Peace Processes Are the Preferred Method of Establishing Lasting Peace Assignment

Peace Processes Are the Preferred Method of Establishing Lasting Peace - Assignment Example The move to use peaceful means for dispute resolution was accelerated in large part by the influx of the First and Second World War in the twentieth century. The use of violence failed to accomplish little more than death and destruction on a scale never witnessed before in both of these wars. This paper will attempt to analyse why peace processes have failed to end the violence in conflicts. The scope of the current discussion will remain limited to the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries alone in order to develop a stronger argument. The first major visible effort for initiating peace in the twentieth century came through the Treaty of Versailles in the aftermath of the First World War. Some may argue that the Treaty of Versailles was little more than retribution for Germany’s actions in the war. However, it must be borne in mind that the statesmen of Europe were mature enough to attempt to deliver lasting peace using the Treaty of Versailles. This maturity stemmed from previous peacebuilding efforts such as the Congress of Vienna that had delivered Europe with peace for nearly a century (King, 2008) (Zamoyski, 2007). The comparison between the Treaty of Versailles and the Congress of Vienna provides an immediately noticeable difference – the representation of stakeholders. The Congress of Vienna was highly tolerant of the demands of Talleyrand but there was no such behaviour at the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles. It has also been suggested that the Germans were purposefully kept out of the dr afting procedures in order to deliver a harsh blow to the German state under the Treaty. While the Congress of Vienna was tolerant of the French, the Treaty of Versailles was discriminatory to the Germans (Lentin, 1985). This behaviour of the Allied victors through the Treaty of Versailles was enough to instigate German resistance to this understanding of peace.