Development[edit]

Pacificism ranges between total pacifism, which usually states that killing, violence or war is unconditionally wrong in all cases, and defensivism, which accepts all defensive acts as morally just.^[4] Pacificism states that war may ever be considered only as a firm "last resort" and condemns both aggression and militarism. In the 1940s, the two terms were not conceptually distinguished, and pacificism was considered merely an archaic spelling.^[5]


The term pacificism was first used in 1910 by William James.^[6] The distinct theory was later developed by A. J. P. Taylor in The Trouble-Makers (1957)^[7] and was subsequently defined by Ceadel in his 1987 book, Thinking About Peace and War.^[8][9] It was also discussed in detail in Richard Norman's book, Ethics, Killing and War. The concept came to mean "the advocacy of a peaceful policy."^[10]


The largest national peace association in history, the British League of Nations Union, was pacificist rather than pacifist in orientation.^[11] Historically, the majority of peace activists have been pacificists rather than strict pacifists.^[12]