This textbook provides a comprehensive overview of different methods and sources of information-gathering for peace and conflict students and researchers, as well as the challenges presented by such work. Research on conflict-ridden societies carries special challenges for the collection and evaluation of information about the conflict and its actors. First, due to the nature of information emerging, incentives to misrepresent and propaganda is common. News coverage is sometimes poor and reporting is often incomplete, selective and biased. Second, the sensitivity of the topic and the questions posed in peace and conflict research means that access to and the security of informants can be a problem. Peace and conflict research as a discipline encompasses a number of different approaches for obtaining empirical information which serve as a basis for analyzing various research topics. This book provides a comprehensive overview of different methods and sources of information-gathering for students and researchers, as well as the challenges presented by such work. It offers: tools for evaluating sources and information suggestions on where different types of information can be found advice on using different types of sources, including news reports and written narratives practical guidelines for constructing large-scale datasets insights and guidelines for comparative fieldwork, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys reflection and discussion on important ethical concerns in peace research This book will be of much interest for students and researchers of peace and conflict studies, conflict resolution, war and conflict studies, development studies, security studies and IR, as well as for NGO workers/researchers. Kristine Höglund is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. She has a PhD in Peace and Conflict Research from Uppsala University Sweden (2004). She is author of Peacemaking in the Shadow of Violence. Magnus Öberg is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Peace Research (since 2006). He has a PhD in Peace and Conflict Research from Uppsala University (2003) and is co-editor of Resources, Governance, and Civil Conflict (Routledge, 2008).
This is the first ever anthology of key articles by Johan Galtung, widely regarded as the founder of the academic discipline of peace studies. It covers such concepts as direct, structural and cultural violence; theories of conflict, development, civilization and peace; peaceful conflict transformation; peace education; mediation; reconciliation; a life-sustaining economy; macro-history; deep culture and deep structure; and social science methodology. Galtung has contributed original research, concepts and theories to more than 20 social science disciplines, including sociology, international relations and future studies, and has also applied his new insights in practice. The book is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, and can serve as a supplemental textbook for graduate and upper undergraduate courses in peace studies and related fields.
The recent efforts to reach a settlement of the enduring and tragic conflict in Darfur demonstrate how important it is to understand what factors contribute most to the success of such efforts. In this book, Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie review data from all negotiated civil war settlements between 1945 and 1999 in order to identify these factors. What they find is that settlements are more likely to produce an enduring peace if they involve construction of a diversity of power-sharing and power-dividing arrangements between former adversaries. The strongest negotiated settlements prove to be those in which former rivals agree to share or divide state power across its economic, military, political, and territorial dimensions. This finding is a significant addition to the existing literature, which tends to focus more on the role that third parties play in mediating and enforcing agreements. Beyond the quantitative analyses, the authors include a chapter comparing contrasting cases of successful and unsuccessful settlements in the Philippines and Angola, respectively.
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
Comprising essays by Peter Wallensteen, this book presents an overview of the thematic development of peace research, which has become one of the most dynamic and innovative areas of war and conflict studies. Peace research began in the 1950s when centres were formed in the USA and Europe, and today there are research institutes and departments on every continent, with teaching and research programs in most countries, and peace researchers contribute to the development of international studies, development research and security analysis. Prof. Wallensteen has been a witness to much of this since forming the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in the late 1960s, and this book brings together thirteen of his articles with five new essays in one volume. The book presents articles on such key issues in peace research as the causes of war, conflict data, conflict diplomacy, non-violent sanctions and third- party diplomacy. In this way, it demonstrates how basic research can be conducted in fields often seen as ‘unresearchable’ and ‘too complicated to deal with’. This volume shows that it is a matter of developing definitions, creating valid measures and finding ways of collecting information, recognising that innovations of this kind require supportive research environments. Furthermore, the results are not only useful for the growth of research activity itself, but for finding ways of dealing with actual conflicts. Thus, attention is also paid here to conflict prevention, peace agreements, sanctions and third-party activity for preventing and ending armed conflict, and building a lasting post-war peace. This book will be of great interest to all students of peace studies, conflict resolution, war and conflict studies, development studies and IR/security studies in general.
This volume calls for an empirical extension of the “local turn” within peace research. Building on insights from conflict transformation, gender studies, critical International Relations and Anthropology, the contributions critique existing peace research methods as affirming unequal power, marginalizing local communities, and stripping the peace kept of substantive agency and voice. By incorporating scholars from these various fields the volume pushes for more locally grounded, ethnographic and potentially participatory approaches. While recognizing that any Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) agenda must incorporate a variety of methodologies, the volume nonetheless paves a clear path for the much needed empirical turn within the local turn literature.
This encyclopaedia provides a comprehensive overview of major theories and approaches to the study of peace and conflict across different humanities and social sciences disciplines. Peace and conflict studies (PCS) is one of the major sub-disciplines of international studies (including political science and international relations), and has emerged from a need to understand war, related systems and concepts and how to respond to it afterward. As a living reference work, easily discoverable and searchable, the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies offers solid material for understanding the foundational, historical, and contemporary themes, concepts, theories, events, organisations, and frameworks concerning peace, conflict, security, rights, institutions and development. The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Peace and Conflict Studies brings together leading and emerging scholars from different disciplines to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on peace and conflict studies ever produced.
Ho-Won Jeong explains and assesses major approaches to dealing with ethnic conflict, communal violence, inter-state war and social injustice. The book analyses not only the sources of violence and conflict, but also how to manage and prevent them. As peace is relevant to improvement in human well-being and the future survival of humanity, the volume encompasses a variety of themes, ranging from alternative security policies, methods of peaceful settlement, human rights, self-determination, environmental politics, global governance and non-violence. Reflecting on the current thinking and drawing lessons from the past, the book can be considered as the most authoritative introduction to the field since the end of the Cold War.