Ernst-Otto Czempiel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst-Otto Czempiel (born May 22, 1927 in Berlin ; † February 11, 2017 there ) was a German political scientist in the field of peace research .

Life

Ernst-Otto Czempiel studied modern history , English and philosophy at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and the Humboldt University in Berlin . In 1956 he was at the University of Mainz with a thesis on Germany and the Dreyfus affair doctorate .

From 1957 to 1964 he worked at the Chair of Political Science at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he qualified as a professor in 1964 at the Faculty of Cultural and Political Sciences with the thesis "Security and Leadership, Problems and Decisions in American Foreign Policy 1945-1949" . Following his habilitation, Ernst-Otto Czempiel initially taught as a private lecturer at the TH Darmstadt, mainly in the field of international relations . From 1965 to 1966 he was a visiting researcher at Columbia University in New York .

1966 was Czempiel a call to the University of Marburg as Professor of International Politics . In 1970 he moved to the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main to become the professor for international politics and foreign policy .

Ernst-Otto Czempiel was married to the politician Christa Czempiel (1925–2007).

Act

During his professorship in Marburg, Czempiel was chairman of the international politics section of the German Association for Political Science (DVPW), from 1967 to 1971 and from 1992 to 1994 he was a board member there.

When Czempiel accepted the chair in Frankfurt in 1970, he became a co-founder of the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF), where he was a member of the board from 1970 to 1996. In addition, he was a research group leader at PRIF from 1970 to 1997. Since 1997 he has been a member of the foundation.

From 1972 to 1980 Czempiel was an expert reviewer for the German Research Foundation (DFG). In addition, from 1974 to 1976 he was chairman of the German Society for Peace and Conflict Research .

From 1980 to 1985 Czempiel was a member of the Heisenberg Committee of the German Research Foundation. The Heisenberg program helps outstanding scientists to prepare for a scientific management position while working on advanced research topics.

Czempiel became Expert Adviser to the United Nations Center on Transnational Cooperation in New York in 1987 and held this position until 1991. From 1994 to 2002 he was chairman of the board of trustees of the Hessian Peace Prize . Since 1996 he has also been a member of the International Advisory Board of the Joan Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Illinois, USA.

Czempiel worked primarily in the fields of international politics , US foreign policy and peace research.

Since 2008, the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF) has awarded the Ernst Otto Czempiel Prize , endowed with 5,000 euros, every two years in his honor at PRIF's annual conference.

Awards

plant

Ernst-Otto Czempiel worked in the tradition of liberalism . Liberalism as a theory of international relations assumes that:

  • the actors in international relations are different social groups who provide a framework for state action and formulate the state's preferences;
  • the structures and decision-making processes of the national political systems determine international relations;
  • the action of the actors is to be regarded as rational action with regard to their welfare interests;
  • the economic activity and the market mechanism lead to interdependencies ( mutual dependency);
  • the international system is characterized by structures of interdependence;
  • the effect of the law is of great value not only in individual states but also in international relations;
  • the bourgeois individual, freedom and participation, prosperity, happiness and peace are at the center of the objectives for as many people as possible. (Krell 2004: 183)

Liberalism is progress-oriented, pursues an optimistic development perspective. In liberalism, people are seen as capable of enlightenment and learning, which is why education and upbringing play an important role for some theorists of liberalism. Czempiel made a special contribution to the liberal peace theory. In his book "Friedensstrategien" (Peace Strategies), various explanations on the subject of "Rule and Peace" are evaluated.

So he says z. B. that conflicts can arise from the international system, but:

  • States are in principle free to shape their external behavior themselves;
  • that how states behave is determined by their system of rule.

(Czempiel 1998: 147–148)

The system of rule determines the distribution of values; the system of rule is superior to the economic system. The degree of violence of rule determines the quality of a system of rule and the way in which an international conflict is resolved - peacefully or not. (Czempiel 1998: 151)

"A system of rule that is based on a high consensus and therefore does not need an instrument of violence vis-à-vis its society will also avoid violence in relations with the international environment" (Czempiel 1998: 153). Czempiel also put it this way: "Peace comes from below".

Democracies meet these requirements. With a historical-theoretical outlook, Czempiel underpins his core statement: "Democracies are more peaceful than other forms of rule". The arguments for this are:

  • A system of rule with a low degree of violence does not need an instrument of repression and because such an instrument is missing, it is not used externally. Democracies are not interested in military expansion; they come together for defense reasons. - Institutional argument .
  • Based on a cost-benefit calculation, citizens do not want a war because it harms their economic interests. - Rationalist utilitarian argument .
  • Individuals and groups learn to resolve their conflicts non-violently and so they also look for a compromise in international relations. - Normative-cultural argument .
  • Thanks to the political participation of citizens and distributive justice, democracies are more stable than other forms of rule. - The sociological argument of domination

(Krell 2004: 198)

The question of the connections between the form of rule and peace was taken up again in the 1980s. As a result of scientific discussion, most political scientists have agreed that democracies are peaceful with one another, but can behave violently towards non-democracies - one speaks here of the so-called “double finding” (Czempiel 1998, 178), for which there is still no convincing one theoretical explanation was found. The Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF), which Czempiel was actively involved in establishing and which has been active for a long time, is dealing with precisely this problem. The core project of the HFSK examines whether the three factors a) position of power in the international system, b) membership of an alliance and c) role interpretation are possible causes for the changing tendency of the individual democracies to intervene. The project thus makes a contribution to the criticism and further development of the theory of “democratic peace”.

Czempiel names four strategies that create peace:

  1. Peace through international law;
  2. Peace through international organizations;
  3. Peace through prosperity;
  4. Peace through the democratization of the systems of rule.

For the author, strategy - peace through democratization of the systems of rule is of great importance. (Czempiel 1999: 136) The starting point of Czempiel's thesis is based, among other things, on the following assumption: “Since in modern liberal state theory the bearer of sovereignty is the people, the international environment is obliged to come to the aid of the people in the event of oppression and thus to promote democratization. However, interference must be non-violent ; it can take place indirectly as well as directly. "(Czempiel 1999: 137)

Czempiel imagines the process of democratization as follows: The international environment can advertise democracy with its own example and thus indirectly accelerate democratization. The international organizations help to reduce the security dilemma, clear the way for international cooperation and thus have a positive effect on the democratization processes. The task of the public in this context would be to articulate its political demands more strongly, to emphasize the importance of international organizations, to further develop cooperation and thus to support the young democracies. (Czempiel 1999: 141–145)

Direct interference must never be violent (otherwise this approach cannot be distinguished from traditional power politics; non-violence is therefore particularly important here). The direct measures should, for. B. aim at infrastructure improvement or promote economic progress. Czempiel was of the opinion that the direct strategies should be left to the social actors (NGOs, foundations, etc.). (Czempiel 1999: 149–151)

Another thesis is that there has been a change in the economy and society. It ties in with Czempiel's democratization thesis for the following reasons:

  • The change in living and working conditions . → increase in social prosperity → aversion to violence → criticism of the organized use of military force in the international environment.
  • The transition to the information society . → Political progress effect of public opinion, emergence of the “world public” → Reduction of ignorance about “abroad”.
  • The development of the democratic system of rule . → The social actors participate in decision-making processes in the political system.
  • Foreign policy today is determined not only by the elites, but also increasingly by the interests of social actors .

(Czempiel 1999: 23–24)

These changes in the economy and society are the prerequisites for the democratization process at the international level, in the manner already explained in the liberal peace theory. Czempiel also believed that not only the economy and society were changing, but the whole international system too. One no longer speaks of the world of states, but of the social world. The social world is characterized by mutual dependence (interdependence). Under the conditions of interdependence, the security of an individual state can only be guaranteed if the states cooperate with one another. The cooperation is beneficial for all parties involved and to end it means to suffer losses. In this way, cooperation, and not a policy of balancing (more on Balancing - Link 2001), becomes the dominant behavioral pattern in the international system. With Ernst-Otto Czempiel, there is a connection to institutionalism and its controversy to realism.

Works

  • American Foreign Policy in Transition , Stuttgart (Kohlhammer) 1979. ISBN 3-17-007344-3
  • International politics. A conflict model , Paderborn (Schöningh) 1981. ISBN 3-506-99223-6
  • Ernst-Otto Czempiel / Gert Krell / Harald Müller / Reinhard Rode (eds.): United States Interests and Western Europe. Arms Control, Energy and Trade , Frankfurt / M. (Campus) 1981. ISBN 3-593-32914-X
  • Peace strategies: System change through international organizations, democratization and the economy , Paderborn (Schöningh) 1986. ISBN 3-506-99373-9
  • Test of strength. The United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. , Munich (CH Beck) 1989. ISBN 3-406-33625-6
  • World politics in upheaval. The international system after the end of the East-West conflict , Munich (CH Beck) 1993. ISBN 3-406-37827-7
  • The reform of the UN. Possibilities and misunderstandings , Munich (CH Beck) 1994. ISBN 3-406-37468-9
  • Return to leadership: America's world politics under the sign of the conservative revolution , PRIF Report 4/1996, Frankfurt ( PRIF ) 1996. ISBN 3-928965-70-0
  • Peace strategies. A systematic presentation of foreign policy theories from Machiavelli to Madariaga. , Opladen (Westdeutscher Verlag) 1998. ISBN 3-531-13234-2
  • Smart power . Foreign Policy for the 21st Century. , Munich (CH Beck) 1999. ISBN 3-406-45311-2
  • World politics in upheaval: The Pax Americana, terrorism and the future of international relations , Munich (CH Beck) 2002. ISBN 3-406-49416-1
  • Peace as the Fruit of Justice: On the Way to a New Peace Order? , in: Hermann Weber (Ed.): Roots of Conflicts - Instruments of Peace , Bonn (Catholic Academic Foreigner Service) 2003, pp. 19–34.
  • The Pax Americana after the Iraq War , in: Erich Reiter (Ed.): Yearbook for international security policy 2003, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn (ES Mittler & Sohn) 2003, pp. 119-134.
  • The United Nations as an Instrument of Peace , in: Peace in Europe, Peace in the World. Reconciliation, Creation and International Institutions. Documentation, Volume 4, Vienna 2003, pp. 71–85.
  • International Relations: Concept, Subject and Research Intent , in: Manfred Knapp / Gert Krell (Ed.): Introduction to International Politics. Study book , Munich (Oldenbourg) 2003, pp. 2–28.
  • The future of transatlantic relations , in: You shall be a blessing. Ecumenical Church Congress. May 28 - June 1, 2003 in Berlin. Documentation, Gütersloh (Gütersloher Verlagshaus) 2004 / Kevelaer (Verlag Butzon & Bercker) 2004, pp. 861–870.
  • Europe and the USA in dispute , in: Helmut König / Manfred Sicking (eds.): The Iraq War and the Future of Europe , Bielefeld (transcript) 2004, pp. 21–41.
  • Political terrorism , in: Internationale Politik Volume 7, Number 59, July 2004, pp. 74–81.
  • The foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration , in: From Politics and Contemporary History Volume 45/2004, November 1, 2004, pp. 16–23.
  • Choice of direction in the USA , in: Internationale Politik Volume 11–12, No. 59, December 2004, pp. 1–4.
  • Strategies of democratization. Intervention and Freedom in the Age of Interdependence , in: Internationale Politik Volume 11, No. 60, May 2005, pp. 92-101.
  • The CSCE-Process: Stabilization of the Blocks through Cooperation? , in: Wolfram Hoppenstedt / Ron Pruessen / Oliver Rathkolb (ed.): Global Management , Vienna (LIT Verlag) 2005, pp. 21–30.
  • Security and Security Policy in Europe , in: Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (Ed.): The rebirth of Europe. On the birth pangs of an emancipated Europe and its relations to the “lonely superpower” , Münster (agenda) 2005, pp. 38–59.

literature

  • Gert Krell: World Views and World Order: Introduction to the Theory of International Relations. 3rd edition, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2004, ISBN 978-3-8329-0966-6 .
  • Werner Link : The reorganization of world politics: Basic problems of global politics on the threshold of the 21st century. CH Beck, Munich 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barbara Dörrscheidt: mourning for Ernst-Otto Czempiel. Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research, press release from February 20, 2017 at the Science Information Service (idw-online.de), accessed on February 20, 2017.
  2. ↑ Gert Krell: World views and world order: Introduction to the theory of international relations. 3rd edition, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2004, ISBN 978-3-8329-0966-6 , p. 184.
  3. ↑ Sarina Märschel: A man of world peace. sueddeutsche.de, May 17, 2010, accessed on February 27, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Czempiel, Ernst-Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist and author
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 2017
Place of death Berlin