CSPT News: Germany
How does globalization influence the guarantee of peace? Which role will the national state play in the future? These and many other questions were discussed by a number of scholars, politicians and journalists during the symposium "Die Politik und der Frieden" (politics and peace) which took place in Münster from 11/12/98 to 11/15/98. The symposium was organized by Volker Gerhardt (Berlin) and Norbert Herold (Münster). The discussion was based on reflections on the continuing influence of the Peace of Westphalia, which was concluded in Münster and Osnabrück in 1648.In the opening speech, NATO general secretary Javier Solana talked about the responsibility of the alliance to guarantee peace. The symposium ended with the thoughts of Wolfgang Schäuble, leader of the opposition and chairman of the CDU in Germany, on the possibility of a German commitment to peace-keeping measures. In between, philosophers and political scientists discussed political concepts and theories with, for the first time, the active participation of representatives of the media. The journalists especially tried to relate the idealistic and theoretical concepts of the philosophers to today´s political situation. This guaranteed a close connection to reality and proved to be extremely beneficial to the discussions. Thus, not only globalization which was common talk, was mentioned, but also unification on a smaller scale, the European Union. Moreover, the role of specific confederal organizations, such as the NATO and the OSCE, was discussed.. The other side of peace was also taken into consideration, namely the apparent shift from wars between states to civil wars and guerilla warfare. The significance of religion in these conflicts was also not neglected.
Besides the different theories and points of view on the topic, the symposium has shown that guaranteeing and establishing peace is the most important element of political thinking. The presentations will be published in the annual "Jahrbuch. Politisches Denken". For further information, contact Prof. Dr. K. Ballestrem at karl.balestrem@ku-eichstaett.de, or Dr. Norbert Herold at herold@uni-muenster.de Norbert Herold, Muenster