Adaptive

Learn Peace and Conflict Studies

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Session Length

~17 min

Adaptive Checks

15 questions

Transfer Probes

Lesson Notes Key Concepts Concept Map Worked Example Start Adaptive Practice

Lesson Notes

Peace and conflict studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the causes of violent conflict, the conditions necessary for sustainable peace, and the methods by which societies can transition from war to stability. Drawing on political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law, the field analyzes conflict at every level, from interpersonal disputes to interstate wars and global terrorism. Founded on the pioneering work of Johan Galtung in the 1960s, peace and conflict studies introduced the critical distinction between negative peace (the mere absence of direct violence) and positive peace (the presence of social justice, equity, and structural conditions that prevent violence from arising).

The field encompasses several interconnected areas of inquiry. Conflict analysis seeks to understand the root causes of violence, including structural inequality, resource scarcity, ethnic and religious tensions, and failures of governance. Conflict resolution and transformation focus on practical methods for ending hostilities, from negotiation and mediation to transitional justice mechanisms such as truth commissions and war crimes tribunals. Peacebuilding, meanwhile, addresses the long-term processes required to sustain peace after conflict, including institution-building, reconciliation, disarmament, and economic reconstruction.

In the contemporary world, peace and conflict studies has expanded to address emerging challenges such as cyberwarfare, climate-driven displacement, hybrid warfare, and the role of non-state actors including terrorist organizations and transnational criminal networks. The field also engages with normative questions about the ethics of humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect, and the balance between state sovereignty and human rights. Scholars and practitioners in peace and conflict studies work across academia, government, international organizations such as the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations dedicated to mediation, human rights advocacy, and post-conflict development.

You'll be able to:

Analyze the structural, cultural, and direct dimensions of violence as defined in Galtung's conflict triangle framework
Evaluate transitional justice mechanisms including truth commissions, tribunals, and reparations for post-conflict societies
Apply conflict analysis tools including conflict mapping and stakeholder analysis to diagnose root causes of protracted disputes
Compare liberal peacebuilding and critical peace approaches and their effectiveness in sustaining post-agreement stability

One step at a time.

Key Concepts

Positive Peace vs. Negative Peace

Negative peace refers to the absence of direct, physical violence, while positive peace describes the presence of social justice, equality, and institutional structures that address the root causes of conflict and prevent violence from recurring.

Example: A ceasefire in a civil war achieves negative peace, but positive peace requires addressing the underlying grievances such as ethnic discrimination, land reform, and equitable political representation that led to the conflict.

Structural Violence

A concept introduced by Johan Galtung describing harm caused by social structures and institutions that prevent people from meeting their basic needs, even in the absence of direct physical violence. It includes systemic poverty, racism, and unequal access to healthcare or education.

Example: In apartheid-era South Africa, even in the absence of open warfare, millions suffered from structural violence through legally enforced racial segregation that denied them access to economic opportunity, quality education, and political participation.

Conflict Transformation

An approach pioneered by John Paul Lederach that goes beyond resolving immediate disputes to address the underlying relationships, systems, and cultural patterns that generate conflict, aiming to transform destructive conflict dynamics into constructive social change.

Example: The Northern Ireland peace process did not simply end violence but transformed the political system through power-sharing agreements, cross-community institutions, and ongoing dialogue that changed the nature of relationships between Catholic and Protestant communities.

Transitional Justice

The set of judicial and non-judicial mechanisms that societies use to address legacies of mass atrocity and human rights violations during transitions from conflict or authoritarian rule to peace and democracy, including trials, truth commissions, reparations, and institutional reform.

Example: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), chaired by Desmond Tutu, offered amnesty to perpetrators who fully disclosed their politically motivated crimes, prioritizing national healing over retributive punishment.

Track II Diplomacy

Unofficial, informal interactions between private citizens, academics, former officials, or civil society groups from opposing sides of a conflict, intended to build trust, generate creative solutions, and support or complement official (Track I) diplomatic negotiations.

Example: The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization were preceded by secret back-channel discussions organized by Norwegian academics and facilitated outside official governmental frameworks.

Security Dilemma

A situation in which actions taken by one state to increase its own security, such as military buildup or alliance formation, are perceived as threatening by other states, prompting them to respond in kind and creating an escalatory spiral even when no party intends aggression.

Example: During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union accumulated massive nuclear arsenals, each perceiving the other's buildup as aggressive rather than defensive, leading to a dangerous arms race.

Nonviolent Resistance

A strategy of political action that uses methods such as civil disobedience, strikes, boycotts, and mass demonstrations to challenge oppression and achieve political goals without resorting to physical violence, often drawing on the traditions of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Example: The 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines mobilized millions of civilians in nonviolent mass protests that ultimately forced President Ferdinand Marcos to flee the country and restored democratic governance.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

A global political commitment adopted by the United Nations in 2005 establishing that sovereign states have the primary responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, and that the international community should intervene when a state manifestly fails to do so.

Example: The 2011 UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized military intervention in Libya, invoking R2P to protect civilians from violence perpetrated by the Gaddafi regime during the civil uprising.

More terms are available in the glossary.

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