Pacificism


Pacificism is the general term for ethical opposition to violence or war, except in cases where force is deemed absolutely necessary to advance the cause of peace. Together with pacifism, it is born from the Western tradition or attitude that calls for peace. The former involves the unconditional refusal to support war or absolute pacifism, while pacificism views the prevention of war as its duty but recognizes the controlled use of armed force to achieve such objective. According to Martin Caedel, pacificism or a pacificist conduct is driven by a certain political position or ideology such as liberalism, socialism or feminism.

Development

Pacifism ranges between total pacifism, which usually states that killing, violence or war is unconditionally wrong in all cases, and defensivism, which accepts all defensive wars and acts of deterrence as morally just. Pacificism states that war can only ever be considered as a firm "last resort", condemning both aggression and militarism. In the 1940s, the two terms were not conceptually distinguished and pacificism was considered merely as an archaic spelling, although less 'barbarous' than the more common and shorter form.
The term pacificism was first used in 1910 by William James. The distinct theory was later developed by A. J. P. Taylor in The Trouble-Makers and was subsequently defined by Ceadel in his 1987 book, Thinking About Peace and War. It was also discussed in detail in Richard Norman's book: Ethics, Killing and War. The concept came to mean "the advocacy of a peaceful policy."
The largest national peace association in history, the British League of Nations Union, was pacificist rather than pacifist in orientation. Historically, the majority of peace activists have been pacificists rather than strict pacifists.

Geographical

Pacificism or Pacificist are also terms used to describe geographic region of the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Rim noting all nations bordering Pacific Ocean in regards to:
The term is modern in use and may have been coined around 2006 by Paul Lyons, Associate Professor of English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.