Is military action ever justified? A physician defends the 'Responsibility to Protect'

Peace work: some lessons from medicine and biology

Medical peace work, or peace through health, is a new discipline in some universities, offered to students in health sciences as well as social science and the humanities. This article deals with some comparisons between conflict handling in medicine/biology and possible violence-reducing approaches in politics and in social science thinking. In biology, conflict and repair is normal and carries a potential for growth and development. It is neither necessary nor possible to eliminate conflict to prevent violence. However, biological defence is grounded on much more than simple killing of living organisms with competing interests. The great variation of species in nature can be seen as the successful result of an evolutionary process that does not necessarily promote hegemony of one species. Health systems and political systems claim a common aim, the welfare of the people. When medicine fails, this is often linked to aggressive methods aimed at short-term gains and the same kind of flawed reasoning sometimes decides international affairs.