Mark Humphrys (politics)

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Politics - The World - How to end war and famine






 

Peace and non-violence


How to end war and famine: Make every country a democracy





 

Map of world freedom 2014, based on rankings of Freedom House.
Green - "Free".
Yellow - "Partly Free".
Purple - "Not Free".




Introduction

Rudolph J. Rummel's central argument is that some conclusions can be drawn from history's wars, genocides and mass murders. They are not simply bad things that happened. We can learn a lesson from them. A lesson that will ensure they never happen again.




How to end war

Democracies don't go to war with each other. Non-democracies go to war with other non-democracies all the time. And non-democracies go to war with democracies. But democracies never (or rarely) go to war with other democracies.





Debate of Democratic peace theory





From Rudolph J. Rummel. Also here.
Even if it is not quite zero wars between democracies, the pattern would still look roughly like this.



Number of dead in wars. From Rudolph J. Rummel.
Again, even if it is not quite zero wars between democracies, the pattern would still look roughly like this.



Arguments between democracies:
In 1982, Argentina was a dictatorship and went to war with the UK over the Falkland Islands.
Now the obnoxious Argentine President Cristina Kirchner is making renewed aggressive claims on the Falklands.
However she runs a democracy, and so war is unlikely.
Here the Falkland Islands newspaper The Penguin News amusingly uses the filename "bitch.jpg" for a photo of her in Feb 2012.
Insults and posturing on both sides are likely as far as it will go this time.



Since the bloodbath of the early and mid 20th century, war has actually been on the wane.
From Steven Pinker, 24 Sept 2011.
He also points out in this video that society was much more violent in the distant past.
Primitive societies, which live in anarchy without government or police, are incredibly violent.





Non-democracies stand alone. Democracies stand together.





The Axis powers of WW2



How to end famine

Another interesting point is that famine is not an act of nature. Famine is always caused by government.


   

Democracies never have famines.
87 million people died of famine in the 20th century. None in democracies.
From Rudolph J. Rummel.
See here and here and here.
Even if it is not quite zero famines in democracies throughout history, the pattern would still look roughly like this.









The 19th century Irish Famine - A famine in a democracy?




How to bring about world peace: Make every country a democracy

There is a way to have eternal peace. We have discovered it already. It is not religion. It is not hippie love. It is not being nice to people. It is not transcendental meditation. It is not World government. It is not the UN. It is democracy.

The only thing that will ever end war on earth is democracy. Nothing else will end it. Only democracy.
And democracy will end it. The entire world becoming democratic will mean the end of war and famine, forever.





The future: Can the whole world become democratic?



From Max Roser.



Matt Harding does a silly dance all over the world.
A glimpse of the future when everyone in this beautiful world is free.







"There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom. We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. ... Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."
"Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world. ... America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength - tested, but not weary - we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom."

- President Bush's speech, Inauguration, Jan 2005.





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