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UAB - INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (Course 2023/2024)

Lecturer: J.P. Soriano

Topic 8.
Peace studies

Some parts of this presentation are partially based on the slides prepared by
Oxford University Press for “Peace Studies” by Paul Rogers, in Collins, A. (Ed.).
(2019). Contemporary security studies, fifth ediction.

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Questions on peace and war

• What does peace actually entail? Does

peace merely refer to the absence,
perhaps permanently, of war?

• Or peace should be more than the

absence of war?

• When could we said peace have been

achieved?
• Just by the elimination of violence?

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What is Peace Studies?

• From IR and Strategic Studies perspectives war and other forms of

violent conflict are permanent features of an anarchical
international system of sovereign states.

• From a Peace Studies perspective: war is a problem in need for

eradication

• Three central concerns of peace studies (Lawler, p.74):

• “The reduction and eventual eradication of war”
• “Resolution of violent conflict by peaceful measures”; “peace by
peaceful means”
• “Redefinition of peace itself”

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What is Peace Studies?

 “The field of peace studies is a relatively recent creation, but thinking about
peace has a much longer history… For example, all the great religious tradition
offer moral reflections on war and peace. ” The moral limitations of either going
to war or fighting in war. (Lawler, 75-76).
 Contrary to the Realists analysis of the Cold War, peace researchers tried to
avoid a narrow ethnocentric analysis of confrontation between the two blocs, the
strategic studies approaches to conflict and the pessimism and moral silence of
mainstream realist IR (Lawler, p. 78).
 Peace researchers wanted to provide an ethical counterpoint to assumptions of
traditional IR thinking, and the traditional definition of national security.
 Peace Studies has been interdisciplinary (economics, natural sciences,
psychology, anthropology, education, sociology), with a normative commitment
to non-violence.
Today, Peace Studies overlaps with studies on:
• conflict resolution • human rights • environmental security
• global inequalities • international social • alternative world orders
justice
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Peace Studies. Initial developments in the

US and northern Europe (1)

• Peace Studies developed in the 1950s on both sides of the

Atlantic, as a response to the bloodbaths of the First and
Second World Wars, and in the context of the emerging Cold
War (possibilities of nuclear war with global consequences).

• It was established initially as “conflict research” in the US

and “peace research” in Northern Europe.

• Constant connections between the academic and the

activism of peace movements.

• Early founders had to confront widespread intellectual and Men and women picketing against
the use of tax dollars for the
policy scepticism regarding inter-war ‘idealism’ or development of nuclear weapons.
‘utopianism’, and accusations of just being part of public New York City, March 15, 1950.
campaign for rejecting nuclear weapons. (Lawler, p. 77). https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-men-
and-women-picketing-against-the-use-of-
tax-dollars-for-the-development-
170526878.html

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Peace Studies.
Initial developments in the US and northern Europe (2)
Peace research as science in the US.
Key initial approach: science and new social science techniques (from economics,
statistics, social psychology and sociology) to study large-scale social conflict.
 1957. Journal of Conflict Resolution.
 1959. Center for Research on Conflict Resolution at the University of Michigan

European peace research community .

Norway and Sweden, two social-democratic welfare states, were the first states in
the world to support the establishment of institutionalized peace research (Lawler,
p. 79)..
• Norway 1959. The first appearance of peace research as an academic discipline,
with the establishment of the International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
(https://www.prio.org/) , and the first Chair in Peace and Conflict Research.
• Norway 1964. Establishment of the Journal of Peace Research with Johan
Galtung as editor.
• Sweden 1964. Founding of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI). (https://www.sipri.org/

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J.P. Soriano. International Security. 2023-2024. UAB

Johan Galtung
key figure in the development of peace studies
Norwegian sociologist and key figure in the conceptual and institutional
development of the field of peace research and peace studies, first in Europe,
and later in the rest of the world.

Professor Johan Galtung.

Born 1930, Norway (age 92) https://www.transcend.org/

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Interview with Rafael Grasa conducted in 2018

as part of the project to recover the oral
memory of the Movement for Peace in
Catalonia (in Catalan)

https://www.academia.edu/3101952/50_a
%C3%B1os_de_investigaci%C3%B3n_para_l
a_paz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6gEuhsYC2o
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269931067_
Guia_para_trabajar_en_la_construccion_de_la_paz_Que
_es_y_que_supone_la_construccion_de_la_paz
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https://www.icip.cat/ca/

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https://escolapau.uab.cat/ca/inicio/
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Johan Galtung key figure in the development of peace studies

Galtung developed much of the concepts of today's Peace Studies

Problematization of the concept of peace, and highlight other dimensions of

violence, besides direct violence.

Key concepts introduced by Galtung into Peace Studies:

• Notions of peace
• Negative peace: absence of violence
• Positive peace: structural changes by peaceful means.
• Triangle of violences:
• Direct violence: physical violence
• Structural violence: socio-economic-rooted causes of violence)
• Cultural violence: symbolism aimed at legitimizing different forms of
violence

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Galtung’s initial proposals on the redefinition of peace

 In the context of the Cold War, he proposed the distinction

between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ peace, in 1964. “An
editorial. What is peace research?”, Journal of Peace Research
1(1): 1–4.

“Negative peace” refers to the absence of violence. This is the

common understanding of the word peace.

• “For example, when parties engaged in conflict agree to

terminate armed hostilities, this creates negative peace, as
fighting is no longer taking place.” (Pilbeam, p. 91)

This in insufficient “because this fails to take into account the

deep-rooted causes of conflict, as well as less obvious forms of
violence.” (Ibid.)

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Galtung’s redefinition of forms of violence (1964)

Distinction between ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ forms of violence.

• “’Direct violence’ refers to violence in its most explicit and open

manifestations, perpetrated against people directly, such as killing, torture
or rape.”

• ‘Indirect violence’ is less evident: inequalities, poverty and hunger; or

beliefs and values that generate racial or religious prejudices, which may
legitimate direct violence against individuals or groups.

• Therefore, “Negative peace should be defined more precisely as the

absence of direct violence.” (Pilbeam, p. 91)

• Therefore, “positive peace” means the absence of direct

violence, but also implicates the elimination other forms of
indirect violence.

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“Positive peace” is more comprehensive and demanding

than “negative peace” (1)

Positive peace “requires not just bringing

about a halt to fighting, but also…

• (1) reforming institutions,

• (2) addressing issues like social and

economic inequality, and

• (3) seeking to change people’s attitudes,

values and behavior”. (Pilbeam, p. 91)

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“Positive peace” is more comprehensive and demanding

than “negative peace” (2)

• “Within peace studies, ‘peace’ is defined

not just as the absence of war (negative
peace), but also the presence of the
conditions for a just and sustainable peace
(positive peace), including, for example:

• access to food and clean drinking

water,
• education,
• security from physical harm, and
• other inviolable human rights
(for more information see: “What is Peace Studies?, University of
Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
https://kroc.nd.edu/about-us/what-is-peace-studies/)

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The concept of structural

violence (1)

• The concept of “structural violence” was introduced into Peace Studies by

Galtung in a 1969 article: “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research.” Journal of
Peace Studies 6(3): 167–191.

• Focus on the analysis of how social orders (re)produce violence and destroy
peace (Gueldy et.al., p. 11)

• Social injustice is the expression of structural violence: “The violence is

built into the structure and shows up as unequal power and consequently as
unequal life chances” (Galtung 1969, 171, as cited in Gueldy et.al., p. 11).

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The concept of structural violence (2)

• Galtung “rejects a narrow definition of violence, defined as intentional and

produced by identifiable human agents.”

• “When actual threats and dangers are avoidable but keep affecting specific
groups, these communities are victim of some form of structural violence,

• which can be organized by hegemonic groups and countries, or result from

complex conditions partially escaping human agency” (Gueldy et.al., p. 11).

• Deaths caused by preventable and curable diseases can be seen as a form

of structural violence because these deaths are related to such matters as
“underdevelopment, deficient health infrastructure, lack of access and
capacity, all aggravated by failed governance” (Gueldy et.al., p. 11).

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The concept of structural violence (3)

• Common forms of structural violence (Galtung 1969,

293; Gueldy et.al., p. 11) :
• Exploitation
• Racism and xenophobia
• Gender-based violence and discrimination
(specially against women)
• Discrimination against minorities and
communities
• Lack of economic/employment opportunities
• Lack of access to social goods and services (e.g.,
health care, education, information, among
others).

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Cultural violence (1)

The concept of “cultural violence” was introduced into Peace Studies by

Galtung in 1990. Article: “Cultural Violence”. Journal of Peace Research,
Vol. 27, No. 3., pp. 291-305.

Definition: “By 'cultural violence' we mean those aspects of culture, the

symbolic sphere of our existence -exemplified by religion and ideology,
language and art, empirical science and formal science (logic,
mathematics) – that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or
structural violence.' (Galtung 1990, 291).

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Cultural violence (2)

For Galtung, cultural violence is :
• “a system of norms and underlying behaviors of – and which legitimize – structural
and direct violence;
• that is, the social cosmology that allows one to look at repression and exploitation as
normal or natural” and,
• therefore, more difficult to eliminate (Galtung, 1990, 295).

Instruments of cultural violence

• Religions: “Stars, crosses and crescents”;
• Nationalisms: “flags, anthems and military parades”;
• Cult of personality: “the ubiquitous portrait of the Leader”;
• Populism and fascism: “inflammatory speeches and posters….” (Galtung, 1990: 291)
• Racism and xenophobia: discrimination and violence

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Video produced by the European Commission in 2012

(ten years ago), to promote EU enlargement.
It was removed after accusations of racism and eurocentrism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQREDQjfzC4&t=70s 2003

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Galtung’s “triangle of violence”

The “triangle of violence” proposed by Galtung in his 1990 article
distinguishes three aspects:
• direct violence (an event)
• structural violence (a process)
• cultural violence (constant presence; as the legitimizer of both forms of
violence)

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Responding to New Security Challenges

from a Peace Studies perspective
 Major security issues for the future centre on the effects of a combination of socio-
economic divisions and environmental constraints

 There is evidence of three broad conflict trends resulting from those issues:
 Increase in forced human migration and socio-cultural conflicts
 Escalation of conflicts related to resource scarcity and environmental
degradation
 Radicalization of certain social movements exacerbated by political, religious,
and nationalist fundamentalisms

• How these challenges are responded to will determine future outcomes:

• Can we respond to these matters by maintaining the socio-economic status quo
built on massive inequalities and on the depredation on the environment?
• Can we respond to these matters with a state-focused approach to international
peace and security?

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What is Peace Studies now?

Seven defining characteristics of Peace Studies
(See: Rogers, Paul, and Oliver Ramsbotham. "Then and now: peace
research—past and future." Political studies 47.4 (1999): 740-754.

1. Underlying causes
• Peace Studies is concerned with the root causes of direct violence
and with overcoming structural inequalities

2. Interdisciplinary approaches
• Since violent conflict is multifaceted, Peace Studies sees an
interdisciplinary response as essential

3. Non-violent transformations
• Core to Peace Studies is the search for non-violent approaches to
conflict transformation

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Seven defining characteristics of Peace Studies

(cont).

4. Multi-level analysis
• The field embraces multi-level analysis from the individual to the
international
5. Global outlook
• A global and multicultural approach allows Peace Studies to draw on
conceptions of peace from all cultures
6. Ethical and normative
• Ethical commitments are among the core motivations of peace
researchers
7. Theory and practice
• Theory and practice has a close relationship in Peace Studies

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