Democracy - Peace - Development

Introduction
This book, jointly offered by Johan V. Galtung and Paul D. Scott, explores the ideas and ideals of democracy as they relate to peace and development. Part II examines the triad of peace, democracy and development through the lens of case studies from Asia. The United States is included as illustrative that these points are not confined to the so called developing world
If the reader gets the impression that the issues form a complex wilderness, then one element of the intention behind this book has been achieved. The other element is the effort to show that there are ways out of that wilderness. This depends on how we conceive of democracy itself. Democracy by fair and free elections is important, but this aspect must not be a fixation or a fetish. If also democracy is viewed as a way of handling conflicts non-violently then it is more directly related to peace, and to development, as a compact ensuring basic needs and basic rights.
These aspects of democracy do not exclude each other, nor do they automatically guarantee each other. Together they give much hope for humanity in the guest of democracy, peace and development.
This is the second publication of TRANSCEND University Press.

Authors:
Johan V. Galtung, born 1930 in Oslo, Norway. Lives in Spain, France, Japan and the USA and is mainly engaged in mediation and research. He founded TRANSCEND: A network for Peace and Development, in 1993, and was a rector of TRANSCEND Peace University 2003-2007.

Paul D. Scott born in 1950 in New York City. Has spent most of his life in Asia. He lives in Kyoto. He serves as a Steering Committee member of the Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA), is co-founder of the Asia Law Network, is the Project Director of Asia Democracy Index, and an experienced election observer.