Dr. Choue Young Seek, founder of Kyung Hee University and the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, passed away on Feb. 18 this year.

He devoted most of his life to promoting his peace theory through education, various peace movements and writings. He developed the initial ideas of his peace theory in his book titled “Creation of a Cultural World,” which he wrote during the Korean War.

There are as many theories of war as there are major wars in history. Some are based on the aggressive human nature of the decision maker, others on the authoritarian state system, and still others on the anarchic international system.

Choue’s theory synthesizes all these theories. According to him, war is caused by the leader’s greed; the authoritarian political system, religious fundamentalism, economic inequality, and hegemonism at the state level; unequal distribution of wealth and lack of democracy at the inter-state level; and the anarchic nature of the international system.

He believed human nature is neither good nor evil; human beings can become peace-loving or aggressive depending on their environment. Because of this, a state can become aggressive.

But he said the leadership of the state is able to suppress its greed and overcome those war-prone environments, because the leadership itself ultimately decides whether or not it should go to war. In other words, the human mind is ultimately responsible for war or peace.

There are as many theories of peace as theories of war. The U.N. Charter provides three major means to peace: peaceful change, peaceful settlement of disputes and collective security. These means are actually a collection of traditional means of peaceful solutions. They have so far failed to eradicate war permanently.

Many scholars and world leaders have propagated grand peace theories as a permanent solution to war. Various versions of world federalism, Kantian theory of perpetual peace, world peace through world law, and communitarian approaches are representative ones.

Choue proposes the creation of a global community which he calls a global common society under the leadership of the U.N as the ultimate solution of war. Since the nation-state is the main source of war, the best way to establish permanent peace is to build a global political entity. But it is impossible to abolish the nation-state system immediately, because people identify themselves first with their own state, not with any other international political entities.

We should remember that the human group has evolved from a small unit to a larger one over a long period of time ― from the family through the clan and the tribe to the state. Considering this historical development, states can be prodded into forming a larger political entity.

To be specific, nation-states first form loose regional and global organizations. Next, loose regional organizations develop into tight regional organizations or merge into loose global organizations. Finally, tight regional organizations and loose global organizations merge into a tight global organization. This tight global organization is the global community.

Between the first and second stage, global civil society represented by global NGOs will play an important role. Outside and inside the loose global organizations it will actively promote the development of the global community.

When this global community is solidly institutionalized, it becomes Oughtopia, which is a desirable and possible future political community for humankind. The global community is similar to Kant’s league of republics in which all states are democratic and their sovereignty is limited.

The entire process of evolution from the state system to the global community should be conducted under the guidance and leadership of the U.N., which he calls Pax U.N. Globalization and democratization provide favorable conditions for this development.

But Choue recognized that without the support of great powers, it will be very difficult to realize the global community. World leaders, leading global civil society, should form a united front and put pressure on the great powers to support the U.N. efforts. In this regard, it is essential for educational institutions, particularly higher educational institutions, to play an important role.

He believed humans can change the source of identity from small primary groups to humanity, because humanity itself is the largest primary group. His conviction is based on the axiom that man is the master of his own destiny and civilization is man’s effort to escape from animal status.

For his life-long contributions to the promotion of world peace, he received a number of internationally-renowned peace awards including the first U.N. Special Award of Meritorious Services on Peace, the Dag Hammerskjold Award, the Grand Peace Award by the International Association of University Presidents, and the Einstein Award. Moreover, the world celebrates the U.N. Day of Peace every year, as Choue proposed in 1981.

By Park Sang-seek

Park Sang-seek is a professor at Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University. ― Ed.