The twentieth century has been described by many historians as the bloodiest century in recorded human history. Judging simply by the numbers of people who have suffered violent death or the many other terrors of warfare and social strife, they are surely justified in their claim. The majority of those killed in the two major world wars, like most of the victims of the many regional wars that followed, were terrified, innocent civilians. The latter half of the century was dominated by a “cold war” in which the superpower nations of the world, having developed weapons of mass destruction, threatened...

All of these situations are examples of actual or potential “interpersonal” conflict, in which the perceived needs and desires of two or more people or groups of peoplewithin a societyappear to be incompatible and are believed to be in danger of being thwarted. Take a moment and write down what you think are the key issues in each situation. For each issue, write down who might be involved in or concerned about it. As you reflect on your answers, notice the diverse nature of the settings and relationships in which conflict can occur. Our challenge is to talk...

When people hear the phrase “peace and conflict”, they often think of war – or more generally, of conflict among nations. While, as has already been seen, this is not the whole of the concern of Peace Studies, it is an important part. This chapter offers a description and analysis of such conflict and of the international organizations that deal with it. Taking both theoretical and practical innovations and applications into account, it recommends further changes which must be made to acclimatize our international institutions to a post-Cold War world, and to maximize the effectiveness of their peace-seeking efforts.

Three fundamental...

In this chapter we will look at nonviolent action as an agent of social change and at the broader concept of nonviolence. Accounts of a variety of situations of conflict or wished-for change in which nonviolent methods have been used will form the core of our discussion. Some examples illustrate the use of nonviolent techniques in seeking to bring about social change. Others raise the possibility of nonviolence as a way of life, which might preempt the causes of conflict rather than merely solving existing crises, thus providing a route by which to move closer to positive peace — that is,...

A central part of peace and conflict research is the study of those social movements calledpeacemovements. One way to begin a discussion of this area of study (arguably a good way, because of the confusion that often arises here) is to note that Peace Studies is not itself a peace movement. It might seem to be otherwise. It might be claimed, for example, that peace education (to all appearances part of Peace Studies) did for a while constitute something of a social movement when its advocates became a substantial lobby among teachers in schools — for example, in the...

In Chapter 1, Conrad Brunk spoke of Peace Studies as engaged in analyzing human conflicts in order to find the most peaceful (negatively peaceful) ways to turn less just into more just (positively peaceful) relationships. In this final chapter of the book, I explore the possibility that these “ways” include a certain sort ofeducation,which contributes to peace by contributing to the creation (or formation or shaping) of resourceful and peaceful persons. Most of us already assume that the right education can make a difference in our lives. Shouldn’t it be capable, as well, of helping us to arrive...

An important debate runs throughout this book. Sometimes it is under the surface; at other times it emerges into explicit argument. It is the debate about whether the various approaches to peacemaking and conflict resolution put forward by different theorists and practitioners are “idealistic” and “purely theoretical” or “realistic” and “practical.” In contemporary, technologically advanced societies, no criticism of an idea is more damning than the charge that it is “idealistic” or “impractical” — the overriding criterion of the worth of an idea is its usefulness in the accomplishment of human goals. If it doesn’t “work” then it is of no...