Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence.

In
a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom
from fear of violence between individuals or groups. Throughout history leaders have used
peacemaking and diplomacy to establish a certain type of behavioral restraint that has resulted in
the establishment of regional peace or economic growth through various forms of agreements or
peace treaties. Such behavioral restraint has often resulted in the reduction of conflicts, greater
economic interactivity, and consequently substantial prosperity.
"Psychological peace" (such as a peaceful thinking and emotions) is perhaps less well defined
yet often a necessary precursor to establishing "behavioral peace." Peaceful behavior sometimes
results from a "peaceful inner disposition." Some have expressed the belief that peace can be
initiated with a certain quality of inner tranquility that does not depend upon the uncertainties of
daily life for its existence.[1] The acquisition of such a "peaceful internal disposition" for oneself
and others can contribute to resolving of otherwise seemingly irreconcilable competing interests.

History[edit]

Croeseid coin of Croesus c.550 BC, depicting the Lion and Bull – partly symbolizing alliance between Lydia
and Greece, respectively.

In ancient times and more recently, peaceful alliances between different nations were codified
through royal marriages. Two examples, Hermodike I c.800BC[4] and Hermodike II c.600BC[5]
were Greek princesses from the house of Agamemnon who married kings from what is now
Central Turkey. The union of Phrygia / Lydia with Aeolian Greeks resulted in regional peace,
which facilitated the transfer of ground-breaking technological skills into Ancient Greece;
respectively, the phonetic written script and the minting of coinage (to use a token currency,
where the value is guaranteed by the state).[6] Both inventions were rapidly adopted by
surrounding nations through further trade and cooperation and have been of fundamental benefit
to the progress of civilization.
Since classical times, it has been noted that peace has sometimes been achieved by the victor
over the vanquished by the imposition of ruthless measures. In his book Agricola the Roman
historian Tacitus includes eloquent and vicious polemics against the rapacity and greed of Rome.
One, that Tacitus says is by the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus, ends Auferre trucidare rapere
falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. (To ravage, to
slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it
peace. — Oxford Revised Translation).
Discussion of peace is therefore at the same time a discussion on the form of such peace. Is it
simple absence of mass organized killing (war) or does peace require a particular morality and
justice? (just peace).[7] A peace must be seen at least in two forms:

 A simple silence of arms, absence of war.

 Absence of war accompanied by particular requirements for the mutual settlement of
relations, which are characterized by terms such as justice, mutual respect, respect for law
and good will.
More recently, advocates for radical reform in justice systems have called for a public policy
adoption of non-punitive, non-violent Restorative Justice methods, and many of those studying
the success of these methods, including a United Nations working group on Restorative Justice,
have attempted to re-define justice in terms related to peace. From the late 2000s on, a Theory
of Active Peace has been proposed[8] which conceptually integrates justice into a larger peace
theory.
Another internationally important approach to peace is the international, national and local
protection of cultural assets in the event of conflicts. United Nations, UNESCO and Blue Shield
International deal with the protection of cultural heritage. This also applies to the integration of
United Nations peacekeeping. UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova stated: "The protection of
culture and heritage is a humanitarian and security policy imperative that also paves the way for
resilience, reconciliation and peace." The protection of the cultural heritage should preserve the
particularly sensitive cultural memory, the growing cultural diversity and the economic basis of a
state, a municipality or a region. In many conflicts there is a deliberate attempt to destroy the
opponent's cultural heritage. Whereby there is also a connection between cultural user disruption
or cultural heritage and the cause of flight. But protection can only be implemented in a
sustainable manner through the fundamental cooperation and training of military units and
civilian personnel, together with the locals. The president of Blue Shield International Karl von
Habsburg summed it up with the words: “Without the local community and without the local
participants, that would be completely impossible”

Religious beliefs [edit]

Religious beliefs often seek to identify and address the basic problems of human life, including
the conflicts between, among, and within persons and societies. In ancient Greek-speaking areas
the virtue of peace was personified as the goddess Eirene, and in Latin-speaking areas as the
goddess Pax. Her image was typically represented by ancient sculptors as that of a full-grown
woman, usually with a horn of plenty and scepter and sometimes with a torch or olive leaves.

Christianity[edit]

The Kind Angel of Peace monument in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine, by Russian artist Peter Stronsky

Christians, who believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Jewish Messiah called Christ (meaning
Anointed One),[25] interpret Isaiah 9:6 as a messianic prophecy of Jesus in which he is called the
"Prince of Peace."[26] In the Gospel of Luke, Zechariah celebrates his son John: And you, child,
will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to
give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the
tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who
sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
Numerous pontifical documents on the Holy Rosary document a continuity of views of the Popes
to have confidence in the Holy Rosary as a means to foster peace. Subsequently, to the
Encyclical Mense maio,1965, in which he urged the practice of the Holy Rosary, "the prayer so
dear to the Virgin and so much recommended by the Supreme Pontiffs," and as reaffirmed in the
encyclical Christi Matri, 1966, to implore peace, Pope Paul VI stated in the apostolic Recurrens
mensis, October 1969, that the Rosary is a prayer that favors the great gift of peace.

Hinduism[edit]
Hindu texts contain the following passages:
May there be peace in the heavens, peace in the atmosphere, peace on the earth. Let there be
coolness in the water, healing in the herbs and peace radiating from the trees. Let there be
harmony in the planets and in the stars, and perfection in eternal knowledge. May everything in
the universe be at peace. Let peace pervade everywhere, at all times. May I experience that
peace within my own heart.

— Yajur Veda 36.17)

Let us have concord with our own people, and concord with people who are strangers to us.
Ashwins (Celestial Twins,) create between us and the strangers a unity of hearts. May we unite
in our minds, unite in our purposes, and not fight against the heavenly spirit within us. Let not the
battle-cry rise amidst many slain, nor the arrows of the war-god fall with the break of day

— Yajur Veda 7.52

A superior being does not render evil for evil. This is a maxim one should observe... One should
never harm the wicked or the good or even animals meriting death. A noble soul will exercise
compassion even towards those who enjoy injuring others or cruel deeds... Who is without fault?

— Valmiki, Ramayana
The chariot that leads to victory is of another kind.
Valour and fortitude are its wheels;
Truthfulness and virtuous conduct are its banner;
Strength, discretion, self-restraint and benevolence are its four horses,
Harnessed with the cords of forgiveness, compassion and equanimity...
Whoever has this righteous chariot, has no enemy to conquer anywhere.
— Valmiki, Ramayana

Buddhism[edit]
Buddhists believe that peace can be attained once all suffering ends. They
regard all suffering as stemming from cravings (in the extreme, greed),
aversions (fears), or delusions. To eliminate such suffering and achieve
personal peace, followers in the path of the Buddha adhere to a set of
teachings called the Four Noble Truths — a central tenet in Buddhist
philosophy.

Islam[edit]
Islam derived from the root word salam which literally means peace.
Muslims are called followers of Islam. Quran clearly stated "Those who have
believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah.
Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah, hearts are assured" and
stated "O you who have believed, when you are told, "Space yourselves" in
assemblies, then make space; Allah will make space for you. And when you
are told, "Arise," then arise; Allah will raise those who have believed among
 you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. And Allah is
Acquainted with what you do.

Criticism and controversy[edit]

 
Conservative writers Roger Scruton (left) and David Horowitz (right) are among the critics of peace and
conflict studies

A serious number of well established criticisms have been aimed at peace and conflict studies,
often but not necessarily from outside the realms of university system, including that peace
studies:

 do not produce practical prescriptions for managing or resolving global conflicts because
"ideology always trumps objectivity and pragmatism";[citation needed]
 are focused on putting a "respectable face on Western self-loathing";[citation needed]
 are hypocritical because they "tacitly or openly support terrorism 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
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) "intellectually incoherent, riddled with bias and unworthy of academic
status...";[38]
 have policies proposed to "eliminate the causes of violence" are uniformly leftist policies,
and not necessarily policies which would find broad agreement among social scientists. [39]
Barbara Kay, a columnist for the National Post, specifically criticized the views of Norwegian
professor Johan Galtung, 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, opposed resistance to the Soviet Invasion of Hungary in 1956, and has
described Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov as "persecuted elite personages."
Galtung has also praised Mao Zedong 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.[38]
In the Summer 2007 edition of City Journal, 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."[40]
Regarding his claim that Peace Studies supports violence in the pursuit of leftist ideology, Bawer
cited a quote from Peace and Conflict Studies,[41][42] a widely used 2002 textbook written by
Charles P. Webel and David P. Barash which praised Vladimir Lenin because he “maintained
that only revolution—not reform—could undo capitalism’s tendency toward imperialism and
thence to war."[40]
David Horowitz 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 without mentioning its cause (i.e. the placement of the Soviet missiles in Cuba) and
blame John F. Kennedy while praising Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev for "be[ing] willing to
back down." Finally, Horowitz criticized the author's use of Marxist writers, such as Andre Gunder
Frank and Frances Moore Lappe, as the sole basis on which to study "poverty and hunger as
causes of human conflict."[43]
Kay and Bawer also specifically criticized Professor Gordon Fellman, the Chairman of Brandeis
University's Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program, whom 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." [40][44]
Katherine Kersten, who is a senior fellow at the Minneapolis-based conservative think tank
Center of the American Experiment, believes that Peace Studies programs are "dominated by
people of a certain ideological bent, and [are] thus 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 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."[45]

Responses[edit]
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. [6]
In reply to Barbara Kay'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."[46]
Most academics in the area argue that the accusations 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, are clearly incorrect. They note that
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, Responsibility to Protect, and the "High
Level Panel Report".[47] They have also been significant for the work of the World Bank,
International Development Agencies, and a wide range of Non Governmental Organisations. [48] It
has been influential in the work of, among others, the UN, UNDP, UN Peacebuilding
Commission, UNHCR, World Bank, EU, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,
for national donors including USAID, DFID, CIDA, NORAD, DANIDA, Japan Aid, GTZ, and
international NGOs such as International Alert or International Crisis Group, as well as many
local NGOs. Major databases have been generated by the work of scholars in these areas. [49]
Finally, peace and conflict studies debates have generally confirmed, not undermined, a broad
consensus (western and beyond) on the importance of human security, 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). [50] 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"

Historical background[edit]
See also: Peace movement § History
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[edit]
Academics and students in the world's oldest universities have long been motivated by an
interest in peace. 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. 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 World War 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,
David Lloyd George, and Woodrow Wilson respectively, met to decide the future of Europe—
Wilson proposed his famous Fourteen Points for peacemaking. These included breaking up
European empires into nation states and the establishment of the League of Nations. 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 (but they also, as
Keynes presciently pointed out, laid the seeds for future conflict). [2] The founding of the first chair
in International Relations at Aberystwyth University, Wales, whose remit was partly to further the
cause of peace, occurred in 1919.
Indiana's Manchester College was one of the first institutions to offer a major in peace studies

After World War II, the founding of the UN system 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 a liberal
arts college located in North Manchester, Indiana.[3] It was not until the late 1960s in the United
States that student concerns about the Vietnam War 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 and John Burton, and debates in
fora such as the Journal of Peace Research in the 1960s reflected the growing interest and
academic stature of the field. [4] 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 ended, peace and conflict studies courses shifted
their focus from international conflict[5] and towards complex issues related to political violence,
human security, democratisation, human rights, social justice, welfare, development, 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,
European Union, and World Bank to International Crisis Group, International Alert, and others,
began to draw on such research.[6]
Agendas relating to positive peace in European academic contexts were already widely debated
in the 1960s.[7] 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." [5] 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."[5]
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 website gives one of the most authoritative listings
available. A 2008 report in the International Herald Tribune mentions over 400 programs of
teaching and research in peace and conflict studies, noting in particular those at the United
World Colleges, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Universitat Jaume I in Castellón de la
Plana/Spain, the Malmö University of Sweden, the American University, University of Bradford,
the UN mandated Peace University UPEACE in Ciudad Colón/Costa Rica, George Mason
University, Lund, Michigan, Notre Dame, Queensland, Uppsala, Innsbruck School of Peace
Studies/Austria, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Rotary Foundation and the UN University 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. Other
denominations with more than one college or university with a peace studies program are the
Quakers, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and United Church of Christ. 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." [5]
Other notable programs can be found at the University of Manitoba, Lancaster University,
Hiroshima University, University of Innsbruck, Universitat Jaume I, University of Sydney,
University of Queensland, King's College (London), Sault College, London Metropolitan,
Sabanci, Marburg, Sciences Po, Université Paris Dauphine University of Amsterdam, Otago, St
Andrews, Brandeis University's Heller School and York. 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, University of Sarajevo, Chulalongkorn University, National University
of East Timor, 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).

Description[edit]
Peace studies can be classified as:

 Multidisciplinary, encompassing elements of Politics and International Relations

(particularly critical international relations theory), Sociology, Geography, Psychology,
Anthropology and Economics. Critical theory is also widely used in peace and conflict
studies.
 Multilevel. Peace studies examines intrapersonal peace, peace between individuals,
neighbours, ethnic groups, marriages, states and civilisations.
 Multicultural. Gandhi is often cited as a paradigm of Peace Studies. However, true
multiculturalism remains an aspiration as most Peace Studies centres are located in the
West.
 Both analytic and normative. As a normative discipline, Peace Studies involves value
judgements, such as "better" and "bad".
 Both theoretical and applied. [6]
There has been a long-standing and vibrant debate on disarmament issues, as well as attempts
to investigate, catalogue, and analyse issues relating to arms production, trade, and their political
impacts.[14] 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: 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.

Conceptions of peace[edit]
See also: Peace §  Theories
Delegates at the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement achieved negative peace, ending the war but not the
wider conflict

The negative and positive peace framework is the most widely used today. Negative peace
refers to the absence of direct violence. Positive peace refers to the absence of indirect and
structural violence, and is the concept that most peace and conflict researchers adopt. This is
often credited to Galtung[17] but these terms were previously used by Martin Luther King in the
Letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1953, 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 in 1907 in her book Newer Ideals of Peace.
Several conceptions, models, or modes of peace have been suggested in which peace research
might prosper.[18]

 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 within Christianity; Bahais,
Jains, the Satyagraha tradition in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other portions of Indian religion
and philosophy; as well as certain schools of Islam[citation needed].
 Third is pacifism: the view that peace is a prime force in human behaviour.
 A further approach is that there are multiple modes of peace. [19]
There have been many offerings on these various forms of peace. These range from the well
known works of Kant, Locke, Rousseau, 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, Michael Howard, Vivienne Jabri, John-Paul Lederach, Roger Mac Ginty,
Pamina Firchow, Hugh Miall, David Mitrany, Oliver Ramsbotham, Anatol Rapoport, Mikkel Vedby
Rasmussen, Oliver Richmond, S.P. Udayakumar, Tom Woodhouse, others mentioned above
and many more. Democratic peace, 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[edit]
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, inner security must be secured along with arranged social systems and protection
based on firm foundation. Lastly, communications are necessary to overcome ignorance and
establish a community based on reliable and useful information. It will prevents isolation to take
place which is critical to bring sustainable peace. [20]

Conflict triangle[edit]
Johan Galtung'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.[17]

 Direct (overt) violence, e.g., direct attack, massacre.

 Structural violence. Death by avoidable reasons such as malnutrition. Structural violence
is indirect violence caused by an unjust structure and is not to be equated with an act of God.
 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 can be an example
of all three.
To simply understand these three
• Direct violence = harming or hurting body & mind • Structural violence= economic exploitation &
political repression • Cultural violence = underlying values & epistemic models that legitimize
direct & structural violence

Cost of conflict[edit]
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 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.
Strategic Foresight Group, a think tank in India, has developed a Cost of Conflict Series for
countries and regions involved in protracted conflicts. This tool is aimed at assessing past,
present and future costs looking at a wide range of parameters. [

Sources[edit]
 Aron, Raymond, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations, London:
Transaction, 2003 [1966].
 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 A., Peace Against War, San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1981.
 Boutros Ghali, An Agenda For Peace: preventative diplomacy, peacemaking and
peacekeeping, New York: United Nations, 1992.
 Bawer, Bruce "The Peace Racket", City Journal, Summer 2007 link
 Burton, J., & EA Azar, International Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, Wheatsheaf
Books, 1986.
 Caplan, Richard, International Governance of War-torn Territories: Rule and
Reconstruction, Oxford: OUP, 2005.
 Ceadal, M, Thinking About Peace and War, Oxford: OUP, 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, 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.

Organizations and prizes[edit]

United Nations[edit]

UN peacekeeping missions. Dark blue regions indicate current missions, while light blue
regions represent former missions.
Main article: United Nations
See also: List of United Nations peacekeeping missions

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate
cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social
progress, human rights, and achieving world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World
War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a
platform for dialogue.

The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to regions where armed
conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the terms of peace agreements and to
discourage combatants from resuming hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain its own
military, peacekeeping forces are voluntarily provided by member states of the UN. The
forces, also called the "Blue Helmets", who enforce UN accords are awarded United Nations
Medals, which are considered international decorations instead of military decorations. The
peacekeeping force as a whole received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.

Domestic peace[edit]

Main article: Police

The obligation of the state to provide for domestic peace within its borders in usually charged
to the police and other general domestic policing activities. The police are a constituted body
of persons empowered by a state to enforce the law, to protect the lives, liberty and
possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.[15] Their powers include the
power of arrest and the legitimized use of force. The term is most commonly associated with
the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that
state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined
as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the
state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil
policing.[16] Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.

National security[edit]

Main article: National security

It is the obligation of national security to provide for peace and security in a nation against
foreign threats and foreign aggression. Potential causes of national insecurity include actions
by other states (e.g. military or cyber attack), violent non-state actors (e.g. terrorist attack),
organised criminal groups such as narcotic cartels, and also the effects of natural disasters
(e.g. flooding, earthquakes).[17]:v, 1–8[18] Systemic drivers of insecurity, which may be
transnational, include climate change, economic inequality and marginalisation, political
exclusion, and militarisation.[18] In view of the wide range of risks, the preservation of peace
and the security of a nation state have several dimensions, including economic security,
energy security, physical security, environmental security, food security, border security, and
cyber security. These dimensions correlate closely with elements of national power.

League of Nations[edit]

The principal forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations. It was created at
the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and emerged from the advocacy of Woodrow Wilson
and other idealists during World War I. The Covenant of the League of Nations was included
in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and the League was based in Geneva until its dissolution
as a result of World War II and replacement by the United Nations. The high hopes widely
held for the League in the 1920s, for example amongst members of the League of Nations
Union, gave way to widespread disillusion in the 1930s as the League struggled to respond to
challenges from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Japan.

One of the most important scholars of the League of Nations was Sir Alfred Zimmern. Like
many of the other British enthusiasts for the League, such as Gilbert Murray and Florence
Stawell – the so-called "Greece and peace" set – he came to this from the study of the
classics.

The creation of the League of Nations, and the hope for informed public opinion on
international issues (expressed for example by the Union for Democratic Control during
World War I), also saw the creation after World War I of bodies dedicated to understanding
international affairs, such as the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the Royal
Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in London. At the same time, the
academic study of international relations started to professionalize, with the creation of the
first professorship of international politics, named for Woodrow Wilson, at Aberystwyth,
Wales, in 1919.

Olympic Games[edit]
The late 19th century idealist advocacy of peace which led to the creation of the Nobel Peace
Prize, the Rhodes Scholarships, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and
ultimately the League of Nations, also saw the re-emergence of the ancient Olympic ideal.
Led by Pierre de Coubertin, this culminated in the holding in 1896 of the first of the modern
Olympic Games.

Nobel Peace Prize[edit]

Main article: Nobel Peace Prize

Henry Dunant was awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize for his role in founding the
International Red Cross.

The highest honour awarded to peace maker is the Nobel Prize in Peace, awarded since 1901
by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. It is awarded annually to internationally notable persons
following the prize's creation in the will of Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will, the
Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who "...shall have done the most or the best work
for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the
holding and promotion of peace congresses."[19]

Rhodes Scholarships and other fellowships[edit]

In creating the Rhodes Scholarships for outstanding students from the United States,
Germany and much of the British Empire, Cecil Rhodes wrote in 1901 that 'the object is that
an understanding between the three great powers will render war impossible and educational
relations make the strongest tie'.[20] This peace purpose of the Rhodes Scholarships was very
prominent in the first half of the 20th century, and became prominent again in recent years
under Warden of the Rhodes House Donald Markwell,[21] a historian of thought about the
causes of war and peace.[22] This vision greatly influenced Senator J. William Fulbright in the
goal of the Fulbright fellowships to promote international understanding and peace, and has
guided many other international fellowship programs,[23] including the Schwarzman Scholars
to China created by Stephen A. Schwarzman in 2013.[24]

Gandhi Peace Prize[edit]

Main article: Gandhi Peace Prize

Mahatma Gandhi.

The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded annually by
the Government of India. It is launched as a tribute to the ideals espoused by Gandhi in 1995
on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth. This is an annual award given to
individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political
transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. The award carries Rs. 10
million in cash, convertible in any currency in the world, a plaque and a citation. It is open to
all persons regardless of nationality, race, creed or sex.

Student Peace Prize[edit]

Main article: Student Peace Prize

The Student Peace Prize is awarded biennially to a student or a student organization that has
made a significant contribution to promoting peace and human rights.

Culture of Peace News Network[edit]

Main article: Culture of Peace News Network

The Culture of Peace News Network, otherwise known simply as CPNN, is a UN authorized
interactive online news network, committed to supporting the global movement for a culture
of peace.

The Sydney Peace Prize[edit]

Every year in the first week of November, the Sydney Peace Foundation presents the Sydney
Peace Prize. The Sydney Peace Prize is awarded to an organization or an individual whose
life and work has demonstrated significant contributions to:
The achievement of peace with justice locally, nationally or internationally
The promotion and attainment of human rights
The philosophy, language and practice of non-violence
The lamb and the lion as they appear on an establishment's signboard in Bath, England

Other[edit]

See also: Peace museums

Rainbows: Often used as a symbol of harmony and peace.

A peace museum is a museum that documents historical peace initiatives. Many peace
museums also provide advocacy programs for nonviolent conflict resolution. This may
include conflicts at the personal, regional or international level.

Smaller institutions:

 Randolph Bourne Institute

 The McGill Middle East Program of Civil Society and Peace Building
 International Festival of Peace Poetry

Theories[edit]
See also: Peace and conflict studies § Conceptions of peace
Many different theories of "peace" exist in the world of peace studies, which involves the study of
de-escalation, conflict transformation, disarmament, and cessation of violence. [32] The definition of
"peace" can vary with religion, culture, or subject of study.

Balance of power theories[edit]

Main article: Balance of power (international relations)
The classical "realist" position is that the key to promoting order between states, and so of
increasing the chances of peace, is the maintenance of a balance of power between states – a
situation where no state is so dominant that it can "lay down the law to the rest". Exponents of
this view have included Metternich, Bismarck, Hans Morgenthau, and Henry Kissinger. A related
approach – more in the tradition of Hugo Grotius than Thomas Hobbes – was articulated by the
so-called "English school of international relations theory" such as Martin Wight in his book
Power Politics (1946, 1978) and Hedley Bull in The Anarchical Society (1977).
As the maintenance of a balance of power could in some circumstances require a willingness to
go to war, some critics saw the idea of a balance of power as promoting war rather than
promoting peace. This was a radical critique of those supporters of the Allied and Associated
Powers who justified entry into World War I on the grounds that it was necessary to preserve the
balance of power in Europe from a German bid for hegemony.
In the second half of the 20th century, and especially during the cold war, a particular form of
balance of power – mutual nuclear deterrence – emerged as a widely held doctrine on the key to
peace between the great powers. Critics argued that the development of nuclear stockpiles
increased the chances of war rather than peace, and that the "nuclear umbrella" made it "safe"
for smaller wars (e.g. the Vietnam war and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to end the
Prague Spring), so making such wars more likely.

Free trade, interdependence and globalization[edit]

Main articles: Doux commerce and Peace economics
It was a central tenet of classical liberalism, for example among English liberal thinkers of the late
19th and early 20th century, that free trade promoted peace. For example, the Cambridge
economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) said that he was "brought up" on this idea and
held it unquestioned until at least the 1920s.[33] During the economic globalization in the decades
leading up to World War I, writers such as Norman Angell argued that the growth of economic
interdependence between the great powers made war between them futile and therefore
unlikely. He made this argument in 1913. A year later Europe's economically interconnected
states were embroiled in what would later become known as the First World War. [34]
These ideas have again come to prominence among liberal internationalists during the
globalization of the late 20th and early 21st century. [35] These ideas have seen capitalism as
consistent with, even conducive to, peace.

Game theory[edit]
Main article: Peace war game
The Peace & War Game is an approach in game theory to understand the relationship between
peace and conflicts.
The iterated game hypotheses was originally used by academic groups and computer
simulations to study possible strategies of cooperation and aggression.[36]
As peace makers became richer over time, it became clear that making war had greater costs
than initially anticipated. One of the well studied strategies that acquired wealth more rapidly was
based on Genghis Khan, i.e. a constant aggressor making war continually to gain resources.
This led, in contrast, to the development of what's known as the "provokable nice guy strategy", a
peace-maker until attacked, improved upon merely to win by occasional forgiveness even when
attacked. By adding the results of all pairwise games for each player, one sees that multiple
players gain wealth cooperating with each other while bleeding a constantly aggressive player. [37]

Socialism and managed capitalism[edit]

Socialist, communist, and left-wing liberal writers of the 19th and 20th centuries (e.g., Lenin, J.A.
Hobson, John Strachey) argued that capitalism caused war (e.g. through promoting imperial or
other economic rivalries that lead to international conflict). This led some to argue that
international socialism was the key to peace.
However, in response to such writers in the 1930s who argued that capitalism caused war, the
economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) argued that managed capitalism could promote
peace. This involved international coordination of fiscal/monetary policies, an international
monetary system that did not pit the interests of countries against each other, and a high degree
of freedom of trade. These ideas underlay Keynes's work during World War II that led to the
creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at Bretton Woods in 1944, and
later of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (subsequently the World Trade
Organization).[38]

Theory of 'active peace'[edit]

Borrowing from the teachings of Norwegian theorist Johan Galtung, one of the pioneers of the
field of Peace Research, on 'Positive Peace',[39] and on the writings of Maine Quaker Gray Cox, a
consortium of theorists, activists, and practitioners in the experimental John Woolman College
initiative have arrived at a theory of "active peace". This theory posits in part that peace is part of
a triad, which also includes justice and wholeness (or well-being), an interpretation consonant
with scriptural scholarly interpretations of the meaning of the early Hebrew word shalom.
Furthermore, the consortium have integrated Galtung's teaching of the meanings of the terms
peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, to also fit into a triadic and interdependent
formulation or structure. Vermont Quaker John V. Wilmerding posits five stages of growth
applicable to individuals, communities, and societies, whereby one transcends first the 'surface'
awareness that most people have of these kinds of issues, emerging successively into
acquiescence, pacifism, passive resistance, active resistance, and finally into active peace,
dedicating themselves to peacemaking, peacekeeping or peace building. [40]

International organization and law[edit]

One of the most influential theories of peace, especially since Woodrow Wilson led the creation
of the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, is that peace will be advanced
if the intentional anarchy of states is replaced through the growth of international law promoted
and enforced through international organizations such as the League of Nations, the United
Nations, and other functional international organizations. One of the most important early
exponents of this view was Sir Alfred Zimmern, for example in his 1936 book The League of
Nations and the Rule of Law.[41]

Trans-national solidarity[edit]
Many "idealist" thinkers about international relations – e.g. in the traditions of Kant and Karl Marx
– have argued that the key to peace is the growth of some form of solidarity between peoples (or
classes of people) spanning the lines of cleavage between nations or states that lead to war. [42]
One version of this is the idea of promoting international understanding between nations through
the international mobility of students – an idea most powerfully advanced by Cecil Rhodes in the
creation of the Rhodes Scholarships, and his successors such as J. William Fulbright.[43]
Another theory is that peace can be developed among countries on the basis of active
management of water resources.[44]

Lyotard post-modernism[edit]
Following Wolfgang Dietrich, Wolfgang Sützl[45] and the Innsbruck School of Peace Studies, some
peace thinkers have abandoned any single and all-encompassing definition of peace. Rather,
they promote the idea of many peaces. They argue that since no singular, correct definition of
peace can exist, peace should be perceived as a plurality. This post-modern understanding of
peace(s) was based on the philosophy of Jean Francois Lyotard. It served as a fundament for
the more recent concept of trans-rational peace(s) and elicitive conflict transformation.
In 2008 Dietrich enlarged his approach of the many peaces to the so-called five families of peace
interpretations: the energetic, moral, modern, post-modern and trans-rational approach. [46] Trans-
rationality unites the rational and mechanistic understanding of modern peace in a relational and
culture-based manner with spiritual narratives and energetic interpretations. [47] The systemic
understanding of trans-rational peaces advocates a client-centred method of conflict
transformation, the so-called elicitive approach