New Delhi: The invention of hypersonic missiles, killer robots and deadly pathogens – along with the rise of nationalism and intolerance – has made human civilisation more vulnerable than ever before. In the midst of such grim reality, a new book examines the history and politics of war and also offers solutions for achieving world peace by ending the arms race.
Society might be able to endure terrorist attacks, climate change and pandemics, but humankind cannot survive a global war involving nuclear weapons. Most people live in denial of such an existential risk because they feel it is not imminent. For them, the book serves as a wake-up call.
Published by HarperCollins, ‘A World Without War’ by Sundeep Waslekar will be released on 10 November on Softcover, ThePrint’s online venue to launch non-fiction books.
The author’s ideas and arguments in the book stem from his experience as one of the six signatories of the Normandy Manifesto for World Peace in 2019. The book is a collation of all the underpinning thoughts that lies behind the Manifesto.
In A World without War, Waslekar moves from examining the root causes of war to suggest a global social contract for lasting peace. Drawing from his comprehensive research in politics, technology, philosophy and history, he talks about the origins of war and weaponry, the dangers inherent in the introduction of new weapons and the chilling links between nationalism and war. He argues that war is a matter of choice and underlines that peace is essential for human beings to realise their true potential. The book emphasises the ravaging circumstances a world war will bring about and urges its readers to begin thinking about a world without war, and the pathways to build such a future for the human race to survive.
“I decided to write this book as a wake-up call for deniers on both sides of the argument. Those who close their eyes to the risk of our collective extermination, as well as those who want to remain blind to the potential of universal transformation,” Waslekar said,
“I used the metaphor of the Doomsday Clock to navigate my thesis of a movement from midnight to morning, from a world at the doorstep of the apocalypse to a world without war,” he added.
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