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Peace and conflict studies is a
social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
field that identifies and analyzes
violent Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...
and
nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
behaviors as well as the structural mechanisms attending conflicts (including
social conflict Social conflict is the struggle for agency or power in society. Social conflict occurs when two or more people oppose each other in social interaction, and each exerts social power with reciprocity in an effort to achieve incompatible goals bu ...
s), to understand those processes which lead to a more desirable
human condition The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...
. A variation on this,
peace studies Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such ...
, is an
interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
effort aiming at the prevention, de-escalation, and solution of conflicts by peaceful means, based on achieving
conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...
and
dispute resolution Dispute resolution or dispute settlement is the process of resolving disputes between parties. The term ''dispute resolution'' is '' conflict resolution'' through legal means. Prominent venues for dispute settlement in international law incl ...
at the
international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
and
domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...
levels based on positive sum, rather than negative sum, solutions. In contrast with
strategic studies Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field centered on the study of peace and conflict strategies, often devoting special attention to the relationship between military history, international politics, geostrategy, international ...
or
war studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfa ...
, which focus on traditionally realist objectives based on the state or individual unit level of analysis, peace and conflict studies often focuses on the
structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who intr ...
,
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...
or
human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
levels of analysis. Disciplines involved may include
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
,
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
,
economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
,
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...
,
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
,
international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
,
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
,
religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...
,
gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...
,
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, and
development studies Development studies is an interdisciplinary branch of social science. Development studies is offered as a specialized master's degree in a number of reputed universities around the world. It has grown in popularity as a subject of study since the ...
as well as a variety of others. Relevant sub-disciplines of such fields, such as peace economics, may also be regarded as belonging to peace and conflict studies. The study of peace is also known as
irenology Peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyzes violent and nonviolent behaviors as well as the structural mechanisms attending conflicts (including social conflicts), to understand those processes which lead ...
.


Historical background

Peace and conflict studies is both a pedagogical activity, in which teachers transmit knowledge to students; and a research activity, in which researchers create new knowledge about the sources of conflict. Peace and conflict studies entails understanding the concept of peace which is defined as political condition that ensures justice and social stability through formal and informal institutions, practices, and norms.


As pedagogical activity

Academics and students in the world's oldest universities have long been motivated by an interest in
peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...
. American student interest in what we today think of as peace studies first appeared in the form of campus clubs at United States colleges in the years immediately following the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Similar movements appeared in Sweden in the last years of the 19th century, as elsewhere soon after. These were student-originated discussion groups, not formal courses included in college curricula. The first known peace studies course in higher education was offered in 1888 at
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
, a Quaker school. The
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
was a turning point in Western attitudes to war. At the 1919 Peace of Paris—where the leaders of France, Britain, and the United States, led by
Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...
,
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
, and
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
respectively, met to decide the future of Europe—Wilson proposed his famous
Fourteen Points The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress ...
for peacemaking. These included breaking up European empires into nation states and the establishment of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
. These moves, intended to ensure a peaceful future, were the background to a number of developments in the emergence of Peace and Conflict Studies as an academic discipline. The founding of the first chair in International Relations at
Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, whose remit was partly to further the cause of peace, occurred in 1919. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the founding of the
UN system The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the United Nations ...
provided a further stimulus for more rigorous approaches to peace and conflict studies to emerge. Many university courses in schools of higher learning around the world began to develop which touched upon questions of peace, often in relation to war, during this period. The first undergraduate academic program in peace studies in the United States was developed in 1948 by Gladdys Muir, at
Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
a liberal arts college associated with the
Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...
. It was not until the late 1960s in the United States that student concerns about the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
forced ever more universities to offer courses about peace, whether in a designated peace studies course or as a course within a traditional major. Work by academics such as
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
and John Burton, and debates in fora such as the ''
Journal of Peace Research The ''Journal of Peace Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in the fields of peace and conflict studies, conflict resolution, and international security. It was established by ...
'' in the 1960s reflected the growing interest and academic stature of the field. Growth in the number of peace studies programs around the world was to accelerate during the 1980s, as students became more concerned about the prospects of nuclear war. As the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
ended, peace and conflict studies courses shifted their focus from international conflictHarris, Fisk, and Rank 1998 and towards complex issues related to political violence,
human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global social vulnerability, vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be ...
,
democratisation Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...
,
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
,
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
,
welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...
,
development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...
, and producing sustainable forms of peace. A proliferation of international organisations, agencies and international NGOs, from the UN,
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...
,
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, and
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
to
International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...
,
International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity established in 1986. It aims to promote dialogue, training, research, policy analysis, advocacy, and outreach activities. The organization addresses the root causes of conflict by working wi ...
, and others, began to draw on such research.Miall, Ramsbotham, & Woodhouse 2005
Critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
agendas relating to positive peace in European academic contexts were already widely debated in the 1960s. By the mid-1990s peace studies curricula in the United States had shifted "...from research and teaching about negative peace, the cessation of violence, to positive peace, the conditions that eliminate the causes of violence." As a result, the topics had broadened enormously. By 1994, a review of course offerings in peace studies included topics such as: "north-south relations"; "development, debt, and global poverty"; "the environment, population growth, and resource scarcity"; and "feminist perspectives on peace, militarism, and political violence". There is now a general consensus on the importance of peace and conflict studies among scholars from a range of disciplines in and around the social sciences, as well as from many influential policymakers around the world. Peace and conflict studies today is widely researched and taught in a large and growing number of institutions and locations. The number of universities offering peace and conflict studies courses is hard to estimate, mostly because courses may be taught out of different departments and have very different names. The
International Peace Research Association The International Peace Research Association is a global network of academics. It was founded in 1964, and promotes peace by supporting national organizations, hosting conferences, publishing and supporting the publication of peace-promoting journ ...
website gives one of the most authoritative listings available. A 2008 report in the ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...
'' mentions over 400 programs of teaching and research in peace and conflict studies, noting in particular those at the
United World Colleges The United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organisation was fo ...
,
Peace Research Institute Oslo The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; ) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers led by Johan Galtung, who was ...
,
Universitat Jaume I Jaume I University (, ; ) is a university in the city of Castelló de la Plana, Valencian Community, Spain. It was founded in 1991, and it has approximately 14,000 students. The campus, covering 176 000 m2, has 4 faculties and many research and ...
in Castellón de la Plana/Spain, the
Malmö University Malmö University () is a public university located in Malmö, Sweden. With more than 24,000 students and about 1,600 employees (academic and administrative), Malmö University is the ninth largest institute of learning in Sweden. It has exchan ...
of Sweden, the
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
,
University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...
, the UN mandated Peace University
UPEACE The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university, international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate ...
in
Ciudad Colón Ciudad () is the Spanish word for "city". Ciudad or La Ciudad may also refer to: * La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona * La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico * ''La ciudad'', a novel by Mario Levrero published ...
/
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
,
George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
,
Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...
,
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, Notre Dame,
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
,
Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...
,
Innsbruck School of Peace Studies Since 2001, the Innsbruck School of Peace Studies has been developed by Wolfgang Dietrich and his team at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. In 2008 the UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies was established. In 2017 the team of rectors founded the Un ...
/
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
, and
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
. The
Rotary Foundation The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely ...
and the
UN University The is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare through co ...
supports several international academic teaching and research programs. A 1995 survey found 136 United States colleges with peace studies programs: "Forty-six percent of these are in church-related schools, another 32% are in large public universities, 21% are in non-church related private colleges, and 1% are in community colleges. Fifty-five percent of the church-related schools that have peace studies programs are
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. Other denominations with more than one college or university with a peace studies program are the
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
,
Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
,
Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...
, and
United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...
. One hundred fifteen of these programs are at the undergraduate level and 21 at the graduate level. Fifteen of these colleges and universities had both undergraduate and graduate programs." Other notable programs can be found at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
,
University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...
,
Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...
,
Hiroshima University is a Japanese national research university located in Higashihiroshima and Hiroshima, Japan. Established in 1929, it was chartered as a university in 1949 following the merge of a number of national educational institutions. Its abbreviated f ...
,
University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...
,
Universitat Jaume I Jaume I University (, ; ) is a university in the city of Castelló de la Plana, Valencian Community, Spain. It was founded in 1991, and it has approximately 14,000 students. The campus, covering 176 000 m2, has 4 faculties and many research and ...
,
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
,
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
,
King's College (London) King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
,
Sault College Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded college in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. It began in 1965 as the Ontario Vocational Centre. Today, Sault College is partnered with private Trios College. Sault college offers ...
, London Metropolitan, Sabanci,
Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...
,
Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
,
Université Paris Dauphine Paris Dauphine University - PSL () is a Grande École and public institution of higher education and research based in Paris, France, Collegiate university, constituent college of PSL University. As of 2022, Dauphine has 9,400 students in 8 fields ...
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
,
Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...
,
St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

Brandeis University's Heller School
and
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
. Perhaps most importantly, such programs and research agendas have now become common in institutions located in conflict, post-conflict, and developing countries and regions such as (e.g., National Peace Council),
Centre for Human Rights The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law, South Africa, is an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights on the continent of Africa. The centre, founded in 1986, promotes human rights through educational ...
,
University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...
,
Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...
,
National University of East Timor The National University of East Timor (UNTL; ; Tetum language, Tetum: ''Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e''), is a public university in East Timor, the only one of its kind in the country. Founded in 2000, as a result of the nation's indepen ...
, University of Kabul, on September 11, 2014 University of peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan established an Institute with prime objective of offering peace education to the youth who suffered it most since 1979 Afghan war. It is called Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS).


As research activity

Although individual thinkers such as
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
had long recognised the centrality of peace (see
Perpetual Peace ''Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch'' () is a 1795 book authored by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. In the book, Kant advances ideas that have subsequently been associated with democratic peace, commercial peace, and institution ...
), it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that peace studies began to emerge as an academic discipline with its own research tools, a specialized set of concepts, and forums for discussion such as journals and conferences. Beginning in 1959, with the founding of the
Peace Research Institute Oslo The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; ) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers led by Johan Galtung, who was ...
(PRIO), associated with
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
, a number of research institutes began to appear. In 1963,
Walter Isard Walter Isard (April 19, 1919 – November 6, 2010) was a prominent American economist, the principal founder of the discipline of regional science, as well as one of the main founders of the discipline of peace studies and Peace economics. Life ...
, the principal founder of
regional science Regional science is a field of economics concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are related specifically to regional and international issues. Topics in regional science include, but are not limited to location theory or spatial eco ...
, assembled a group of scholars in
Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...
, Sweden, for the purpose of establishing the Peace Research Society. The group of initial members included
Kenneth Boulding Kenneth Ewart Boulding (; January 18, 1910 – March 18, 1993) was an English-born American economist, educator, peace activist, and interdisciplinary philosopher.David LatzkoKenneth E. Boulding Comments at personal.psu.edu. Accessed 24 April 20 ...
and
Anatol Rapoport Anatol Borisovich Rapoport (; ; May 22, 1911January 20, 2007) was an American mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, to mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic ...
. In 1973, this group became th
Peace Science Society
Peace science was viewed as an interdisciplinary and international effort to develop a special set of concepts, techniques and data to better understand and mitigate conflict. Peace science attempts to use the quantitative techniques developed in economics and political science, especially
game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...
and
econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
, techniques otherwise seldom used by researchers in peace studies. The Peace Science Society website hosts the second edition of the
Correlates of War The Correlates of War project is an academic study of the history of warfare. It was started in 1963 at the University of Michigan by political scientist J. David Singer. Concerned with collecting data about the history of wars and conflict among s ...
, one of the most well-known collections of data on international conflict. The society holds an annual conference, attended by scholars from throughout the world, and publishes two scholarly journals: ''
Journal of Conflict Resolution The ''Journal of Conflict Resolution'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on international conflict and conflict resolution. It was established in 1957 and is published by SAGE Publications. The editor-in-chief is Paul ...
'' and ''
Conflict Management and Peace Science ''Conflict Management and Peace Science'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal appearing five times a year that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in the field of international relations (specifically peace and conflict studies) on topi ...
''. In 1964, the
International Peace Research Association The International Peace Research Association is a global network of academics. It was founded in 1964, and promotes peace by supporting national organizations, hosting conferences, publishing and supporting the publication of peace-promoting journ ...
was formed at a conference organized by
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
s in Clarens, Switzerland. Among the original executive committee was
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
. The IPRA holds a biennial conference. Research presented at its conferences and in its publications typically focuses on institutional and historical approaches, seldom employing quantitative techniques. In 2001, the
Peace and Justice Studies Association The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) is a non-profit organization headquartered at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It was created following increased interest in peace-building after the September 11th attacks in USA, and it ...
(PJSA) was formed as a result of a merger of two precursor organisations. The PJSA is the North American affiliate of IPRA and includes members from around the world with a predominance from the United States and Canada. The PJSA publishes a regular newsletter (''The Peace Chronicle''), and holds annual conferences on themes related to the organization's mission "to create a just and peaceful world" through research, scholarship, pedagogy, and activism. In 2008, Strategic Foresight Group presented its report on an innovative mechanism to find sustainable solution to conflicts in the Middle East. It also developed a new Water Cooperation Quotient, which is a measure of active cooperation by riparian countries in the management of water resources using 10 parameters including legal, political, technical, environmental, economic and institutional aspects. Institutions like
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade a ...
(SIPRI) are advancing the understanding of peace and development by analyzing the complex drivers of conflict and insecurity. Their approach acknowledges that conflicts are rarely caused by a single factor. Instead, a constellation of economic, social, political, and environmental factors, often reinforcing and exacerbating each other in ways that can lead to sustained violence or, conversely, pave pathways to peace.


Description

Peace and conflict studies along with its concepts of conflict analysis and
conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...
can be classified as: * Multidisciplinary, encompassing elements of
Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
and
International Relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
,
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
,
Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
,
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
and
Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
. * Multilevel. Peace studies examines intrapersonal peace, peace between individuals, neighbours, ethnic groups, marriages, states and civilisations. * Multicultural.
Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
is often cited as a paradigm of Peace Studies. * Both
analytic Analytic or analytical may refer to: Chemistry * Analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples to learn their chemical composition and structure * Analytical technique, a method that is used to determine the concentration of a chemical ...
and
normative Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A Norm (philosophy), norm in this sense means a standard for evaluatin ...
. As a normative discipline, Peace Studies involves value judgements, such as "better" and "bad". * Both theoretical and applied. There has been a long-standing debate on
disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...
issues, as well as attempts to investigate, catalogue, and analyse issues relating to arms production, trade, and their political impacts. There have also been attempt to map the economic costs of war, or of relapses into violence, as opposed to those of peace. Peace and conflict studies is now well established within the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
: it comprises many scholarly journals, college and university departments, peace research institutes, conferences, as well as outside recognition of the utility of peace and conflict studies as a method. Peace Studies allows one to examine the causes and prevention of war, as well as the nature of violence, including social oppression, discrimination and marginalization. Through peace studies one can also learn peace-making strategies to overcome persecution and transform society to attain a more just and equitable international community. Feminist scholars have developed a speciality within conflict studies, specifically examining the role of gender and interlocking systems of inequality in armed and other conflicts. The importance of considering the role of gender in post-conflict work was recognised by the
United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325), on women, peace, and security, was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council, UN Security Council on 31 October 2000, after recalling resolutions United Nations Secur ...
. Examples of feminist scholarship include the work of
Carol Cohn Carol Cohn is the founding director of the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights and a Lecturer of Women's Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Cohn is recognised for addressing issues of gender in global politics, particul ...
and
Claire Duncanson Claire Duncanson (born 15 January 1974) is a lecturer at the department of Social and Political Science; at the University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a ...
.


Ideas


Conceptions of peace

Negative peace refers to the absence of direct violence. Positive peace refers to the
critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
of conflict resolution and the absence of indirect and
structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who intr ...
, and is the concept that most peace and conflict researchers adopt. This is often credited to GaltungGaltung & Jacobsen 2000 but these terms were previously used by
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
in his "
Letter from Birmingham Jail The "Letter from Birmingham Jail", also known as the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and "The Negro Is Your Brother", is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. It says that people have a moral responsibility to b ...
" in 1963, in which he wrote about "negative peace which is the absence of tension" and "positive peace which is the presence of justice." These terms were perhaps first used by
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
in a series of lectures about 'positive ideals of peace' begun in 1899 that took form in her boo
''Newer Ideals of Peace''
where she switched to the term "newer ideals", but continued to contrast them to the term "negative peace"; she described them as we think of them today, as peace with "a sense of justice no longer outraged." The idea was further popularized by then-UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Gha ...
in his 1992 report '' An Agenda for Peace'', published in the aftermath of the Cold War.
Boutros Ghali Boutros Ghali (12 May 1846 – 21 February 1910; , ; styled Boutros Ghali Bey later Boutros Ghali Pasha) was an Egyptian politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 to 1910. Early life Boutros Ghali was born on 12 May 1846 t ...
, '' An Agenda For Peace: Preventative Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peacekeeping'', New York: United Nations, 1992.
Several conceptions, models, or modes of peace have been suggested in which peace research might prosper. *The crux of the matter is that peace is a natural social condition, whereas war is not. The premise is simple for peace researchers: to present enough information so that a rational group of decision makers will seek to avoid war and conflict. *Second, the view that violence is sinful or unskillful, and that non-violence is skillful or virtuous and should be cultivated. This view is held by a variety of religious traditions worldwide: Quakers, Mennonites and other
Peace churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: * Church of the Breth ...
within Christianity; Baháʼís,
Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and ...
, the Satyagraha tradition in Hinduism,
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, and other portions of Indian religion and philosophy; as well as certain schools of
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. *Third is
pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...
: the view that peace is a prime force in human behaviour. * A further approach is that there are multiple modes of peace. There have been many offerings on these various forms of peace. These range from the well known works of
Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...
, Locke,
Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...
, Paine, on various liberal international and constitutional and plans for peace. Variations and additions have been developed more recently by scholars such as Raymond Aron, Edward Azar, John Burton, Martin Ceadal, Wolfgang Dietrich, Kevin Dooley,
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
, Robert L. Holmes, Michael Howard, Vivienne Jabri, John-Paul Lederach, Roger Mac Ginty, Pamina Firchow, Hugh Miall, David Mitrany, Oliver Ramsbotham,
Anatol Rapoport Anatol Borisovich Rapoport (; ; May 22, 1911January 20, 2007) was an American mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, to mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic ...
, Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, Oliver Richmond, S.P. Udayakumar, Tom Woodhouse, others mentioned above and many more.
Democratic peace Proponents of democratic peace theory argue that both Representative democracy, electoral and Republicanism, republican forms of democracy are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Different advocates of this ...
, liberal peace, sustainable peace, civil peace, hybrid peace, post-liberal peace, everyday peace, trans-rational peace(s) and other concepts are regularly used in such work.


Sustainable peace

Under the conceptions of peace, sustainable peace must be regarded as an important factor for the future of prosperity. Sustainable peace must be the priority of global society where state actors and non-state actors do not only seek for the profits in a near future that might violate the stable state of peace. For a sustainable peace, nurturing, empowerment, and communications are considered to be the crucial factors throughout the world. Firstly, nurturing is necessary to encourage psychological stability and emotional maturity. The significance of social value in adequate nurturing is important for sustainable peace. Secondly, in order to achieve real security and sustainable peace, inner security must be secured along with arranged social systems and protection based on firm foundation. Lastly, communications are necessary to overcome ignorance and isolation and establish a community based on reliable and useful information.


Conflict triangle

Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
's conflict triangle works on the assumption that the best way to define peace is to define violence, its opposite. It reflects the normative aim of preventing, managing, limiting and overcoming violence. * Direct (overt) violence: for example, direct attacks and massacres. * Structural violence: Structural violence is indirect violence caused by repressive, unequal and unjust social structures, not direct acts of violence or unavoidable causes of harm. * Cultural violence: Cultural violence occurs as a result of the cultural assumptions that blind one to direct or structural violence. For example, one may be indifferent toward the homeless, or even consider their expulsion or extermination a good thing. Each corner of Galtung's triangle can relate to the other two.
Ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...
can be an example of all three. A simplification of these can be phrased as: * Direct violence: harming or hurting the body and mind. * Structural violence: economic exploitation and political repression. * Cultural violence: underlying values and epistemic models that legitimize direct and structural violence.


Appeasement and deterrence

Appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...
in a strategy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive
power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...
to avoid conflict.
Deterrence Deterrence may refer to: * Deterrence theory, a theory of war, especially regarding nuclear weapons * Deterrence (penology), a theory of justice * Deterrence (psychology) Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or penology, t ...
is a strategy to use threats or limited force to dissuade an actor from escalating conflict, typically because the prospective attacker believes that the probability of success is low and the costs of attack are high.


Cost of conflict and price of unjust peace

Cost of conflict Cost of Conflict is a tool which attempts to calculate the price of conflict to the human race. The idea is to examine this cost, not only in terms of the deaths and casualties and the economic costs borne by the people involved, but also the soc ...
is a approach which attempts to calculate the price of conflicts. The idea is to examine this cost, not only in terms of the deaths and casualties and the economic costs borne by the people involved, but also the social, developmental, environmental and strategic costs of conflict. The approach considers direct costs of conflict, for instance human deaths, expenditure, destruction of land and physical infrastructure; as well as indirect costs that impact a society, for instance migration, humiliation, growth of extremism and lack of civil society. The price of unjust peace can be higher than the cost of conflict.


Causality

The
democratic peace theory Proponents of democratic peace theory argue that both electoral and republican forms of democracy are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Different advocates of this theory suggest that several factors ar ...
claims that democracy causes peace, while the
territorial peace theory The territorial peace theory finds that the stability of a country's borders has a large influence on the political climate of the country. Peace and stable borders foster a democratic and tolerant climate, while territorial conflicts with neighb ...
disagrees and claims that peace causes democracy. The capitalist peace theory claims
economic interdependence Economic interdependence is the mutual dependence of the participants in an economic system who trade in order to obtain the products they cannot produce efficiently for themselves. Such trading relationships require that the behavior of a partici ...
contributes to peace. Other explanations for peace include institutional liberalism,
alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
s,
Pax Atomica Pax Atomica (Latin for “Atomic Peace”) is one of the terms that has sometimes been used to describe the period of severe tensions without a major military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The term is ...
,
Pax Americana ''Pax Americana'' (Latin for , modeled after ''Pax Romana'' and ''Pax Britannica''), often identified with the " Long Peace", is a term applied to the concept of relative peace in the Western Hemisphere and later in the world after the end of ...
and
political stability Political stability is a situation characterized by the preservation of an intact and smoothly functioning government or political system, avoiding significant disruptions or changes over an extended duration. Political stability signifies a state ...
.
Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...
and
liberal internationalism Liberal internationalism is a foreign policy doctrine that supports international institutions, open markets, cooperative security, and liberal democracy. At its core, it holds that states should participate in international institutions that up ...
are claimed by some to lead in some cases to more wars and in other cases to fewer wars.


Critical theory

Critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
argues for a shift from "negative peace" described as absence of violence against individuals to "positive peace" described as the absence of
structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who intr ...
. This emerged rapidly at the end of the Cold War, and was encapsulated in the report of then-UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Gha ...
, '' An Agenda for Peace''. Indeed, it might be said that much of the machinery of what has been called "liberal peacebuilding" by a number of scholars and "statebuilding" by another is based largely on the work that has been carried out in this area. Many scholars in the area have advocated a more "emancipatory" form of peacebuilding, however, based upon a "
Responsibility to Protect The responsibility to protect (R2P or RtoP) is a global political commitment which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly at the 2005 World Summit in order to address its four key concerns to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cle ...
" (R2P), human security, local ownership and participation in such processes, especially after the limited success of liberal peacebuilding/ statebuilding in places as diverse as
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
, the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
,
East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
,
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
,
Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
,
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, and
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. This approach includes the normatively oriented work that emerged in the peace studies and conflict research schools of the 1960s (e.g. Oslo Peace Research Institute on "Liberal Peace and the Ethics of Peacebuilding") and more critical theory ideas about peacebuilding that have recently developed in many European and non-western academic and policy circles.


Prediction and forecasting

Conflict forecasts and early warnings can be sufficiently precise to be relevant for policy and evaluation of theories. Conflict escalation can be rational for one side of the conflict in some cases of
asymmetric conflicts Asymmetric warfare (or asymmetric engagement) is a type of war between belligerents whose relative military power, strategy or tactics differ significantly. This type of warfare often, but not necessarily, involves insurgents, terrorist groups ...
,
appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...
or for ''Fait accompli'', causing challenges to
de-escalation De-escalation refers to the methods and actions taken to decrease the severity of a conflict, whether of physical, verbal or another nature. It is the opposite of escalation. De-escalation may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution, b ...
.


Internal conflicts and disaggregated data

Since the beginning of the 2000s, technical advances in geolocation of violent events and spatial analyses have fostered the emergence of a large number of empirical studies carried out at the disaggregated scale of regions, cities or geographical units. A 2019 survey shows that the use of disaggregated data has led to methodological advances that are important in understanding the role played by poverty and natural resources in the emergence of civil conflicts. This evolution of statistical tools also draws promising research perspectives for contemporary and still widely debated issues such as
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. Nevertheless, this gain in precision must not be at the expense of a better understanding of the regional and global issues that are also involved in the emergence of civil conflicts. Thus, the issues of trade and social cohesion still need to be deepened because they are explained at the level of groups whose dimension is poorly understood. A subsequent 2024 meta-regression analysis examines the narratives researchers use to describe how various shocks affect internal conflict risk through channels implicitly linked to income. After examining 2,464 subnational estimates from 64 empirical studies, the analysis finds that several publication biases related to scholars' methodological choices influence our understanding of this phenomenon. Importantly, studies that do not uncover empirical effects aligning with researchers' expectations regarding theoretical mechanisms are less likely to be published. After accounting for publication selection bias, the analysis finds that, on average, income-increasing shocks in the agriculture sector are negatively associated with the local risk of conflict. However, the analysis finds no average effect of income-decreasing shocks in the agriculture sector or income-increasing shocks in the extractive sector on the local risk of conflict. This opens avenues for further study on the observed heterogeneity in the literature, particularly focusing on the conditional aspects of how shocks and conflicts are measured, as well as geographical coverage, among other factors.


Complex system approach to peace and armed conflict


Normative aims

The normative aims of peace studies are conflict transformation and
conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...
through mechanisms such as
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
,
peacebuilding Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the cultural and structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict. It revolves around developing constructive personal, group, and ...
(e.g., tackling disparities in rights, institutions and the distribution of world wealth) and peacemaking (e.g., mediation and conflict resolution). Peacekeeping falls under the aegis of negative peace, whereas efforts toward positive peace involve elements of
critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
, peace building and peacemaking.


Peace and conflict studies in military

Peace and conflict are widely studied by militaries. One approach by military to prevent conflict and
conflict escalation Conflict escalation is the process by which conflicts grow in severity or scale over time. That may refer to conflicts between individuals or groups in interpersonal relationships, or it may refer to the escalation of hostilities in a political or ...
is
deterrence Deterrence may refer to: * Deterrence theory, a theory of war, especially regarding nuclear weapons * Deterrence (penology), a theory of justice * Deterrence (psychology) Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or penology, t ...
.
Critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
argues that military is overtly committed to combat in the article "Teaching Peace to the Military", published in the journal ''
Peace Review ''Peace Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Routledge and covering peace and conflict studies. It was established in 1992 by John Harris (Stanford University), although the editorship was soon assumed by Robert Eli ...
'', James Page argues for five principles that ought to undergird this undertaking, namely, respect but do not privilege military experience, teach the just war theory, encourage students to be aware of the tradition and techniques of nonviolence, encourage students to deconstruct and demythologize, and recognize the importance of military virtue.


Criticism and controversy

A number of criticisms have been aimed at
critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...
in peace and conflict studies, often but not necessarily from outside the realms of university system, including that peace studies: * does not produce practical prescriptions for managing or resolving global conflicts because "
ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...
always trumps objectivity and
pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics ...
"; *are focused on putting a "respectable face on Western
self-loathing Self-hatred is a state of personal self-loathing or low self-esteem. In psychology and psychiatry The term "self-hatred" is used infrequently by psychologists and psychiatrists, who would usually describe people who hate themselves as "people wi ...
"; *are hypocritical because they "tacitly or openly support
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
as a permissible strategy for the 'disempowered' to redress real or perceived grievances against the powerful" (i.e. ideological anti-Western concepts developed by social scientists such as
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
which arguably add a sense of unjustified acceptability which is used in support of radicalism); *have curricula that are (according to human rights activist Caroline Cox and philosopher
Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...
) "intellectually incoherent, riddled with bias and unworthy of academic status...";Barbarians within the gate
" by Barbara Kay, National Post, February 18, 2009.
*have policies proposed to "eliminate the causes of violence" that are uniformly
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
policies, and not necessarily policies which would find broad agreement among social scientists.Bawer 2007 In 1980, political scientist J. David Singer criticized peace research on three fronts: # Peace research contributed to creating a schism in research into the causes of war, thus making it harder to develop systematic research into war # "many peace researchers had the intellectual innocence of most bright amateurs; they underestimated the rate at which their research findings would become applicable and would be applied to major policy problems of the day." # many peace researchers failed to distinguish between objective research into the conditions of war and peace on one hand, and political action and propaganda in favor of specific policies
Barbara Kay Barbara Kay (born 1943) is a columnist for the Canadian newspaper ''National Post''. She also writes a weekly column for '' The Post Millennial'' and a monthly column for '' Epoch Times''. Early life and education Kay was born in 1943 to an "int ...
, a columnist for the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.
'', specifically criticized the views of Norwegian professor
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
, who is considered to be a leader in modern peace research. Kay wrote that Galtung has written on the "structural fascism" of "rich, Western, Christian" democracies, admires
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
, opposed resistance to the Soviet Invasion of Hungary in 1956, and has described
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...
and
Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...
as "persecuted elite personages". Galtung has also praised
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
for "endlessly liberating" China. Galtung has also stated that the United States is a "killer country" that is guilty of "neo-fascist state terrorism" and has reportedly stated that the destruction of Washington, D.C., could be justified by America's foreign policy. He has also compared the United States to Nazi Germany for bombing Kosovo during the
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an ag ...
. In the Summer 2007 edition of ''
City Journal ''City Journal'' is a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, that covers a range of topics on urban affairs, such as policing, education, housing, and other issues. ...
'', Bruce Bawer sharply criticized Peace Studies. He noted that many Peace Studies programs in American Universities are run by Marxist or far-left Professors. More broadly, he argued that Peace Studies are dominated by the belief that "America ... is the wellspring of the world's problems" and that while Professors of Peace Studies argue "that terrorist positions deserve respect at the negotiating table," they "seldom tolerate alternative views" and that "(p)eace studies, as a rule, rejects questioning of its own guiding ideology."The Peace Racket
by Bruce Bawer, City Journal, Summer 2007.
Regarding his claim that Peace Studies supports violence in the pursuit of leftist ideology, Bawer cited a quote from
Peace and Conflict Studies
', a widely used 2002 textbook written by Charles P. Webel and David P. Barash which praised
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
because he "maintained that only revolution—not reform—could undo capitalism's tendency toward imperialism and thence to war."
David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (January 10, 1939 – April 29, 2025) was an American conservative writer and activist. He was a founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and ...
has argued that Webel and Barash's book implicitly supports violence for socialist causes, noting that the book states "the case of Cuba indicates that violent revolutions can sometimes result in generally improved living conditions for many people." Horowitz also argued that the book "treats the Soviet Union as a sponsor of peace movements, and the United States as the militaristic, imperialist power that peace movements try to keep in check" and that "the authors justify Communist policies and actions while casting those of America and Western democracies in a negative light." Horowitz also claimed that the authors discuss the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
without mentioning its cause (i.e. the placement of the Soviet missiles in Cuba) and blame
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
while praising Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
for "be ngwilling to back down". Finally, Horowitz criticized the author's use of Marxist writers, such as
Andre Gunder Frank Andre Gunder Frank (February 24, 1929 – April 25, 2005) was a German- American sociologist and economic historian who promoted dependency theory after 1970 and world-systems theory after 1984. He employed some Marxian concepts on polit ...
and
Frances Moore Lappe Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from ...
, as the sole basis on which to study "poverty and hunger as causes of human conflict." Kay and Bawer also specifically criticized Professor Gordon Fellman, the Chairman of
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
's Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program, who they claimed has justified Palestinian suicide-bombings against Israelis as "ways of inflicting revenge on an enemy that seems unable or unwilling to respond to rational pleas for discussion and justice." Katherine Kersten, who is a senior fellow at the Minneapolis-based conservative think tank
Center of the American Experiment The Center of the American Experiment is a Minnesota-based think tank that advocates for conservative and free-market principles. John Hinderaker, of the Power Line blog, is its president. Overview The Center of the American Experiment was founde ...
, believes that Peace Studies programs are "dominated by people of a certain ideological bent, and rethus hard to take seriously." Robert Kennedy, a professor of Catholic studies and management at the University of St. Thomas, criticized his university's Peace Studies Program in an interview with ''
Minneapolis Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...
'' in 2002, stating that the program employs several adjunct professors "whose academic qualifications are not as strong as we would ordinarily look for" and that "The combination of the ideological bite and the maybe less-than-full academic credentials of the faculty would probably raise some questions about how scholarly the program is."


Responses

Such views have been strongly opposed by scholars who claim that these criticisms underestimate the development of detailed interdisciplinary, theoretical, methodological, and empirical research into the causes of violence and dynamics of peace that has occurred via academic and policy networks around the world. In reply to
Barbara Kay Barbara Kay (born 1943) is a columnist for the Canadian newspaper ''National Post''. She also writes a weekly column for '' The Post Millennial'' and a monthly column for '' Epoch Times''. Early life and education Kay was born in 1943 to an "int ...
's article, a group of Peace Studies experts in Canada responded that "Kay's...argument that the field of peace studies endorses terrorism is nonsense" and that "(d)edicated peace theorists and researchers are distinguished by their commitment to reduce the use of violence whether committed by enemy nations, friendly governments or warlords of any stripe." They also argued that:
...Ms. Kay attempts to portray advocates for peace as naive and idealistic, but the data shows that the large majority of armed conflicts in recent decades have been ended through negotiations, not military solutions. In the contemporary world, violence is less effective than diplomacy in ending armed conflict. Nothing is 100% effective to reduce tyranny and violence, but domestic and foreign strategy needs to be based on evidence, rather than assumptions and misconceptions from a bygone era.
Most academics in the area argue that the accusations are incorrect that peace studies approaches are not objective, and derived from mainly leftist or inexpert sources, are not practical, support violence rather than reject it, or have not led to policy developments. The development of UN and major donor policies (including the EU, US, and UK, as well as many others including those of Japan, Canada, Norway, etc.) towards and in conflict and post-conflict countries have been heavily influenced by such debates. A range of key policy documents and responses have been developed by these governments in the last decade and more, and in UN (or related) documentation such as "Agenda for Peace", "Agenda for Development", "Agenda for Democratization", the
Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...
,
Responsibility to Protect The responsibility to protect (R2P or RtoP) is a global political commitment which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly at the 2005 World Summit in order to address its four key concerns to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cle ...
, and the "High Level Panel Report". They have also been significant for the work of the World Bank, international development agencies, and a wide range of nongovernmental organisations. It has been influential in the work of, among others, the UN, UNDP,
UN Peacebuilding Commission The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is a United Nations intergovernmental advisory body of both the General Assembly and the Security Council that supports peace efforts in conflict-affected countries. A key addition to the capaci ...
,
UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
,
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, EU,
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...
, for national donors including USAID, DFID, CIDA, NORAD, DANIDA, Japan Aid, GTZ, and international NGOs such as
International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity established in 1986. It aims to promote dialogue, training, research, policy analysis, advocacy, and outreach activities. The organization addresses the root causes of conflict by working wi ...
or
International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...
, as well as many local NGOs. Major databases have been generated by the work of scholars in these areas. Finally, peace and conflict studies debates have generally confirmed, not undermined, a broad consensus (in developed world and the Global South) on the importance of
human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global social vulnerability, vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be ...
, human rights, development, democracy, and a rule of law (though there is a vibrant debate ongoing about the contextual variations and applications of these frameworks). At the same time, the research field is characterized by a number of challenges including the tension between "the objective of doing critical research and being of practical relevance".


See also

*
Arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Historically, arms control may apply to melee wea ...
*
Center for Global Nonkilling The Center for Global Nonkilling (originally known as the Center for Global Nonviolence) is an international non-profit organization focused on the promotion of change toward the measurable goal of a killing-free world. The Center for Global Nonki ...
*
Capitalist peace The capitalist or commercial peace theory posits that market openness contributes to more peaceful behavior among states, and that developed market-oriented economies are less likely to engage in conflict with one another. Along with the democrat ...
*
Democratic peace theory Proponents of democratic peace theory argue that both electoral and republican forms of democracy are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Different advocates of this theory suggest that several factors ar ...
*
Global Peace Index The Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Australia-based NGO Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories ...
*
Historic recurrence Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history. The concept of historic recurrence has variously been applied to overall human history (''e.g.'', to the rises and falls of empires), to repetitive patterns in the history of ...
*
International security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publis ...
*
Just war theory The just war theory () is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of #Criteria, criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. I ...
*
List of peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated Diplomacy, diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usua ...
*
Nonkilling Nonkilling refers to the absence of killing, threats to kill, and conditions conducive to killing in human society. It traces its origin from the broader concept of ahimsa or nonviolence, one of the central tenets of Indian religions, namely, Ja ...
*
Nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
*
Peace and Justice Studies Association The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) is a non-profit organization headquartered at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It was created following increased interest in peace-building after the September 11th attacks in USA, and it ...
*
Peace churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: * Church of the Breth ...
*
Peace education Peace education is the process of acquiring values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors to live in harmony with oneself, others, and the natural environment. There are numerous United Nations declarations and resolutions on the importance ...
*
Reconciliation studies Since about the 2010s, reconciliation studies has been a new scientific approach in the field of peace and conflict studies. It has commonalities with peacebuilding, conflict transformation, and transitional justice research, and to a lesser extent ...
*
Right of conquest The right of conquest was historically a right of ownership to land after immediate possession via force of arms. It was recognized as a principle of international law that gradually deteriorated in significance until its proscription in the af ...
*
Security studies __NOTOC__ Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...
*
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade a ...
*
Territorial peace theory The territorial peace theory finds that the stability of a country's borders has a large influence on the political climate of the country. Peace and stable borders foster a democratic and tolerant climate, while territorial conflicts with neighb ...
* War against war *
World peace World peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would come about. Various relig ...


Journals

* ''
International Peacekeeping ''International Peacekeeping'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles relating to peacekeeping and peace operations. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted or indexed in several scholarly databases, in ...
'' * ''
Journal of Conflict Resolution The ''Journal of Conflict Resolution'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on international conflict and conflict resolution. It was established in 1957 and is published by SAGE Publications. The editor-in-chief is Paul ...
'' * ''
Journal of Peace Research The ''Journal of Peace Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in the fields of peace and conflict studies, conflict resolution, and international security. It was established by ...
'' * ''
Journal for Peace and Justice Studies The ''Journal for Peace and Justice Studies'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Center for Peace & Justice Education (Villanova University). It covers issues of social justice and peace, informed by the Catholic social t ...
'' * ''
Peace Review ''Peace Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Routledge and covering peace and conflict studies. It was established in 1992 by John Harris (Stanford University), although the editorship was soon assumed by Robert Eli ...
'' * '' The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence''


People

*
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
*
Camillo Mac Bica Camillo Mac Bica is an American philosopher, poet, activist, and author. Biography Bica was born on January 7, 1947, in Brooklyn. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Long Island University in 1968 and a Master of Arts from New York University in ...
* Elise M. Boulding * Stanley A. Deetz *
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
* Robert L. Holmes *
John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...
* Michael Murphy Andregg * Glenn D. Paige * Peter Wallensteen


Notes


Sources and further reading

* Aron, Raymond, ''Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations'', London: Transaction, 2003
966 Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine prisoner exchanges, A prisoner excha ...
*Avruch, Kevin, Peter W. Black, and Joseph A. Scimecca (eds.), ''Conflict Resolution: Cross-Cultural Perspectives'', London: Greenwood Press, 1991. *Azar, Edward E., ''The Management of Protracted Social Conflict'', Hampshire, UK: Dartmouth Publishing, 1990. * Beer, Francis A., ''Meanings of War and Peace'', College Station: Texas A & M University Press 2001. *Beer, Francis, ''Peace Against War'', San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1981. *Bawer, Bruce, "The Peace Racket", ''City Journal,'' Summer 200
link
*Burton, John W., and Edward E. Azar, ''International Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice'', Sussex: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986. *Caplan, Richard, ''International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. *Ceadal, M, ''Thinking about Peace and War'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. *Chandler, D. ''Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building''. Pluto Press, 2006. *Churchman, D. ''The Origins, Nature, and Management of Human Conflict''. University Press of America, 2013. *Cooper, Neil, "What's the Point of Arms Transfer Controls?", ''Contemporary Security Policy'', Vol. 27, No. 1, April 2006 pp. 118–137. *Jarat Chopra, and Tanja Hohe, "Participatory Intervention", ''Global Governance'', Vol. 10, 2004. *Darby, John, and Roger MacGinty, ''Contemporary Peacemaking'', London: Palgrave, 2003. * Wolfgang Dietrich, Josefina Eachavarría Alvarez, Norbert Koppensteiner eds.: ''Key Texts of Peace Studies''; LIT Münster, Vienna, 2006. * Wolfgang Dietrich, Daniela Ingruber, Josefina Echavarría, Gustavo Esteva and Norbert Koppensteiner (eds.): ''The Palgrave International Handbook of Peace Studies: A Cultural Perspective'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. *Dooley, Kevin L., and S.P. Udayakumar, "Reconceptualizing Global Conflicts: From Us Versus Them to Us Versus Then," ''Journal of Global Change and Governance'', Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2009. * *Duffield, Mark, ''Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security'', London: Zed Books, 2001. *Dugan, M. 1989. "Peace Studies at the Graduate Level." ''The Annals of the American Academy of Political Science: Peace Studies: Past and Future'', 504, 72–79. *Dunn, DJ, ''The First Fifty Years of Peace Research'', Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005. * Fukuyama, Francis, ''State Building: Governance and World Order in the Twenty-First Century'', Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. * Galtung, J., "A Structural Theory of Imperialism", ''Journal of Peace Research'', Vol. 13, No. 2, 1971. *Galtung, Johan, and Carl G. Jacobsen, ''Searching for Peace: The Road to TRANSCEND'', Pluto Press: London, 2000. * *Harris, Ian, Larry J. Fisk, and Carol Rank. (1998). "A Portrait of University Peace Studies in North America and Western Europe at the End of the Millennium." ''International Journal of Peace Studies''. Volume 3, Number 1. ISSN 1085-749
link
* * Holmes, Robert L. ''Pacifism: A Philosophy of Nonviolence'', London, Bloomsbury, 2017. *Howard, M. ''The Invention of Peace and the Re-Invention of War'', London: Profile, 2002. *Jabri, Vivienne, ''Discourses on Violence'', Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996. *Jabri, Vivienne, ''War and the Transformation of Global Politics'', London: Palgrave, 2007. *Keynes, John Maynard, ''The Economic Consequences of the Peace'', London: Macmillan, 1920. *Koppensteiner, Norbert: ''The Art of the Transpersonal Self. Transformation as Aesthetic and Energetic Practice''; TROPOSNew York, Dresden, 2009. *Kosaka, Masataka, ''International Politics and the Search for Peace'', Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2023
966 Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine prisoner exchanges, A prisoner excha ...
br>link
*Kumar, Samrat Schmiem, ''Bhakti - the yoga of love: Trans-rational approaches to Peace Studies''; Münster: LIT Verlag, 2010. * * *Lederach, J., ''Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies'', Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1997. *López-Martínez, Mario (dir) ''Enciclopedia de paz y conflictos.'' Granada, 2004. , 2 tomos. *Lund, Michael S., "What Kind of Peace Is being Built: Taking Stock of Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and Charting Future Directions", Paper presented on the 10th Anniversary of Agenda for Peace, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, January 2003. *Miall, Hugh, Oliver Ramsbotham, and Tom Woodhouse, ''Contemporary Conflict Resolution'', Polity Press, 2005. *Mitrany, D.A., ''The Functional Theory of Politics'', London: Martin Robertson, 1975. * *Richmond, OP, ''Maintaining Order, Making Peace'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. *Richmond, OP, ''A Post-Liberal Peace'', London: Routledge, 2011. *Richmond, OP, ''The Transformation of Peace'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. ———— *Richmond, OP, and Jason Franks, ''Liberal Peace Transitions: Between Statebuilding and Peacebuilding'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. * *Routledge Contemporary Security Studies series: ''Women, Peace and Security: Translating Policy into Practice'' First published 2010. Introduction by 'Funmi Olonisakin, Director of Conflict, Security & Development Group, King's College London, and Karen Barnes. Chapter by Lesley Abdela 'Nepal and the implementation of UNSCR1325'. (hbk) *Rummel, RJ, ''The Just Peace'', Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1981. *Tadjbakhsh, Shahrbanou, and Anuradha M. Chenoy, ''Human Security: Concepts and Implications'', London: Routledge, 2006 * Singer, J. David (1976).
An Assessment of Peace Research
" ''International Security''. 1 (1): 118–137. *Taylor, Paul, and A.J.R. Groom (eds.), ''The UN at the Millennium'', London: Continuum, 2000. *Tidwell, Alan C., ''Conflict Resolved'', London: Pinter, 1998. *Trinn, Christoph, and Thomas Wencker, "Integrating the Quantitative Research on the Onset and Incidence of Violent Intrastate Conflicts" ''International Studies Review'', 2020. (doi.org/10.1093/isr/viaa023) *Vayrynen, R., ''New Directions in Conflict Theory: Conflict Resolution and Conflict Transformation'', London: Sage, 1991. *Vedby Rasmussen, Mikkel, ''The West, Civil Society, and the Construction of Peace'', London: Palgrave, 2003. *Wallensteen, Peter (ed.), ''Peace Research: Achievements and Challenges'', Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988. * Young, Nigel J. (ed.), ''The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace'' (4 vols. 2010) 3:449–498. *Zartman, William, and Lewis Rasmussen (eds.), ''Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and Techniques'', Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997.


External links

* * *Interview with Werner Wintersteiner o
peace education


Library guides to peace studies


Cornell University
New York, USA
Michigan State University
USA
University of Missouri
USA
New York University
USA {{DEFAULTSORT:Peace And Conflict Studies International relations Subfields of political science