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A divided discipline? Mapping peace and conflict studies

A divided discipline? Mapping peace and conflict studies

Authors :
John Gledhill
Jonathan Bright
Source :
International Studies Perspectives.
Publication Year :
2018

Abstract

Scholars in the field of “peace and conflict studies” have long worried that their discipline is divided -- between studies of war and warmaking, and studies of peace and peacemaking. However, empirical research into the existence, extent, and nature of such a division is scarce. We remedy this, by addressing two questions: 1) How is work in the field of peace and conflict studies distributed between its two nominal pillars: “peace” and (violent) “conflict”? 2) To what extent is there communication and exchange between the two sets of studies? Making use of a unique combination of methods, we find that studies of violence hold a dominant position in the field, although there is also a sizable body of work that explores topics of peace, understood as conflict prevention and/or response. That said, we find limited evidence of intellectual exchange between studies of war/making and peace/making. We also find evidence of gendered, regional, and methodological divides. We argue that such schisms may be preventing scholars of peace and conflict from collectively realizing the founding ontological goal of their discipline, which was to understand the causes of war in order to contribute to an understanding of how conflict can be managed peacefully.

Details

ISSN :
15283585 and 15283577
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
International Studies Perspectives
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....452a016de14758fec5bcb9d6915e0794