Softcover 14,00 €
The title of this interview volume, The Courage Not to Kill, is drawn from a central passage in the conversation and was chosen deliberately. It rejects the contempt with which militarists so often regard pacifists and answers the charge that they are cowards. The opposite is true. Those who refuse military service and those who remain faithful to pacifist convictions are the courageous ones, the true heroes. This insight emerged with particular clarity in my conversation with Linn Stalsberg, and the title of this book is meant to give it lasting expression.
In this wide-ranging and deeply reflective interview, Norwegian sociologist, journalist, and peace activist Linn Stalsberg challenges the dominant assumptions that shape our thinking about war and security. Drawing on history, political theory, and personal experience, she explores how militarism has come to be seen as “common sense” in contemporary societies—and why this perception must be questioned.
Through a candid dialogue, Stalsberg revisits overlooked traditions of peace thinking, including conscientious objection, pacifism, non‑violent resistance, and anti‑militarism, revealing them as rich, intellectually grounded alternatives rather than naïve ideals. At the same time, she reflects on the pressures of modern political discourse, where calls for diplomacy and restraint are often dismissed, and where the logic of rearmament increasingly dominates public debate.
Interweaving personal insight with sharp political analysis—from NATO and the war in Ukraine to global conflicts and the erosion of diplomacy—this conversation invites readers to reconsider what it means to work for peace in an age of escalating violence. At its heart lies a provocative claim: that refusing to kill may be one of the greatest acts of courage a human being can perform.
Sample reading
Linn Stalsberg: I was recently reading again the essay by Achille Mbembe called Necropolitics. It is from 2003, written in the same year as the US war on Iraq.
When I read Mbembe, I found myself thinking: yes, this describes something important about the world we are living in today.
Necropolitics helps explain how political, military, and economic power can determine whose lives are valued and whose are not. The idea that every human life possesses equal intrinsic worth seems increasingly absent from global politics. It is as though we have reached a point where some people are considered more entitled to life, security, and protection than others.
The Palestinians are an obvious example. Their suffering is not accidental. If Palestinian lives were valued in the same way as our own, it is difficult to imagine that the destruction and killing we have witnessed could have continued with so little meaningful intervention from the world’s most powerful states. I am not talking about ordinary people. I am talking about political leaders and institutions that possess the power to act. …
Further language editions of the Linn Stalsberg interview:
- Deutsche Ausgabe (in Vorbereitung)
- Version française (en préparation)
- Edición española (en preparación)
- Türkçe sürüm (hazırlanıyor)