Peace through negotiation?
Populists from both the right and the left (AFD, Marine le Pen, Die Linke, Sarah Wagenknecht, and others) reject arms deliveries to support Ukraine and instead demand negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The idea that peace can only be achieved through negotiations also holds great influence in the peace movement and the churches – a position that has clearly influenced the 2024 Peace Report presented by the institutes for peace and conflict research (BICC, IFSH, INEF, PRIF). This report culminates in the recommendation to strengthen the international order and prepare for negotiations – a view that, according to Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase (PRIF), was also presented in the media by representatives of the report.
Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase, Frankfurt
Informal representative of German peace and conflict research
However, if an actor consistently thinks in terms of power logic (like Hitler or Putin), only power criteria such as gaining, maintaining, or losing power count for them. They are therefore only willing to engage in substantive negotiations if they can thereby expand their power, for example, by securing conquered territories, or if they accept negotiations due to strong resistance. Trying to persuade an aggressive actor to make peace without sufficient resistance, on the other hand, is a farce. Therefore, offers of negotiation without sufficiently strengthening the attacked party do not promote peace; on the contrary: they make aggressive war and thus aggressive action appear legitimate and thus reinforce the propensity of aggressive actors to go to war – precisely the opposite of what is being propagated. For more on this, see: On the Supplement and Critique of the 2024 Peace Report (Lauritsen/Prittwitz).