Paradigms Of Peace

Peacebuilding is explained by combining interpretive frameworks (paradigms) that have evolved from the subfields of international relations and comparative politics.

"Paradigms of Peace is a compelling read, grounded in practice and experience-based insight as well as epistemological inquiry. Concluding thoughts point to the usefulness of different theoretical strands in the creation of tools for peacemaking, while offering observations on global security communities in flux. This is a timely contribution for taking stock of the field and reflecting on individual research pursits." Journal of Peace Research Knowledge can create peaceful realities in addition to serving as an intellectual tool for peace-making. This is why pragmatist assessment of social science should avoid looking exclusively at the instrumental value of different paradigms. This book investigates the realities that positivism, anti-determinism, symbolic interactionism, social constructivism and critical theory create, and the tools they offer for a peace researcher and a peace practitioner. In essence, Paradigms of Peace looks at what social science can give to the humanity's search for peace and then offers an agenda for peace research. Using constructivist pragmatist metatheory to guide the assessment of the merits of different social science approaches to peace, this book suggests completely new ways of looking at the theory of peace and war. Difficult theoretical and philosophical constructs are presented but always supplemented with real-life examples, making it practical and relevant to both a research and policy-making level. Perfect for students and professionals of international relations, political science, peace and reconciliation studies, conflict and war studies and history.

Approaches to Peace provides a unique and interdisciplinary sampling of classic articles and short literary selections focusing on the diverse aspects of peace and conflict studies. Readings cover the causes of war and proposed means of preventing it and reflect upon the universal concern forpositive peace. The material examines nonviolence movements, peace movements, relgious inspirations, and our future prospects for peace. The book's balanced and unbiased approach make it easily adaptable to both general discussions of peace and conflict as well as the rapidly changing issues of themoment. Approaches to Peace is able to stand on its own as a foundation text in any introductory peace studies course. It is also compact enough to use as a supplement with other more specialized readings, or used in conjunction with a text. Each selection is prefaced by a short introductionhighlighting the author's background, the work's historical context, and the selection's significance in terms of the "big picture." Study questions and a list of suggested readings at the end of each selection also provide a useful resource for students.

The 1990s saw a constant increase in international peace missions, predominantly led by the United Nations, whose mandates were more and more extended to implement societal and political transformations in post-conflict societies. However, in many cases these missions did not meet the high expectations and did not acquire a sufficient legitimacy on the local level. Written by leading experts in the field, this edited volume brings together ‘liberal’ and ‘post-liberal’ approaches to peacebuilding. Besides challenging dominant peacebuilding paradigms, the book scrutinizes how far key concepts of post-liberal peacebuilding offer sound categories and new perspectives to reframe peacebuilding research. It thus moves beyond the ‘liberal’–‘post-liberal’ divide and systematically integrates further perspectives, paving the way for a new era in peacebuilding research which is theory-guided, but also substantiated in the empirical analysis of peacebuilding practices. This book will be essential reading for postgraduate students and scholar-practitioners working in the field of peacebuilding. By embedding the subject area into different research perspectives, the book will also be relevant for scholars who come from related backgrounds, such as democracy promotion, transitional justice, statebuilding, conflict and development research and international relations in general.

Johan Galtung, one of the founders of modern peace studies, provides a wide-ranging panorama of the ideas, theories and assumptions on which the study of peace is based. The book is organized in four parts, each examining the one of the four major theoretical approaches to peace. The first part covers peace theory, exploring the epistemological assumptions of peace. In Part Two conflict theory is examined with an exploration of nonviolent and creative handling of conflict. Developmental theory is discussed in Part Three, exploring structural violence, particularly in the economic field, together with a consideration of the ways of overcoming that violence. The fourth part is devoted to civilization theory. This involves an

Classical political theorists such as Thucydides, Kant, Rousseau, Smith, Hegel, Grotius, Mill, Locke and Clausewitz are often employed to explain and justify contemporary international politics and are seen to constitute the different schools of thought in the discipline. However, traditional interpretations frequently ignore the intellectual and historical context in which these thinkers were writing as well as the lineages through which they came to be appropriated in International Relations. This collection of essays provides alternative interpretations sensitive to these political and intellectual contexts and to the trajectory of their appropriation. The political, sociological, anthropological, legal, economic, philosophical and normative dimensions are shown to be constitutive, not just of classical theories, but of international thought and practice in the contemporary world. Moreover, they challenge traditional accounts of timeless debates and schools of thought and provide new conceptions of core issues such as sovereignty, morality, law, property, imperialism and agency.

Knowledge can create peaceful realities in addition to serving as an intellectual tool for peace-making. This is why pragmatist assessment of social science should avoid looking exclusively at the instrumental value of different paradigms. This book investigates the realities that positivism, anti-determinism, symbolic interactionism, social constructivism and critical theory create, and the tools they offer for a peace researcher and a peace practitioner. In essence, Paradigms of Peace looks at what social science can give to the humanity's search for peace and then offers an agenda for peace research.Using constructivist pragmatist metatheory to guide the assessment of the merits of different social science approaches to peace, this book suggests completely new ways of looking at the theory of peace and war. Difficult theoretical and philosophical constructs are presented but always supplemented with real-life examples, making it practical and relevant to both a research and policy-making level.Perfect for students and professionals of international relations, political science, peace and reconciliation studies, conflict and war studies and history.

This book examines the logic behind the shifts and paradigm changes within the scholarship on peacebuilding. In particular, the book is concerned with examining if, and how, these shifts have significantly altered how we think about peacebuilding beyond the ‘liberal peacebuilding’ paradigm. To do so, the book engages with the logic of critique that has led to the emergence of different theoretical approaches to peacebuilding, from hands-on institutionalisation, to the ‘local turn’. It uses the case of Kosovo to understand how a lessons-learnt approach facilitated the shift towards more invasive and intrusive forms of peacebuilding first. However, it is also crucial to understanding the recent local turn, as the rise of local ownership discourses in Kosovo is fundamentally tied to the critiques of extensive international missions, and the associated resistance and marginalisation of local agency. The book examines the implications of the framing of ‘everyday’ agency in order to assess the extent to which these bottom-up approaches have been able to by-pass the problems attributed to the liberal peace approach. It argues that despite its critical and radical intentions, the local turn retains certain foundational modernist and positivist qualities that have so far characterised the very mainstream approaches these critiques claim to transcend. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, statebuilding, peace and conflict studies, security studies and International Relations in general.

"Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethics of Peace and War" is the product of twenty-three scholars across various denominations who have collaborated annually since 1992 to specify the ten practical steps and develop the undergirding principles of this critical approach: 1. Support nonviolent direct action 2. Take independent initiatives to reduce threat 3. Use cooperative conflict resolution 4. Acknowledge responsibility for conflict and injustice and seek repentance and forgiveness 5. Advanced democracy, human rights, and religious liberty 6. Foster just and sustainable economic development 7. Work with emerging cooperative forces in the international system 8. Strengthen the United Nations and international efforts for cooperation and human rights 9. Reduce offensive weapons and weapons trade 10. Encourage grassroots peacemaking groups and voluntary associations