Awards

• Winner of Winner of the APSA Foundations of Political Theory David Easton Award Winner of the International Studies Association International Ethics Section Book Award.
• Winner of Winner of the International Studies Association International Ethics Section Book Award.

Overview

Peace is a universal ideal, but its political life is a great paradox: peace is the opposite of war, but it also enables war. If peace is the elimination of war, then what does it mean to wage war for the sake of peace? What does peace mean when some say that they are committed to it but that their enemies do not value it? Why is it that associating peace with other ideals, like justice, friendship, security, and law, does little to distance peace from war? Although political theory has dealt extensively with most major concepts that today define the political it has paid relatively scant critical attention to peace, the very concept that is often said to be the major aim and ideal of humanity. In War for Peace, Murad Idris looks at the ways that peace has been treated across the writings of ten thinkers from ancient and modern political thought, from Plato to Immanuel Kant and Sayyid Qutb, to produce an original and striking account of what peace means and how it works. Idris argues that peace is parasitical in that the addition of other ideals into peace, such as law, security, and friendship, reduces it to consensus and actually facilitates war; it is provincial in that its universalized content reflects particularistic desires and fears, constructions of difference, and hierarchies within humanity; and it is polemical, in that its idealization is not only the product of antagonisms, but also enables hostility. War for Peace uncovers the basis of peace's moralities and the political functions of its idealizations, historically and into the present. This bold and ambitious book confronts readers with the impurity of peace as an ideal, and the pressing need to think beyond universal peace.

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9780190658014

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Reviews

War for Peace is a landmark study in the field of political theory, exploring how the concept of peace has been profoundly fused with practices of violence and war-making. Alongside the erudition and analytical power with which Idris develops these arguments, what makes the book so remarkable is how it transcends traditional philosophical divisions between Occident and Orient, Ancient and Modern. In exploring the links between thinkers as wide-ranging as Plato, Ibn Khaldun, and Kant, Idris challenges the typical histories of political thought and dazzlingly highlights the shared predicaments that have marked essential texts on war and peace. * Aziz Rana, author of The Two Faces of American Freedom * From ancient times, the professed aspiration for peace has served as perhaps the most fertile justification and warrant for war. In recent decades, this longstanding complicity has assumed indecent proportions in the rhetoric of presidents, leaders, and in the thinking of ordinary citizens. With skeptical and irreverent intelligence, erudition, and insight, War for Peace exposes the political, conceptual, and ethical minefield that has surrounded the invocation of peace from ancient Athens, through to Islam and the modern west. * Uday S. Mehta, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center, City University of New York * This book is an original and ambitious piece of scholarship. It is rare to encounter books on political theory with the erudition and linguistic literacy that Idris commands. To plot a history of political theory from the Greeks through the Romans and the Arabs to Renaissance Europe and the Enlightenment, moving forward to the Arab Renaissance and twentieth century thinkers, is a feat few have attempted before and never as successfully. * Joseph Massad, Columbia University and author of Islam in Liberalism * War for Peace is a meticulously researched and provocative book, remarkable for its scope and originality. Idris moves with ease among thinkers from Plato to Sayyid Qutb, asking crucial questions not only about what discourses of peace say, but also about what they do. His arguments are compelling, and bring into sharp relief the ways in which 'peace' is a site of political power, as well as a powerful moralizing tool. The book is a major achievement, and should be read by scholars, policymakers, and politicians alike-along with anyone who cares about peace. * Roxanne L. Euben, University of Pennsylvania * A bold and powerful voice who dares to question the ideal of peace, Murad Idris takes us on a journey in the history of political thought to show how war and peace have been inextricably intertwined. Figures like the infidel, the barbarian, the nomad, and the pirate emerge as the vivid correlates of the brother, the neighbor, and the friend on a moral and moralizing terrain in which peace authorizes and justifies war. This is an essential and captivating read, which provocatively suggests that peace is not just a solution but also a problem. * Banu Bargu, History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons *

A bold and powerful voice who dares to question the ideal of peace, Murad Idris takes us on a journey in the history of political thought to show how war and peace have been inextricably intertwined. Figures like the infidel, the barbarian, the nomad, and the pirate emerge as the vivid correlates of the brother, the neighbor, and the friend on a moral and moralizing terrain in which peace authorizes and justifies war. This is an essential and captivating read, which provocatively suggests that peace is not just a solution but also a problem. - Banu Bargu, History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons War for Peace is a meticulously researched and provocative book, remarkable for its scope and originality. Idris moves with ease among thinkers from Plato to Sayyid Qutb, asking crucial questions not only about what discourses of peace say, but also about what they do. His arguments are compelling, and bring into sharp relief the ways in which 'peace' is a site of political power, as well as a powerful moralizing tool. The book is a major achievement, and should be read by scholars, policymakers, and politicians alike-along with anyone who cares about peace. - Roxanne L. Euben, University of Pennsylvania This book is an original and ambitious piece of scholarship. It is rare to encounter books on political theory with the erudition and linguistic literacy that Idris commands. To plot a history of political theory from the Greeks through the Romans and the Arabs to Renaissance Europe and the Enlightenment, moving forward to the Arab Renaissance and twentieth century thinkers, is a feat few have attempted before and never as successfully. - Joseph Massad, Columbia University and author of Islam in Liberalism From ancient times, the professed aspiration for peace has served as perhaps the most fertile justification and warrant for war. In recent decades, this longstanding complicity has assumed indecent proportions in the rhetoric of presidents, leaders, and in the thinking of ordinary citizens. With skeptical and irreverent intelligence, erudition, and insight, War for Peace exposes the political, conceptual, and ethical minefield that has surrounded the invocation of peace from ancient Athens, through to Islam and the modern west. - Uday S. Mehta, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center, City University of New York War for Peace is a landmark study in the field of political theory, exploring how the concept of peace has been profoundly fused with practices of violence and war-making. Alongside the erudition and analytical power with which Idris develops these arguments, what makes the book so remarkable is how it transcends traditional philosophical divisions between Occident and Orient, Ancient and Modern. In exploring the links between thinkers as wide-ranging as Plato, Ibn Khaldun, and Kant, Idris challenges the typical histories of political thought and dazzlingly highlights the shared predicaments that have marked essential texts on war and peace. - Aziz Rana, author of The Two Faces of American Freedom

Author Information

Murad Idris is an Assistant Professor of Politics, University of Virginia; co-editor of forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory

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