For Commentary

The pacifist tradition holds that violence is never justified as a political means, regardless of the ends it serves. Gandhi's satyagraha, Quaker peace testimony, and Buddhist concepts of ahimsa all argue that nonviolent resistance is not merely a strategy but a moral imperative rooted in the fundamental dignity and interconnection of all persons.

Just war theory, while not pacifist, expresses Peace's commitment to constraining political violence through moral criteria. By requiring that wars meet tests of just cause, proportionality, discrimination between combatants and noncombatants, and last resort, it insists that even necessary violence must be bounded by ethical reasoning.

Feminist peace theory argues that the connection between masculinity and militarism is not natural but constructed, and that centering care, relationality, and maternal thinking in political life would fundamentally reorient the state's relationship to violence. Sara Ruddick's 'Maternal Thinking' argues that the practice of caring for vulnerable life generates a distinctive and politically valuable orientation toward peace.