Scienza e Pace
Science and Peace
At dawn on 24 February 2022, troops of the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. The number of military and civilians dead and wounded, the more than 6.2 million Ukrainian refugees (of which more than 5.8 in Europe), the heavy damage to cities, villages and infrastructure, the quantities of weapons already deployed or ready for use, are just some of the figures that make this war one of the most serious in recent decades. The direct and indirect involvement of the planet's main nuclear powers, the presence of mercenary militias, the sending and use of weapons banned by international conventions such as the so-called cluster bombs, the use of armed naval and aerial drones, depleted uranium munitions, sanctions, naval blockades and sabotage, also make it a particularly complex 'hybrid' war, capable of producing unpredictable effects on a large scale and in the long term. However, after a phase of considerable media attention, marked by strong polarisation, the substantial stalemate in military operations, the absence of peace talks and the prospect of an indefinite prolongation of the conflict risk producing a 'normalisation of the war'. Within this framework, we have invited the world of research to propose their own analyses of the ongoing war, on the basis of which we can build possible paths to a just and lasting peace. The authors who have decided to participate in this monographic issue of the journal have offered valuable contributions in this direction, starting from different disciplinary perspectives and ideological positions. This introduction proposes a transversal reading of the different works, in order to highlight the different answers offered to some questions that we consider fundamental: What are the different points of view on the war in Ukraine and is there a way to reach a synthesis and recomposition of them? How has the armed conflict in Ukraine been narrated and what effect has this narrative had on the understanding of the war and the prospects for pacification between the different actors involved? What arguments have been used in the public debate to justify the use of armed force? Why was the belief established among Western governments and in part of public opinion that the main (if not the only) possible support for the invaded Ukraine was military in nature? What are the proximate and what are the deeper causes of the ongoing war? Taking into account the manner in which the war has been conducted, as well as its root causes, what non-violent ways out are feasible? We trust that the papers included in this issue can contribute to a better understanding of the current conflict, while at the same time offering valuable indications for its diplomatic conclusion and the building of a lasting peace, within the framework of a balanced world order.
This paper discusses the scope and degree of implementation of the principle of solidarity, which justifies action being taken by the European Union both within and external to its own member states, in relation to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the reality of the violation of these rights in Brazil, as exemplified by the large numbers of juveniles deprived of liberty in socio-educational detention centers. Literature on the subject is reviewed to identify the legal possibility of the European Union operating outside of its own bloc of member states, for the purpose of protecting the human rights of these young people. Secondary data are employed to illustrate the reality of such violations of the rights of young people, either when they come into conflict with the law or are the victims of state action, as a way of justifying possible European Union action in Brazil. The precepts of decolonial studies are used to examine how this application of the “principle of solidarity” might be operationalized, in the understanding that the only possible way to achieve this would involve taking responsibility for economic investment in reducing inequality.
Within a century, between 1890 and 1981, the missionary press introduced a renewed language towards African peoples. This happened during the Holy See's rapprochement process with Africa and the Third World in the XX Century. It was decided to compare three publications related to the liberation of slaves and to the anti-slavery efforts made by Catholic missionaries, an activity considered fundamental by the Church in defining the meaning of its presence in Africa. Firstly, a novel entitled Avorio Nero (Black Ivory) was examined, first published in 1959 and reprinted for the second time in 1981, twenty-two years later. The comparison between the two editions was useful to show how the missionary literary genre was transformed during the second half of the 20th century to keep up with the political and doctrinal changes that swept through Catholic institutions. Next, the analysis of the two editions was compared with a letter published in 1890 in the magazine Le Missioni Cattoliche by French missionaries in Senegambia, in which an episode of the liberation of a slave girl is described. The comparison is decisive because it shows continuity and discontinuity over a long period in missionary publications.
The present work is an analysis of the function of conflict in Spinoza's ethico-political thought, starting from the way indignatio is defined and evaluated in the third and fourth part of the Ethics and the role of the hate motions of the multitudo in the Political Treaty. We will highlight a tension in the passage from the ethical-metaphysical work to the more distinctly political one, where the author takes on all the consequences of assuming as unavoidable and constitutive the presence, in the state, of inadequate desires marked by contrary, we will define what value - of usefulness and harmfulness - Spinoza assigns to indignation in the sphere of interhuman relations and in the political forum. This path helps us to identify two ways of the conflict ascribed to his political theory: on one hand, regulating conflict of the institution’s activities and of the sovereignty; on the other hand, given in the event of deep corruption, constituent conflict as capable of radical transformations in deep corrupted situation. More specifically, we will try to emphasize the combinatorial status of affective life to look at the constitution of a new state. To do so, we will avoid reducing it to isolated affects of opposition and, at the same time, the absolute exclusion of a contribution of indignation and of discord in the transition from one political and institutional organization to another.
An extensive debate on the determinants of people's support for globalization concluded that it is necessary to leverage on welfare schemes to compensate those who lose from globalization. Yet, this solution is not universally accepted and it may not be viable in times of budget constraints. We test the hypothesis that confidence in institutions improves people's acceptance of globalization. We use micro data from the Eurobarometer, the European Social Survey and the European Quality of Life Survey to study the case of Luxembourg, a small and open economy, highly integrated in international markets and in which immigrants are more than half of the total residents. Figures indicate that confidence in institutions, and in particular in international ones, increases people's acceptance of globalization. However, when globalization is considered as free movement of people across borders, confidence in international institutions plays a major role. These results are robust to reverse causality.
A direct strike on an operative nuclear power plant during military operations has become a possible dramatic scenario in the present Ukrainian crisis. Plausible accidents in such a scenario could be divided into criticality and conventional accidents. The former could occur if auxiliary and safety power plant systems are hit simultaneously, reaching the reactor criticality in an uncontrolled way. The latter could involve the release of radioactivity into the environment as a result of detonations and fires at power plant sites containing radioactive material. Often and incorrectly in recent months, commenting on events at the Zaporizhzhia power plant started on March 2022, the media have compared the consequences of such attacks to that of using a tactical nuclear weapon. From the standpoint of lethality to the population, radionuclides involved, and the extent of contamination of the environment, the two events are deeply different. This explanatory paper aims to study the impact on humans and on the environment of an attack’s consequences on the Zaporizhzhia power plant and those of the detonation of a tactical nuclear warhead of 10 kt (kiloton).
This paper is aimed to analyse if the armed interventions of regional and sub-regional organizations in the territory of a Member State comply with international law from an overall point of view. The treaties of the regional and sub-regional organizations - which have performed armed interventions in the territory of a Member State until today – have been surveyed, in order to assess whether and how far they include such kind of armed interventions. The conducts more often performed by regional and sub-regional organizations on this matter have been then analysed, in order to appraise their compliance with international law. Lastly, the element of the consent from the Member State target of the armed intervention has been surveyed.
The paper deals with the attribution of international responsibility for wrongful acts committed by UN peacekeepers. First, it analyses the case law applying the criterion of the “degree of effective control” as decisive to the attribution of that conduct to the UN or to the contributing State. Then, it suggests that the criterion of the “degree of effective control” includes operational, jurisdictional, and disciplinary powers, so that dual attribution of conduct cannot be excluded and usually occurs in UN peacekeeping operations. The dual attribution of the same conduct (to UN and States) is also useful to victims, as it overtakes the immunity from jurisdiction granted to UN under international law, providing a judicial remedy in national and international courts against the contributing State.
This paper deals with the encyclical Fratres omnes (2020) not from the perspective of theology and its strictly religious implications, but in order to grasp those aspects uniting believers and non-believers. The focus is on those elements which, in order to oppose the global nihilistic drift of the homo oeconomicus, may support the development of new ways of relating human beings to each other and to the world. Within this frame, a special attention will be devoted to the concepts of ‘solidarity’ and ‘brotherhood’ which, aimed at overcoming the individualistic logic of profit, can contribute to an alternative cultural paradigm oriented to ‘existential’ peace.