War and American Mennonites

Will there be another world war? No one knows for sure. So-called “realist” theorists would argue that the conditions are ripe for another world war. Constructivists and Mennonites would argue strenuously against the following “realist” prediction. “Realists” start with the assumption that war is perpetual and that brief periods of peace are only temporary. Peace only happens when either one or two nations are clearly in control of all the others and are successful at pushing them all around. "Realists" notice that since the end of World War II, we have had two periods of peace: the first when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were each dominating the countries on either side of the iron curtain, the second when the U.S. was dominating every country on earth. Because these two countries were in control of all the others, there was a relative and temporary peace in the U.S. and in some other countries that accepted a state of being dominated by either the U.S. or the U.S.S...

Will there be another world war? No one knows for sure. Constructivist theorists, including Mennonites, would argue that the chance of another world war gets smaller and smaller as time passes. We share the good news that we are less and less likely to be ensnared by another world war. A constructivist would say that with the passing of time, more and more people are realizing that war is a bad idea. War kills people and causes destruction. We have better ways to solve our problems than war that don't involve killing and destruction. We have diplomacy, cooperation, and building up the peaceful sectors of society, all tools that are preferable to war when nations deal with conflicts. Our progress on this peacebuilding makes the horrors of war's killing and destruction unnecessary. If we can solve our problems by choosing peace, why would we choose war? Mennonites are very progressive within constructivism. Mennonite Central Committee began with the purpose of gettin...