A Strategy for Peace: Human Values and the Threat of War

Overview
Sissela Bok sets out a moral and practical plea for a sustained, value-driven approach to preventing war. She examines how human values shape decisions about conflict and peace, arguing that ethical thinking must be central to public policy and popular debate about security. The book moves between moral analysis and concrete policy discussion, treating the avoidance of war as both an ethical obligation and a political task.

Core argument
Bok contends that war is not merely a failure of strategy or diplomacy but a profound moral failure that corrodes the values societies claim to uphold. Peace requires more than balance-of-power calculations; it demands attention to honesty, empathy, responsibility, and the consequences of violence for real people. She challenges standard justifications for war and highlights the moral costs that are often minimized or ignored in official rhetoric.

Human values and moral reasoning
A central theme is the role of moral imagination, the ability to understand the perspectives and suffering of others, in preventing conflict. Bok stresses that virtues such as truthfulness, humility, and public-mindedness help societies resist simplistic demonizations of adversaries and the self-deceptive narratives that make war acceptable. She also emphasizes the responsibility of leaders and citizens to engage in reflective moral reasoning rather than defaulting to fear or retribution.

Practical strategies for reducing the threat of war
Bok translates moral insights into practical measures aimed at lowering the risk of armed conflict. She advocates for policies that increase transparency, strengthen international institutions, and build channels of communication between rival states. Education in ethical reasoning, support for civil society, and mechanisms for holding leaders accountable are presented as essential complements to formal arms-control agreements and diplomatic protocols. The emphasis is on feasible steps that cultivate the social trust necessary for peaceful dispute resolution.

The nuclear dilemma and deterrence
The book pays particular attention to the nuclear age, where the catastrophic stakes make moral questions unavoidable. Bok scrutinizes deterrence strategies and nuclear doctrines that rely on secrecy, threat, and worst-case assumptions. She argues that such postures often rest on shaky moral grounds and threaten to normalize the acceptability of mass destruction. Reducing reliance on nuclear weapons, enhancing verification and confidence-building measures, and public deliberation about existential risks are offered as urgent priorities.

Responsibility of democratic publics
Democratic accountability is a recurring concern: citizens must be informed and morally engaged if they are to check executive impulses toward war. Bok urges expanded public debate, critical scrutiny of intelligence and official claims, and civic institutions that foster deliberation. The cultivation of civic virtues, honesty in discourse, willingness to consider suffering on all sides, and readiness to accept compromises, underpins her vision of a more peaceable polity.

Legacy and critique
Bok's approach bridges moral philosophy and policy pragmatics, inviting both ethical reflection and institutional reform. Critics have argued that her focus on values may underestimate the intractability of power politics and the persistence of strategic interests. Supporters see the value-oriented strategy as a necessary corrective to purely realist prescriptions, offering a way to humanize security policy without abandoning practical safeguards.

Conclusion
The central message is that preventing war requires sustained attention to human values coupled with concrete institutional and policy changes. Moral awareness, public deliberation, and practical measures to reduce misperception and escalation form a combined strategy for peace. By insisting that ethical considerations are not luxuries but necessities of intelligent statecraft, Bok reframes peace as both a moral imperative and an achievable goal.