War and peace in Norberto Bobbio’s philosophy

The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the basic ideas and concepts of the theory of war and peace that Norberto Bobbio elaborates in his philosophy. Bobbio devoted a large part of his “late” research to issues of war and peace, giving it the epithet of the most important philosophical, political and legal problem of today. He observes this problem through the perspective of a nuclear war, a war that requires rethinking and re-evaluation of traditional theories of war that cannot survive the test that a war led by this type of weapon sets before them. Through the analysis of the very terms “war” and “peace”, he arrives at a technical-legal definition of peace through which peace is understood, not as the simple absence of war, but as the activity of building long-term relations between countries. Such an understanding of peace leads Bobbio to theories of active pacifism. Among these theories, Bobbio chooses the theory of institutional pacifism, an idea that advocates the establishment of a Third, universal state, which should necessarily be based on democratic principles. It would have control over the means of waging war and it would be able to resolve conflicts between states in dispute, bringing humanity, at least, closer to the idea of ​​permanent peace.