Olympism is among other things a peaceful philosophy. This means in practice that the most important thing for a researcher who studies peace movement in the Olympic Games is to examine how peace movements have been developed in the Olympic Games. The development of peace movement would be verified by analyzing the torch relay, the opening ceremony, and the Olympic Truce Resolution, in particular. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the validity of these peace (...) movements in recent Olympic Games and to clarify the problems arising from implementation of peace movement into the Olympic Games. (shrink)

As the editor informs us in his Acknowledgements, most of the essays included in this collection stem from a pair of conferences held at the University of Michi.

The Soviet Union's successful test of an atomic bomb in 1949 altered Russell's outlook on international politics. But there was a considerable delay between this critical juncture of the Cold War and any perceptible softening of Russell's anti-Communism. Even after a muted optimism about the possibility of improvement in the foreign and domestic policies of the Soviet Union entered Russell's writing, he remained apprehensive about campaigning for peace alongside western Communists and fellow-travellers. He disliked the central thrust of pro-Soviet (...) peace propaganda but regarded ideological diversity as a vital prerequisite for meaningful peace work. Russell also understood that such an approach carried with it a risk that his efforts might be tarnished by association with the Communist-aligned peace movement. His dilemma was eased not by a shift in his own tactics, but by external factors: a crisis within western Communism and the emergence of broadly based movements for peace that could not easily be tainted by their critics as "pro-Soviet". (shrink)

The influence exerted by the ideas of Jeremy Bentham has been a matter of controversy over many years. Assessments have varied greatly—ranging from the extravagantly generous to the utterly dismissive—but there has been broad agreement on the loci for investigation. Attention has focused on the social, administrative, and legal reforms of the Victorian age. The aim here is to explore a different and relatively neglected area—the part played by Bentham's thought in shaping the attitudes and programme of the nineteenth-century British (...) peace movement. (shrink)

Sartre's interventions at the Vienna, Berlin, and Helsinki Congresses of the World Peace Council are examined in depth. Neglected and overlooked for over a half-century, it is argued that the themes Sartre elaborated in these speeches were consonant with the political and intellectual projects he had been developing since the mid-1930s. Although Sartre spoke as a Marxist who had allied himself with the Communist Party, his deepest concern was to build international unity in opposition to the escalating threat of (...) nuclear war, and to restore political and economic sovereignty to a Western Europe crushed by dependency on America. Freedom for all the world's peoples, Sartre argued, depended on mutual interdependence between nations, built from the ground up by the popular masses. (shrink)

Veteran scholar and peace activist David Cortright offers a definitive history of the human striving for peace and an analysis of its religious and intellectual roots. This authoritative, balanced, and highly readable volume traces the rise of peace advocacy and internationalism from their origins in earlier centuries through the mass movements of recent decades: the pacifist campaigns of the 1930s, the Vietnam antiwar movement, and the waves of disarmament activism that peaked in the 1980s. Also explored are (...) the underlying principles of peace - nonviolence, democracy, social justice, and human rights - all placed within a framework of 'realistic pacifism'. Peace brings the story up-to-date by examining opposition to the Iraq War and responses to the so-called 'war on terror'. This is history with a modern twist, set in the context of current debates about 'the responsibility to protect', nuclear proliferation, Darfur, and conflict transformation. (shrink)

Anthropological analysis of religion, following Bronislaw Mahowski, is founded in empirical observational data gained at least in part by participant observation. Malinowski described religion as a “sociological charter” which is a “retrospective moral pattern of behavior,” constructed as a myth after the fact of behavior. Anthony F. C. Wallace's revitalization model provides the mechanism through which the Malinowskian charter is developed. Jack Wilson's Ghost Dance religion is briefly described as an example of a revitalization movement, and it is suggested that (...) both contemporary peace movements and militant Christian movements are revitalization movements. (shrink)

The relevance of the study lies in the need to assess the influence and significance of socio-political movements in stimulating political and social changes, in this case, the anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan. This will allow for a deeper understanding of the complexity and multidimensional nature of organised collective actions and may inform future research and policy development related to nuclear testing, environmental issues, and public health. The article aims to define the philosophy of the international anti-nuclear movement, “Nevada-Semey” (“Struggle for (...) peace, on their own land”). The authors point to the causal link that the researched international anti-nuclear campaign is a social phenomenon that emerged as a consequence of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site activity. Therefore, the academic writings, and normative documents concerning the work of this nuclear testing ground and its consequences for the environment and human health are analysed first of all. Journalistic studies, scientific articles, and monographs on the international anti-nuclear movement “Nevada-Semey” are studied and analysed. The authors of the article found and investigated that the studied campaign had its philosophy, along with the main goal it was concerned with humanitarian aid and legal provision for residents of settlements affected by the polygon. (shrink)

The author cites prominent academicians currently examining this trend and presents the case for accepting grass-roots social activism as a crucial link to the closed world of policy-making elites.