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Peace and conflict studies is an "academic field which identifies and analyzes the violent and nonviolent behaviors as well as the structural mechanisms attending social conflicts with a view towards understanding those processes which lead to a more desirable human condition. "[1]

Peace Studies (sometimes called Irenology) is an inter-disciplinary effort aiming at the prevention, deescalation, and solution of conflicts, in contrast to War Studies (sometimes called Polemology) which has as its aim the efficient attainment of victory in conflicts. War studies is the multi-disciplinary study of war It is distinct from Military history in that it encompasses a variety of fields Philosophy of war Disciplines involved may include Political Sciences, Economics, Sociology, International Relations, Psychology, History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Women's Studies, as well as a variety of others. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of Religious studies, or Religious education, is the academic field of multi-disciplinary Secular study of religious beliefs behaviors and institutions

Contents

Historical background

Peace 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 studies as pedagogical activity

Student interest in what we today think of as peace studies first appeared in the form of campus clubs at U. S. colleges in the years immediately following the U.S. Civil War. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South A similar movement appeared in Sweden in the last years of the 19th century. However, these were student-originated discussion groups, not formal courses included in college curricula. The first academic program in peace studies was not to develop until 1948, and then only at Manchester College in Indiana, a small liberal arts college affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination originating from the Schwarzenau Brethren ("Schwarzenauer Neutäufer" organized in 1708 by eight It was not until the late 1960s that student concern 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. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Growth in the number of peace studies programs was to accelerate during the 1980s, as students became more concerned about the prospects of nuclear war. As the Cold War ended, peace studies courses began to spend less time on international conflict and more time on general issues of violence. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the [2]

By the mid-1990s peace studies curricula had shifted ". . . from research and teaching about negative peace, the cessation of violence, to positive peace, the conditions that eliminate the causes of violence. "[3] 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. "[4] At the same time, peace studies faculty began to offer courses on more mundane forms of violence, such as conflict resolution and anger management. [5] This broadening of the curricula attracted some criticism, since peace studies faculty were viewed as dilettantes, not fully competent in the disciplines (such as economics) whose ideas were invoked as solutions to problems of conflict. [6] In addition, observers such as Bruce Bawer note that the policies proposed to "eliminate the causes of violence" are uniformly leftist policies, and not necessarily policies which would find broad agreement among social scientists. Bruce Bawer, (born October 31, 1956 in New York City) is an American Literary critic, Writer, and Poet. [7]

The number of colleges offering peace studies courses is hard to estimate, mostly because the courses may be taught out of different departments and have very different names. A 1995 survey found 136 U. S. 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, 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. "[8]

Peace studies as a research activity

Although individual thinkers such as Immanuel Kant thought a great deal about peace (see philosophy of peace), 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. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Beginning in 1959, with the founding of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (associated with Johan Galtung), a number of research institutes began to appear. The International Peace Research Institute Oslo ( PRIO) is a Norway -based independent Peace studies institution Johan Galtung (born October 24, 1930, in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian Sociologist and a principal founder of the discipline of [9]

In 1963, Walter Isard, the principal founder of Regional science assembled a group of scholars in Malmö, Sweden, for the purpose of establishing the Peace Research Society. Walter Isard is 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 Regional science is a field of the Social sciences concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are specifically urban, Rural, or regional The group of initial members included Kenneth Boulding and Anatol Rapoport. Kenneth Ewart Boulding ( January 18 1910 – March 18 1993) was an Economist, educator peace activist Poet, religious mystic Anatol Rapoport (Анато́лий Бори́сович Рапопо́рт born May 22 1911 - January 20 2007) was a Russian born In 1973, this group became the 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. [10] Peace science attempts to use the quantitative techniques developed in economics and political science, especially game theory and econometrics, techniques otherwise seldom used by researchers in peace studies. Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering, Econometrics is concerned with the tasks of developing and applying Quantitative or Statistical methods to the study and elucidation of economic principles [11] The Peace Science Society website hosts the second edition of the Correlates of War, one of the best collections of data on international conflict. The Correlates of War project is an academic study of the History of warfare. [12] The society holds an annual conference, attended by scholars from throughout the world.

In 1964, the International Peace Research Association was formed at a conference organized by Quakers in Clarens, Switzerland. International Peace Research Association (IPRA is a peace research organization founded in 1964 Among the original executive committee was Johan Galtung. Johan Galtung (born October 24, 1930, in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian Sociologist and a principal founder of the discipline of 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. [13]

Description of Peace studies

Peace Studies can be classified as such:

Peace and conflict studies is now established within the social sciences: it comprises 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. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies

Ideas from Peace studies

Three conceptions of peace

Three conceptions of peace have been instrumental in establishing an intellectual climate in which peace research might prosper.

Conflict triangle

Johan Galtung's conflict triangle works on the assumption that the best way to define peace is to define violence, its antithesis. Johan Galtung (born October 24, 1930, in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian Sociologist and a principal founder of the discipline of It reflects the normative aim of preventing, managing, limiting and overcoming violence.

Each corner of Galtung's triangle can relate to the other two. Ethnic cleansing can be an example of all three. Ethnic cleansing is a Euphemism referring to the persecution through imprisonment expulsion or killing of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic homogeneity

Negative and positive peace

Negative peace refers to the absence of direct violence. This aim raises the problem of the tyrant, who oversees a non-violent empire but does not foster a sense of peace. Parallels of this problem are to be found in literature such as Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four (also titled 1984) by George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) is a 1949 English Novel Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer

Positive peace refers to the additional absence of structural and cultural violence. This aim raises the problem of the "happy slave", who when told he is free, retorts that he "does not want to be free".

Normative aims

Three normative aims of Peace Studies are peacekeeping, peace building (e. g. , tackling disparities in the distribution of world wealth) and peacemaking (e. g. , education). Peacekeeping falls under the aegis of negative peace, whereas efforts toward positive peace involve elements of peace building and peacemaking.

Teaching Peace to the Military

One of the interesting developments with peace and conflict studies is the number of military personnel undertaking such studies. This poses some challenges, as the military is an institution ostensibly committed to war-making. In a recent article "Teaching Peace to the Military", published in the journal Peace Review [14], Dr James Page argues for five principles that ought to undergird this undertaking, namely, respect but do not privilege miltiary 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. Peace Review is one of the most influential of international research journals in the growing field of Peace and conflict studies.

Quotes related to Peace Studies

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Dugan, 1989: 74
  2. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  3. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  4. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  5. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  6. ^ Bawer 2007
  7. ^ Bawer 2007
  8. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  9. ^ Harris, Fisk, and Rank 1998
  10. ^ Home
  11. ^ Peace Studies Program - Student Information- Graduate Minor Field
  12. ^ Correlates of War 2
  13. ^ History of the IPRA
  14. ^ Page, James S. 2007. 'Teaching Peace to the Military'. Peace Review, 19(4):571-577. Maria Montessori ( August 31 1870 &ndash May 6 1952) was an Italian physician educator philosopher humanitarian and devout The term "conflict resolution" refers to a range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict Conflict resolution is any reduction in the severity of a Conflict. The democratic peace theory (or liberal peace theory or simply the democratic peace) holds that democracies &mdash usually liberal democracies Peace, in the modern usage is a concept defined by the ideal state of relationship as absence of hostility at the international level that of a War. International Festival of Peace Poetry ( Persian: جشنواره بین المللی شعر صلح is an international festival held biannually in Iran. The Peace Industry is defined as comprising those industries that ‘Thrive in Peace’ i Peace Review is one of the most influential of international research journals in the growing field of Peace and conflict studies.

Sources

External links

Journals

Other periodicals

Scholarly societies

Data

Research institutes

located in the Japanese cities of Higashihiroshima and Hiroshima, was established 1949 by the merger of a number of city educational institutions
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