Pursuing Peace and Justice

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Although pursuing peace and justice at the same time is ideal since the armed conflict would end, and the “bad guys” would have to pay for their wrong doing. Pursuing both at the same time is a difficult initiative due to the different paths undertaken when pursuing peace and justice, the two reasons this essay will focus on are the ideas of forgiveness within peace and fairness within justice.
Contemporary peace theorists refer to two types of peace: positive and negative peace. Positive peace refers the concept of conflict prevention, while negative peace is the absence of war. Assuming positive peace is desired, the movement towards peace must draw on the best traditions of society and emphasizes gradual change within an established political system. Therefore, within this perspective it is important that states understand the challenges they face, such as reducing their reliance on weapons and armed forces. The most haunting problem of the peace movement is the issue of addressing human rights abuses without using force during armed conflicts.
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