WHAT
WOULD THE WORLD PEACE FORCE DO?
End
all Military Dictatorships
SYNOPSIS:
The simple fact that the planet Earth
would no
longer have any national military forces
means that all countries previously governed by the force of arms
to keep the people in line and the leader in power
would have to create some new forms of government.
In the various phases of emergence,
the World Peace Force would have different impacts.
OUTLINE:
1. MARKS OF MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.
2. DEALING WITH MILITARY DICTATORS BEFORE THE EMERGENCE OF THE
WORLD
PEACE FORCE.
3. THE WORLD PEACE FORCE DURING THE PROCESS OF DISARMAMENT.
4. NEW FORMS OF NATIONAL ORDER AFTER THE LOSS OF MILITARY FORCES.
5. THE WORLD PEACE FORCE WILL BE NEEDED TO MAINTAIN PEACE FOREVER.
WHAT
WOULD THE WORLD PEACE FORCE DO?
End
all Military Dictatorships
by
James Leonard Park
1.
MARKS OF MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.
How can we tell if a particular country is governed
by a military dictator?
Was
the present leader put into power as the result of military action?
Do the armed forces keep the leader in power indefinitely?
Would it be impossible for an 'election' to remove the dictator?
Does the dictator rule by decree?
Have
the military forces ever been used against the people of that country?
Does the military have a large role in the economy?
Historically speaking, military
dictators usually have come into their power
as the result of a military coup d'etat that was successful against
whatever form of government existed before.
Sometimes the military dictator was put in place by winning
a civil war.
Occasionally military dictators conduct phony
'elections'
in order to claim that they were elected by the people.
But there are never any serious candidates running against the dictator.
When a dictator becomes too old for governing his country,
he usually tries to arrange for one of his sons to take over power
after he is dead and gone.
When that is not possible, some secret decisions within the military
results in the next dictator taking power
—whether
by means of an 'election' or another coup d'etat.
Countries that have little or no experience of other
forms of government
often assume that a military strongman is the natural leader of the
country.
Military dictators want to stay in power for as long as possible.
Often the only way they leave office is feet first,
that is, they must die
or be killed while
still in power
before the next form of government will take over.
Military dictators controls the armed forces of
their countries.
And the army is known to be the main source of the dictator's power.
Different individuals within the military forces might change behind
the
scenes,
but the continuing fact remains that the armed forces keep the dictator
in power.
How are the rules and regulations of that country
created?
Military dictators often rule
by decree, as did the kings of yesteryear.
Sometimes dictators use 'emergency powers'—which
can last for decades.
If there is a parliament,
it merely endorses whatever the dictator has decided ahead of time.
Occasionally there is a ruling party controlled by the dictator,
which makes all of the laws the dictator wants.
And sometimes the dictator must actually use the
military forces
against (as we often say) "his own people".
Using the armed forces to suppress the people
is one of the strongest signs that the government is a military
dictatorship.
Consider how inconceivable it would be
for the U.S.
Air Force
to bomb and strafe Chicago.
No U.S. President would ever think of using military power against
Americans.
And no member of the U.S. military would follow orders to kill Americans
simply because those civilians did not agree with the President.
In fact, all member of the armed forces of most nations
are required to disobey
unlawful orders.
Thus the army may not be used to kill citizens of their own country.
But just such orders and just such military actions
are common in military dictatorships.
People who rebel against the military dictator
are rounded up by the secret police
or are actually shot in the streets by the armed forces.
Sometimes the government forces are dressed in plain clothes
so that the dictator can deny that the shooters were sent by him.
Nominally the countries of the planet Earth maintain
armed forces
in order to defend themselves against foreign invaders.
But in the history of some nations,
attack by other nations has never happened.
And yet, they have large military forces,
which are known to be available for use against the people
—if
the people ever dare to oppose the military dictatorship.
Sometimes there are organized uprisings against
military dictators.
This happens when the people see no hope
of ever changing the government by any other means.
They know that any 'elections' will be rigged to favor the ruling
class.
And sometimes these uprisings use armed force
against the armies commanded by the military dictator.
This could result in some form of civil war:
Armed groups of people attempt to overthrow the dictator
by fighting against the armed forces loyal to the established leader.
Military dictators have usually used their power to
enrich themselves.
Whenever the 'president' (or whatever he calls himself)
is also the richest person in the country,
we have reason to suspect that he has used his position
to enrich himself and his family.
He sometimes lives in palaces like a king of olden days.
And an important reason that he does not want to lose power
is the access to wealth
that has come with the position.
Also sometimes the military forces own and operate
businesses
such as manufacturing and distribution.
Occasionally, there are state-owned enterprises that enrich the ruling
class.
This would especially be true of countries with oil.
The state owns the oil and the ruling class takes most of the
revenues.
The military and the government maintain law-and-order
in order to serve the economic interests of the ruling class.
2.
DEALING WITH MILITARY DICTATORS
BEFORE THE EMERGENCE OF THE WORLD PEACE FORCE.
The world has long tolerated military dictators.
As long as they maintained law-and-order in their own countries
and kept producing the oil or whatever else the world wanted,
their military and government structures were left undisturbed.
But sometimes the people who have been living
under the heel of the dictator for many decades
see some possibility of changing their form of government.
When elections would be meaningless,
they sometimes take to the streets,
attempting to show that the people
no longer consent to be governed
by
this dictator.
Even tho other countries are not supposed to
interfere
in the internal affairs of any nation-state,
other countries do sometimes feel compelled to act
to prevent military dictators from slaughtering "their own people".
And in retrospect, the countries of the world
sometimes regret that they
did not intervene earlier
to prevent dictators from killing their perceived opponents.
Before there is any World Peace Force to handle such
matters
in a defined and orderly manner,
the other countries on the planet Earth
sometimes must act militarily to depose military dictators
who are doing serious harm to "their own people"
in order to keep themselves in power.
One obvious means of preventing military power from
being used internally
is to deprive the military
dictator of all means of killing.
Some military dictators will have large stock-piles of the weapons of
war,
which can be used against any people in that country
who question or resist the dictator.
When these arms have been sold to the dictator by other countries,
all military equipment and supplies can cease
as soon as a military dictatorship has been
identified.
Before the World Peace Force is established
(which will bring disarmament to the whole planet Earth),
the peace-loving nations of the world
can agree never to sell arms
to any military dictatorship.
Disarming dictators will eventually deprive them of their power.
Of course, some military dictators manufacture
their own weapons.
Thus arms embargoes will only work against small countries
that must purchase military hardware from other countries.
But if and when the arms-supplying nations of the Earth
decide to stop selling weapons to identified military
dictatorships,
such dictators will lose their power to control their people.
World disarmament can begin by using reasonable
means
to deprive military dictatorships of the weapons that keep them in
power.
And sometimes the armed
forces of other countries
will be needed to fight against the military forces of any dictator
who is keeping himself in power by killing opponents.
As the nations of the Earth act against military
dictators,
they should keep in mind the ultimate forms of world peace we seek:
We want a world entirely without
national military forces.
Peace will be maintained by an independent World Peace Force.
3.
THE WORLD PEACE FORCE DURING THE PROCESS OF DISARMAMENT.
After the World Peace Force has begun to emerge on
Earth,
it will show by several successes in doing its work
that the nation-states of the Earth do not need their own military
forces.
All legitimate national interests can be protected by the
World Peace Force.
And national military forces should never be used against "their own
people".
Military
dictators will not remain in power as their
military forces are disarmed.
It will take a number of decades before complete disarmament is
achieved.
But military dictators will see the hand-writing on the wall:
Without their armed forces to keep them in power, their fates are
sealed:
They will no longer be able to rule using the military forces of their
countries.
As national military forces are gradually disbanded,
new forms of national government will emerge.
We do not know what might replace military dictatorships.
But we know that military dictators will no longer be able
to keep themselves in power by killing (or threatening to kill) their
opponents.
4.
NEW FORMS OF NATIONAL ORDER AFTER THE LOSS OF MILITARY FORCES.
Democracy will be one of the most obvious options
for countries emerging from military dictatorships.
But for people without experience of actually governing themselves
democratically,
some forms of strong-leader government is more likely to emerge.
Perhaps they will freely elect someone who will rule with an iron hand.
But if elections really do have the power to replace the leader,
other leaders will be
able to offer to lead the country in new
directions.
Laws that used to be handed down by the dictator
will now have to be debated and reformed by groups of elected
representatives.
The collective wisdom of the people
will eventually replace autocratic rule from above.
Some countries will choose constitutional monarchy:
They will allow their hereditary rulers to keep their high status
while the actual powers of government reside in the elected
representatives.
Some countries will find that their tribal divisions
make the old nation-state ungovernable without military dictatorship.
So they will have to sub-divide themselves into smaller countries,
where the will of the people can be carried forward
without oppressing any minority tribes.
5. THE WORLD PEACE FORCE WILL BE
NEEDED TO MAINTAIN PEACE FOREVER.
No matter what forms of self-government replace
military dictatorships,
there will always be a need for the World Peace Force to maintain order
on Earth.
Whenever there is need for any form of military action,
the people of the Earth will call upon the World Peace Force.
No single nation or group of nations will have any military forces
of their own.
No nation-state will be forced to submit to a dictator
because he controls the armed forces of that nation.
There will simply be no
national military forces.
Rather, the peace of the planet Earth will be
maintained by the World Peace Force.
The World Peace Force will not be responsible for
nation-building.
Each group of people on the planet Earth
will have to decide for themselves how to organize their government.
The World Peace Force will be everywhere
to prevent people from killing each other for tribal or political
reasons.
Created
March 19, 2011; Revised 3-20-2011; 3-24-2011; 6-12-2011; 10-23-2011;
3-2-2012; 2-3-2013
AUTHOR:
James Park is an advocate of world peace
established and maintained by a World Peace Force.
Much more about this proposal will be found in the following on-line
essays:
WORLD PEACE FORCE
World
Without
War
. D
The Meaning of
Complete Disarmament .
D
Blessed Are the
Peacemakers . D
World Peace Force—100
Years for Transition
WHAT WOULD THE WORLD PEACE FORCE
DO?
Eliminate
all Weapons of Mass Death . D N
End all
Military Dictatorships . D N
When
National Governments Collapse . D
Separate the
Warring Factions of Iraq . D
Separate the
Arabs and Jews in Palestine
. D N
Disarm All Sides
in Afghanistan . D N
Every
peace-loving person on the planet Earth who has Internet access
is invited to join an on-going
cyber-seminar discussing this proposal:
PEACE ON EARTH:
ESTABLISH A WORLD PEACE FORCE, THEN DISARM ALL NATIONS.
Go to other
cyber-sermons by James Park,
organized into 10 subject-areas.
Go to the opening page
for Heart, Mind,
& Spirit
—an electronic
magazine for UUs on campus.
Go to the index page
for the The
First Unitarian Universalist Church of the Internet
.