The Constitution of Japan of 1946 has been called a peace constitution since the period of its drafting because its most important fundamental value is peace. However, peace provisions are not unique and are common place in modern constitutions; therefore, there are many peace constitutions in the world. Japanese constitutional scholars have not defined the concept of a peace constitution but have conducted typologies of peace provisions of various constitutions; however, these typologies lack a historical and structural framework of comparison. The purpose of this study is to search for such a framework and redefine peace constitutions.

As a preliminary inquiry to achieve that purpose, this study will reconsider constitutional pacifism based on the redefinition of peace―negative and positive―in peace research, and will revisit the peace provisions of the American and Japanese Constitutions. Article 13 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) is considered a prototype of a peace provision in the American Constitution. In the twentieth century, constitutional control of war powers has been a tremendous challenge for Americans. However, it should be emphasized that there have always been popular efforts to control the use of force in the form of constitutional lawsuits, although they have not been successful.

Of course, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution has been an issue: how to reconcile the contradiction between constitutional norms and the reality of the Self-Defense Forces, which have the sixth largest military budget in the world. One possible explanation of Article 9 is that it is similar to a Kantian regulative idea: it will not be achieved, but, as such, it will keep regulating reality in one direction.

This study also links feminist peace thoughts and constitutional peace provisions and considers the relationship between constitution making and peace in the process of post-conflict peacebuilding in the Global South. This study concludes by suggesting the necessity to consider global constitutionalism, or “global peace constitution,” when we observe the emergence of multilevel―local, national, regional, and global―political communities.

This paper discusses the abuse and misuse of nuclear energy in relation to peace. The application of rapidly developing science and technology related to wars has caused a rapid increase in the number of people killed in wars. Reflecting on this situation, international treaties restricting the use of inhumane weapons have been introduced, and this trend has reached the United Nations Charter, which, in principle, forbids the usage of weapons. However, nuclear weapons were produced and have resulted in the abuse of nuclear energy, as atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to restrain the USSR. At the time, this resulted in control being exerted through international policy, based on the threat of nuclear weapons, which conflicts with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

World opinions developed rapidly in the latter half of the twentieth century, and now, in the first half of the twenty-first century, world opinion demands the start of negotiations for a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty in cooperation with the United Nations. We now stand at the entrance to the door that leads to a peaceful and just world without nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, nuclear power plants were not seen as a misuse of nuclear energy but instead were promoted in the name of peaceful use. They are closely related to a world control policy for nuclear weapons that cause new bodily injuries from radiation, which have not been seen in chemical energy usage and which have brought change to the notion of peace. Under the nuclear weapons policy and the power plant promotion policy, the effects of radiation have been underestimated. If we study internal exposure scientifically on the basis of the real conditions of atomic bomb survivors and correctly estimate the radiation effects, we find that the number of cancer mortalities caused by radiation exposure due to nuclear weapons tests and nuclear power plant accidents exceeds the number of deaths caused by wars.

The objective of this study is to redefine peace in peaceful times by reconsidering humanitarian assistance and the concept of human security. This approach has been chosen in part because of the author’s background. I am a researcher, as well as a practitioner, having been involved in humanitarian assistance in conflict zones over years as an NGO aid worker.

Another reason for this approach is that humanitarian assistance is a crucial notion, as well as an important practice in redefining peace in the sense that assistance is offered in the context where peace has been longed for; on the other hand, humanitarian assistance often contradicts the creation of peace, having tense relationships with structural violence.

The other analytical framework applied here is the notion of human security. It is a concept that has been exposed to many critical discourses. In this study, however, the concept of human security is utilized based upon its strength―that is, human security is employed as an operational guideline, not as an analytical framework. As an operational guideline, human security overcomes the shortcomings of current aid, which is highly specialized but also highly subdivided, based not upon people’ s needs but upon agencies’ organizational missions and specialties, such as food, medicine, landmines, health, education, or children. As an operational guideline, human security encourages a more comprehensive approach to secure the human needs of recipients by adopting a multi-sector, multi-agency approach. Another strong point is that if the “human” in human security refers to all the people in the world, it helps to highlight the rights of the invisible marginalized population by focusing on their human security. In addition, when one person’s human security is in opposition to another person’s, it fosters the viewpoint of transcending the confrontation, rather than the zero-sum viewpoint, after making the difference visible. In this way, the human security concept clearly relates to peace and the study of peace.

After discussing peace through humanitarian assistance, this study urges that we utilize this human security concept to redefine peace, as well as to achieve peace in peaceful times.

In order to understand the concept of peace within the context of action, this paper proposes a new definition, “dynamic peace” as opposed to “static peace.” With this definition, people can grasp the meaning of peace in a more realistic way. Dynamic peace is based on two concepts: process and direction. These concepts broaden the concept of peace and encourage society and its citizens to seriously question what is required for their lives: conflict transformation.

“Process” refers to “place” and it corresponds to both time and space. Process is essential in conflict transformation and peace work because both need to be dynamic in their movement. The concept of “direction” highlights society’s questioning of the value of peace. This study examines the importance of a “peaceful spirit” that is accompanied by a “critical mind,” in addition to the “actors” who play the role of dynamic peace workers. This new perspective transforms traditionally defined peace (static peace) into the new concept of dynamic peace.

With this new definition, this paper proposes a practical approach to peace work using the arts. Process liberates peace, and direction demands that we question our values continuously. Within this approach, “dynamic art” can be defined as “art that reveals and highlights conflict.” This arts-based approach is enriched by “creative dialogue,” and its actors become peace workers who are in essence “citizen artists.”

The analysis of this work is based on the methods and theories of John Paul Lederach and Johan Galtung, who are both peace and conflict scholars and have written books on the arts in society. Also, artists such as Makoto Oda and Peter Brook have also created important work focused on the relation between the arts and society. It is very clear that there must be active feedback between the arts and members of society in order for dynamic peace to be successfully achieved.

This study explores a new approach to understand suffering people and the realities of nuclear disasters by investigating the actual conditions of nuclear damage found in the Marshall Islands, where the United States conducted sixty seven nuclear testings.

This study introduces an original perspective of “Global-Hibakusha” beyond the discourse saying Japan is the only nation to have been hit by nuclear bombs. This new perspective focuses on the people suffering from nuclear disasters, which have often been overlooked in discussions on “a world without nuclear weapons.” However, it is extremely difficult to view the realities of nuclear damages because radioactivity is an invisible substance. In addition, it often induces invisible damage in political and social contexts.

The Marshall Islands tells us that nuclear disasters cannot be measured only by the development of cancers and thyroid problems but that the destruction of the cultural and psychological aspects, as well as the deprivation of the fundamentals of life, must also be considered. In the Marshall Islands, nuclear damage exists beyond the geographical area that is recognized by the U. S. What cannot be bypassed are the additional hardships such as the U.S. medical follow-up research that has plagued the effected local people. It is difficult to draw a clear line to determine the extent of nuclear damages because the ranges and dimensions of its influence can develop unlimitedly.

How can we get a closer look at the unseen comprehensive damage caused by nuclear development? Doing so requires both macro and micro perspectives. The macro perspective critically reexamines the already acknowledged effects and damages posed by perpetrators, taking into consideration structures of discrimination behind nuclear development.

The micro perspective explores subsistence that is basis of the survival rooted to the land, by listening carefully to their testimonies and getting close to the affected land and its people

This study presents Global-Hibakusha method that can be used to approach the nuclear disaster, wearing bifocals to see both the micro and macro perspectives. The concept of Global-Hibakusha is a visualization system of the nuclear disasters as well as to reestablish the agenda of what nuclear issues are in peace studies.

While some calls for a success in institutionalizing the term “peacebuilding” since its appearance in An Agenda for Peace, others point out the challenges faced during peacebuilding efforts and the agendas that need to be addressed. One critique is that, in borrowing from the words of Oliver P. Richmond, current peacebuilding is creating a virtual peace that “looks far more coherent from the outside than from the inside [of the recipient country] and [is] effectively [building] the empty shell of a state.” Focusing on the term “virtual peace,” this paper will analyze its meanings and implications to peacebuilding research. First, the paper will place the term “virtual peace” within the so-called “peacebuilding debate” and will perceive it as a critical turn in peacebuilding research. Second, the paper will examine its implications with reference to police reform in Sierra Leone. While each case is unique, Sierra Leone is a typical post-conflict country that experienced peacebuilding following the end of the Cold War, and, thus, lessons can be shared among other cases around the globe that are going through the peacebuilding process. In short, the paper explains that virtual peace implies the necessity to recognize the subjective aspect of the concept of peace and calls for the acknowledgement of new agendas for peacebuilding: i. e. exploring potential alternatives for a state-centric model through the interplay of different actors’ perceptions of peace, paying attention to each context. It is not the intent of this paper to deny peacebuilding and/or a state-centric framework; rather the point is that peacebuilding that is confined to the state-centric framework is not as multidimensional as advocates would like to think. This paper illustrates this by referring to a turning point in police reform in Sierra Leone: i.e. a decision to assist a customary organization known as the Chiefdom Police.

The Constitution of Japan of 1946 has been called a peace constitution since the period of its drafting because its most important fundamental value is peace. However, peace provisions are not unique and are common place in modern constitutions; therefore, there are many peace constitutions in the world. Japanese constitutional scholars have not defined the concept of a peace constitution but have conducted typologies of peace provisions of various constitutions; however, these typologies lack a historical and structural framework of comparison. The purpose of this study is to search for such a framework and redefine peace constitutions.

As a preliminary inquiry to achieve that purpose, this study will reconsider constitutional pacifism based on the redefinition of peace―negative and positive―in peace research, and will revisit the peace provisions of the American and Japanese Constitutions. Article 13 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) is considered a prototype of a peace provision in the American Constitution. In the twentieth century, constitutional control of war powers has been a tremendous challenge for Americans. However, it should be emphasized that there have always been popular efforts to control the use of force in the form of constitutional lawsuits, although they have not been successful.

Of course, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution has been an issue: how to reconcile the contradiction between constitutional norms and the reality of the Self-Defense Forces, which have the sixth largest military budget in the world. One possible explanation of Article 9 is that it is similar to a Kantian regulative idea: it will not be achieved, but, as such, it will keep regulating reality in one direction.

This study also links feminist peace thoughts and constitutional peace provisions and considers the relationship between constitution making and peace in the process of post-conflict peacebuilding in the Global South. This study concludes by suggesting the necessity to consider global constitutionalism, or “global peace constitution,” when we observe the emergence of multilevel―local, national, regional, and global―political communities.

This paper discusses the abuse and misuse of nuclear energy in relation to peace. The application of rapidly developing science and technology related to wars has caused a rapid increase in the number of people killed in wars. Reflecting on this situation, international treaties restricting the use of inhumane weapons have been introduced, and this trend has reached the United Nations Charter, which, in principle, forbids the usage of weapons. However, nuclear weapons were produced and have resulted in the abuse of nuclear energy, as atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to restrain the USSR. At the time, this resulted in control being exerted through international policy, based on the threat of nuclear weapons, which conflicts with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

World opinions developed rapidly in the latter half of the twentieth century, and now, in the first half of the twenty-first century, world opinion demands the start of negotiations for a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty in cooperation with the United Nations. We now stand at the entrance to the door that leads to a peaceful and just world without nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, nuclear power plants were not seen as a misuse of nuclear energy but instead were promoted in the name of peaceful use. They are closely related to a world control policy for nuclear weapons that cause new bodily injuries from radiation, which have not been seen in chemical energy usage and which have brought change to the notion of peace. Under the nuclear weapons policy and the power plant promotion policy, the effects of radiation have been underestimated. If we study internal exposure scientifically on the basis of the real conditions of atomic bomb survivors and correctly estimate the radiation effects, we find that the number of cancer mortalities caused by radiation exposure due to nuclear weapons tests and nuclear power plant accidents exceeds the number of deaths caused by wars.

The objective of this study is to redefine peace in peaceful times by reconsidering humanitarian assistance and the concept of human security. This approach has been chosen in part because of the author’s background. I am a researcher, as well as a practitioner, having been involved in humanitarian assistance in conflict zones over years as an NGO aid worker.

Another reason for this approach is that humanitarian assistance is a crucial notion, as well as an important practice in redefining peace in the sense that assistance is offered in the context where peace has been longed for; on the other hand, humanitarian assistance often contradicts the creation of peace, having tense relationships with structural violence.

The other analytical framework applied here is the notion of human security. It is a concept that has been exposed to many critical discourses. In this study, however, the concept of human security is utilized based upon its strength―that is, human security is employed as an operational guideline, not as an analytical framework. As an operational guideline, human security overcomes the shortcomings of current aid, which is highly specialized but also highly subdivided, based not upon people’ s needs but upon agencies’ organizational missions and specialties, such as food, medicine, landmines, health, education, or children. As an operational guideline, human security encourages a more comprehensive approach to secure the human needs of recipients by adopting a multi-sector, multi-agency approach. Another strong point is that if the “human” in human security refers to all the people in the world, it helps to highlight the rights of the invisible marginalized population by focusing on their human security. In addition, when one person’s human security is in opposition to another person’s, it fosters the viewpoint of transcending the confrontation, rather than the zero-sum viewpoint, after making the difference visible. In this way, the human security concept clearly relates to peace and the study of peace.

After discussing peace through humanitarian assistance, this study urges that we utilize this human security concept to redefine peace, as well as to achieve peace in peaceful times.

In order to understand the concept of peace within the context of action, this paper proposes a new definition, “dynamic peace” as opposed to “static peace.” With this definition, people can grasp the meaning of peace in a more realistic way. Dynamic peace is based on two concepts: process and direction. These concepts broaden the concept of peace and encourage society and its citizens to seriously question what is required for their lives: conflict transformation.

“Process” refers to “place” and it corresponds to both time and space. Process is essential in conflict transformation and peace work because both need to be dynamic in their movement. The concept of “direction” highlights society’s questioning of the value of peace. This study examines the importance of a “peaceful spirit” that is accompanied by a “critical mind,” in addition to the “actors” who play the role of dynamic peace workers. This new perspective transforms traditionally defined peace (static peace) into the new concept of dynamic peace.

With this new definition, this paper proposes a practical approach to peace work using the arts. Process liberates peace, and direction demands that we question our values continuously. Within this approach, “dynamic art” can be defined as “art that reveals and highlights conflict.” This arts-based approach is enriched by “creative dialogue,” and its actors become peace workers who are in essence “citizen artists.”

The analysis of this work is based on the methods and theories of John Paul Lederach and Johan Galtung, who are both peace and conflict scholars and have written books on the arts in society. Also, artists such as Makoto Oda and Peter Brook have also created important work focused on the relation between the arts and society. It is very clear that there must be active feedback between the arts and members of society in order for dynamic peace to be successfully achieved.

This study explores a new approach to understand suffering people and the realities of nuclear disasters by investigating the actual conditions of nuclear damage found in the Marshall Islands, where the United States conducted sixty seven nuclear testings.

This study introduces an original perspective of “Global-Hibakusha” beyond the discourse saying Japan is the only nation to have been hit by nuclear bombs. This new perspective focuses on the people suffering from nuclear disasters, which have often been overlooked in discussions on “a world without nuclear weapons.” However, it is extremely difficult to view the realities of nuclear damages because radioactivity is an invisible substance. In addition, it often induces invisible damage in political and social contexts.

The Marshall Islands tells us that nuclear disasters cannot be measured only by the development of cancers and thyroid problems but that the destruction of the cultural and psychological aspects, as well as the deprivation of the fundamentals of life, must also be considered. In the Marshall Islands, nuclear damage exists beyond the geographical area that is recognized by the U. S. What cannot be bypassed are the additional hardships such as the U.S. medical follow-up research that has plagued the effected local people. It is difficult to draw a clear line to determine the extent of nuclear damages because the ranges and dimensions of its influence can develop unlimitedly.

How can we get a closer look at the unseen comprehensive damage caused by nuclear development? Doing so requires both macro and micro perspectives. The macro perspective critically reexamines the already acknowledged effects and damages posed by perpetrators, taking into consideration structures of discrimination behind nuclear development.

The micro perspective explores subsistence that is basis of the survival rooted to the land, by listening carefully to their testimonies and getting close to the affected land and its people

This study presents Global-Hibakusha method that can be used to approach the nuclear disaster, wearing bifocals to see both the micro and macro perspectives. The concept of Global-Hibakusha is a visualization system of the nuclear disasters as well as to reestablish the agenda of what nuclear issues are in peace studies.

While some calls for a success in institutionalizing the term “peacebuilding” since its appearance in An Agenda for Peace, others point out the challenges faced during peacebuilding efforts and the agendas that need to be addressed. One critique is that, in borrowing from the words of Oliver P. Richmond, current peacebuilding is creating a virtual peace that “looks far more coherent from the outside than from the inside [of the recipient country] and [is] effectively [building] the empty shell of a state.” Focusing on the term “virtual peace,” this paper will analyze its meanings and implications to peacebuilding research. First, the paper will place the term “virtual peace” within the so-called “peacebuilding debate” and will perceive it as a critical turn in peacebuilding research. Second, the paper will examine its implications with reference to police reform in Sierra Leone. While each case is unique, Sierra Leone is a typical post-conflict country that experienced peacebuilding following the end of the Cold War, and, thus, lessons can be shared among other cases around the globe that are going through the peacebuilding process. In short, the paper explains that virtual peace implies the necessity to recognize the subjective aspect of the concept of peace and calls for the acknowledgement of new agendas for peacebuilding: i. e. exploring potential alternatives for a state-centric model through the interplay of different actors’ perceptions of peace, paying attention to each context. It is not the intent of this paper to deny peacebuilding and/or a state-centric framework; rather the point is that peacebuilding that is confined to the state-centric framework is not as multidimensional as advocates would like to think. This paper illustrates this by referring to a turning point in police reform in Sierra Leone: i.e. a decision to assist a customary organization known as the Chiefdom Police.