How to Produce Peace and Prosperity

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Since 9-11 attacks, the U.S government announced ‘the war on the terrorism.’ Then, the U.S and other western countries’ troops went to Iraq for the war on the terrorism. Why did they do so? The U.S and other western countries wanted not only to keep their own peace and prosperity but also to assist Middle East countries including Iraq for peace and prosperity. Nowadays, some countries like the United States are in peace and prosperity. On the contrast, some countries like Palestine are in conflict. Peace and prosperity are concerns of all countries and all human beings in this planet. As we can see around us, there are countries or people that are living in peace and prosperity, but there are also many other countries or people that are living in dispute or conflict. Also, even the most peaceful and prosperous country has somewhat conflict. Well, how can we produce maximum peace and prosperity?

The book ‘Peace and Prosperity in an Age of Incivility’ suggests the answer to this question while explaining about three critical political values of liberty, order, and equality and how those three values relate to peace and prosperity. To produce maximum peace and prosperity, three critical political values of liberty, order, and equality should be in balance. After the Cold War, many communistic or socialistic countries including the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were collapsed. On the contrast, many western countries which are the representatives of democratic countries including the United States of America have achieved high level of prosperity. Those countries also find a way to live peacefully with each other. According to the book, the United States is the best country in terms of the peace and prosperity. In other words, the level of prosperity and peace in the U.S. is greater than other western counties’. Therefore, by reviewing the characteristics of the U.S., some key factors to produce maximum peace and prosperity would be disclosed. The book introduces many variables such as economic prosperity, military expenditure, patent, technological achievement, human development, etc. as the variables to evaluate the nation’s prosperity.

In this point, one of the surprising facts is that the U.S is not the number one country in the ranking of the variables. However, the U.S is positioned high rank in every variable. That is, the U.S is the country with balanced development in every part. It is important to note the relationship between liberty, order, and equality. Those three critical political values have unique value. Also, those three values are related to each other in a competitive way. If one country’s system is inclined toward liberty, then order and equality in the society of the country are threatened. For example, definition of liberty includes the freedom from the nation. That is, many people in democratic countries do not want for their activities to be interfered by the nation. As we know, capitalism has close relationship with democracy. Capitalism pursues the liberty of economical activities. Except some special events, the freedom of individual economical activities is guaranteed. Many unnecessary systems or interferences are abolished to guarantee liberty of individual activities.

Capitalism is a kind of good way to develop economy in one country. However, capitalism brings extension of gap between the rich and the poor. It means that liberty that is pursued in capitalism reduces equality. China is a good example of the conflict between liberty and equality. China has changed economic system to capitalism, and China is developing very fast. However, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing larger. As a matter of fact, dissonance between the rich and the poor in China is very serious. This means that China is not in peace. On the other hand, we can see that liberty is reduced when countries’ system is inclined toward order or equality. For example, in North Korea, President Kim Jung-Il holds an absolute authority over whole country. He and his administration made lots of rules or orders. Those rules or orders are seriously restraining the liberty of North Korean. Another example would be some European countries which emphasized welfare system excessively. Those countries are democratic and capitalistic countries. However, those countries kept adjusted capitalism which is somewhat different with American capitalism.

Those countries imposed many taxes to their citizens to strengthen welfare system. Their capitalism is mixed with communism. Those countries pursued development and distribution at the same time. However, those countries’ development stagnated because the adjusted capitalism interfered somewhat the liberty of economical activities. Also, some citizens did not try to work because they could maintain their lives without working. Three critical political values of liberty, order, and equality are related to each other in a competitive way. However, those three values are also coordinated with each other and plus the values of peace and prosperity. In other words, when three values are in balance, peace and prosperity are maximized. A good example of country which is in balance among liberty, order, and equality is the United States of America. According to the book ‘Peace and Prosperity in an Age of Incivility,’ the U.S. shares the top ranking and rating for civil and political liberties.

As we know, the U.S also highly ranked for economic freedom. However, it seems that the U.S is not inclined toward liberty too much. In GINI Index which measures inequality over the entire distribution of income or consumption in a nation, the U.S is approximately in the center of the scale. It means that the U.S is in moderate level of equality. Those data show that the U.S is inclined toward neither liberty nor equality. With respect to order, the U.S is raked and rated highly in democratic institutions. The U.S holds the best position in democratic institutions. According to those data, we can see that the U.S is not the number one country in the ranking of all variables. However, the U.S is highly ranked in all variables. This means that the U.S is not inclined toward just one value, but the U.S is in the best balance of three critical values of liberty, order, and equality.

To sum up, many western countries are in peace and prosperity. Those countries are representatives of democracy. Democracy is about human liberty and equality. Also, order is important in democracy. When those three critical values are balanced, the nations could achieve prosperity and peace simultaneously. As a matter of fact, the U.S is the most peaceful and prosperous country in the world. Therefore, how the U.S. establishes the peace and prosperity provides other countries with the way to produce the prosperous and peaceful nation. The most important thing the U.S. offers is the balance. This means that the development should be balanced. The U.S. is not positioned number one in each variable to evaluate the level of prosperity; however, the U.S. is ranked in the top 10 in almost all variables. In other words, the U.S has achieved good-balanced development. Moreover, the U.S is one of the best balanced countries in terms of liberty, order, and equality. Therefore, the U.S. could be positioned as the most prosperous and peaceful country.