooks: Can Grand Theories of The State Help Us Envision A Grand Theory of Peace?

Name   : Anwar Masduki Azzam
Class    : CRCS 2012

Reading this article, I found the pessimistic conclusion that there is a blur future to make peace around this world. Hooks argues that if we merely rely on the Westphalian states, we should be aware that those states will always wage war for ensuring and reaching the sovereignty and autonomy from other state. Thus, the function of several states organization such as United Nations is very unrealistic to make peace in the world.

I would argue that this is very different from my understanding about the role of state and the effort to make a peace. If we merely see states as only the contestant for the other state, I could say that there are a lot of states which can build a peace each others. For example, the peace relation between Indonesia and Timor Leste recently will ensure us that there is a glimmer hope of peace in this condition, a westphalian states. State plays important role to build a new peace, even though they (Indonesia and Timor Leste) have waged a war each other in the past.

I myself agree that the meaning of peace is more than the absence of war. However, I found this article merely talk about the role of state and society which could not make peace as long as they place themselves in an equal position among them. This requires state and society not to discriminate or press the other. It means that peace is the absence of conflict in their life. Well, surely I doubt this. People, society or even state will always bring themselves into the conflict circle, because we are always political. We cannot ignore this fact that our everyday life always contains conflict.

Here I see that there is no consistency in this article. In the last, while imposing that the state should be aware about the role of conflict in the transnational state (example: UN and EU), Hooks proposes the effort to understand and pay attention more in regional dynamics. The word “dynamics” itself contains conflict. We cannot ignore the fact that the building of our states is always about contesting, powering and mastering each others. That is the great example of politics. Since we cannot ignore it, it will be better for us to make peace using the power of conflict itself. We can propose that the meaning of peace is about our dynamic in the real political life. It is because people and state are always political.
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