49th ABS Annual Conference

In this presentation I explain how a Bahá’í discourse can offer a timely, comprehensive, and above all viable alternative to the principal theory informing international relations, namely political realism. This Bahá’í alternative provides the theoretical condition of possibility for a lasting, all-inclusive global peace. Drawing on the writings of Baha’u’llah, in addition to those of ʻAbdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice, I unpack the Baha’i prerequisites for world peace, in the process mapping out the contours of an alternative global order upon which such a peace can be realized and sustained. It will be argued here that, at this juncture in history, achieving global peace is within sight despite the current status quo in international affairs. However, what remains to be seen is whether this peace can be attained through global deliberation or upon suffering an unprecedented global calamity.