The (PPP)鈥攁 multilateral curatorial program, co-founded by 黑料不打烊鈥攈as announced two new initiatives, exploring the possibilities of world peace from a humanistic perspective.
Utrecht University
The first initiative involves the (UU) in the Netherlands, which has been designated as PPP鈥檚 permanent home. UU will house not only PPP鈥檚 administrative offices, but also its archives, including personal and professional papers, as well as audio and visual materials. The move coincides with UU鈥檚 launch of a newly updated PPP .
The second initiative concerns the publication of “ (UU, 2015), an e-book written and designed by UU students that deals with Immanuel Kant鈥檚 landmark essay, 鈥淧erpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,鈥� on which the goals of PPP are based. Published in Dutch, the book will be translated into English later this year.
, Dean鈥檚 Professor of the Humanities in the , co-founded PPP in 2008 with , executive director of the Slought Foundation, and , a former Austrian diplomat who now runs New York University鈥檚 Deutsche Haus.
鈥淲e鈥檙e writing a new chapter in the life of the Perpetual Peace Project,鈥� says Lambert, who also directs the Mellon-funded . 鈥淯trecht University has long served as the spiritual home of PPP, sponsoring an array of events and projects that has involved 黑料不打烊 faculty. Now that we are permanently based there, we can leverage our presence in ways that previously weren鈥檛 possible.鈥�
Along with 黑料不打烊, UU and the Slought Foundation, PPP partners with various organizations and institutions around the globe, including the European Union National Institutes of Culture, the United Nations University, the International Peace Institute and the Treaty of Utrecht Chair professorship.
Currently, PPP is in the third and final phase of a nine-year production cycle, yielding an array of feature films, publications, and exhibitions propounding Kant鈥檚 pacifist ideologies. They include “Kant for Kids,” published last month, and 鈥�,鈥� a two-year ongoing project, directed by , a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Bristol (U.K.), looking into the theoretical, aesthetic and empirical dimensions of mass violence.
“Kant for Kids” book cover
鈥�’Kant for Kids’ translates the concept of perpetual peace into a terminology that鈥檚 accessible and understandable to children,鈥� says Lambert, who advised the creation of the book with several UU professors, including , director of the Centre for the Humanities and a longtime PPP collaborator.
He says most of the work was done over a two-year period at UU by four graduate students and a team of interns. Brandon Pakker, then a master鈥檚 student of philosophy, came up with the concept as a way to contemporize the six 鈥淧reliminary Articles鈥� in Kant鈥檚 famous 1795 essay.
鈥淭he students didn鈥檛 just translate Kant鈥檚 text; they placed it within a contemporary political, social and economic framework,鈥� says Lambert, who regards Kant鈥檚 articles as 鈥渁ction steps for peace.鈥� 鈥淭he result is a book that stands on its own or may be incorporated into a classroom lesson on philosophy or politics.鈥�
Begun in 2008, PPP didn鈥檛 catch fire until 2010 with 黑料不打烊 SymposiumTM, whose theme that year was 鈥淐onflict: Peace and War.鈥� Then the founding director of the (which sponsors 黑料不打烊 Symposium), Lambert began organizing various PPP events along the East Coast, including a documentary film and an art exhibition, as well as myriad workshops, seminars and symposia. A high-water mark was the to 黑料不打烊 in 2012. Lambert鈥攁nd, by extension, PPP鈥攎ade national headlines by introducing the Dalai Lama at a public forum and orchestrating some of the related programming.
PPP has since increased its global footprint, thanks in part to Lambert鈥檚 moxie. During a visiting professorship at UU in 2013, he participated in the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht, a series of accords that led to the rise of the British Empire. As part of the observance, he commissioned a collection of PPP films and essays, whose contributors included two 黑料不打烊 icons: , professor and interim dean of the , as well as founding director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism; and , professor emeritus of sociology, Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies and founding director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts.
Author of the aptly titled “Realizing Peace: A Constructive Conflict Approach” (Oxford University Press, 2015), Kriesberg was asked to comment on Kant鈥檚 Third Article, which argues for the abolition of standing armies. Thus, Kriesberg considers how conflicts may be conducted without recourse to mass violence.
Gregg Lambert
鈥淭his includes a reliance on strategic nonviolent actions, interventions by international organizations in the form of peacekeeping forces, applications of mediation at various levels and amelioration of conflict-generating conditions,鈥� he says, adding that perhaps, someday, individual standing armies will be replaced by a global peacekeeping force, evolving out of the United Nations鈥� operations.
Banks is equally persuasive in his essay, which takes on the legalities of warfare, as outlined in Kant鈥檚 Sixth Article. Although foundational treaties and international agreements have remained substantially unchanged over the past decade, Banks says that the laws of armed conflict have evolved through other means.
鈥淢any states have enacted new laws or have reformed existing rules to better anticipate asymmetric warfare waged by non-state actors,鈥� says Banks, an expert in national security law. 鈥淪tate militaries have also revised operational law鈥攖he legal advice given by military lawyers to commanders in operational environments. The new actors have significantly stressed the conventional LOAC/IHL [Law of Armed Conflict/International Humanitarian Law] regime because the rules were written for state militaries, and only a little attention was paid to nontraditional fighters.鈥�
Lambert has overseen other PPP projects, including a series of discussions with leaders in North and South Korea and a weeklong 鈥淓at Together for Peace鈥� initiative at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淚n wake of recent tragedies in Paris, Beirut and San Bernardino, initiatives such as PPP help define the concept of world peace,鈥� he says. 鈥淏y inviting critical reflections from theorists and practitioners, we鈥檙e rethinking the ideas of global citizenship, while breaking down boundaries鈥攃ivil, military and otherwise.鈥�
