Etzioni was active in the peace movement, the campaign against nuclear weapons, and the protests against the war in Vietnam. This led to two popular books, "The Hard Way to Peace" (1962) and "Winning without War" (1964), and, in later years, to "From Empire to Community", "Security First", "Hot Spots", and "Foreign Policy: Thinking Outside the Box". He spelled out ways to make China a partner in world order in "Avoiding War with China" (2017). His main argument in these books is that the world needs a global community and worldwide forms of governance; however, because people are strongly invested in nations, the world is not ready to transition to a global community. Hence, transnational arrangements must continue to be based on national representations. He shows that democracy must be largely homegrown and cannot be introduced by foreign powers through the use of force.