The Role of Political Philosophy in Peace Studies: Redefining the “Ideal”

Abstract

This study considers political philosophy as a normative inquiry and examines how the topic of peace can be approached. Political philosophy, particularly theories of justice, is a normative study that deals with the “ought” in the world, in contrast to empirical studies that consider the empirical aspects of the world. Approaches to this question can be divided into two subfields: ideal and non-ideal theories. In the international community, non-ideal theories have been considered as the primary issue in confronting a non-ideal state of affairs, such as the use of force. One such theory is the just war tradition. A controversy between utopianism and realism over the idealization level to be employed in normative studies exists even within this theoretical framework. Political philosophy includes aspects that dare to uphold unrealistic utopias. The possible agendas of peace studies that can be interpreted as extensions of these aspects include opportunity-cost pacifism, justice in the abolition of war, and the theory of world integration.