The human race has often put a high value on struggle, strife, turmoil, and excitement. Peace has been regarded as a utopian, unattainable, perhaps dull ideal or as some random element over which we have no control. However, the desperate necessities of the nuclear age have forced us to take peace seriously as an object of both personal and national policy. Stable Peace attempts to answer the question, If we had a policy for peace, what would it look like? A policy for peace aims to speed up the historically slow, painful, but persistent transition from a state of continual war and turmoil to one of continual peace. In a stable peace, the war-peace system is tipped firmly toward peace and away from the cycle of folly, illusion, and ill will that leads to war. Boulding proposes a number of modest, easily attainable, eminently reasonable policies directed toward this goal. His recommendations include the removal of national boundaries from political agendas, the encouragement of reciprocal acts of good will between potential enemies, the exploration of the theory and practice of nonviolence, the development of governmental and nongovernmental organizations to promote peace, and the development of research in the whole area of peace and conflict management. Written in straightforward, lucid prose, Stable Peace will be of importance to politicians, policy makers, economists, diplomats, all concerned citizens, and all those interested in international relations and the resolution of conflict.

Boulding discusses the image as the key to understanding society and human behavior

Kenneth Boulding was a prolific writer across so many different fields that not only is he often much referred to and cited, he is considered a core member of many of these fields. Boulding is the quintessential interdisciplinary scholar. He died in 1993, but he has left a legacy in economics, conflict studies, systems theory, ecology, biology, communication studies, and ethics. As an economist proper he has tested and expanded the boundaries of that field without unduly "invading" and undermining the expertise and established knowledge of the other social sciences. This proposed volume will allow scholars who have worked or are starting to work in areas that Boulding has initiated, established and made a continued contribution to, to understand the links between these fields and other related ones. The volume will establish a source of inspiration for some time to come.

Defining power as the ability to get what we want, this volume identifies three major types of power: threat power; economic power; and, integrative power. It argues that threat power should not be seen as fundamental since it is not effective unless reinforced by economic and integrative power.

Conflict and Defense, which was first published in 1962, presents a general theory of conflict, drawing on theoretical analyses from sociology and economics. This text by Kenneth E. Boulding, a pre-eminent economist and founder of ecological economics, examines the common processes of conflict, the roles of different participants in conflicts, and describes features which are unique to specific types of conflict. Conflict and Defense will be of interest to those who seek an improved theoretic understanding of conflict. Divided into sixteen chapters, the book offers both a general theoretic model of conflict, and analyses of the unique features which distinguish international, economic, industrial and ideological conflicts. It is clearly written and will be accessible to the well-informed reader. “The origin of this book in my own mind can be traced back to a passionate conviction of my youth that war was the major moral and intellectual problem of our age. If the years have made this conviction less passionate, they have made it no less intense. The book, therefore, is not a work of that idle curiosity which, according to Veblen, is the motivator of pure science. It is driven rather by that practical curiosity which inspires applied science. Nevertheless, it is a work of pure theory, that is, of the abstract imagination...”—Kenneth E. Boulding

Evolution, Order and Complexity reflects topical interest in the relationship between the social and natural worlds. It represents the cutting edge of current thinking which challenges the natural/social dichotomy thesis by showing how the application of ideas which derive from biology can be applied and offer insight into the social realm. This is done by introducing the general system theory to the methodological debate on the relation of human and natural sciences.

This book summarizes the life and work of economist Kenneth E. Boulding. Boulding was a prolific writer, teacher and Quaker. Starting his career as an orthodox Keynesian economist, he eventually adopted a transdisciplinary approach to economic topics including peace, conflict and defense, environmental problems, human betterment and evolution.