Peace Studies/ Conflict Resolution

bclintonk
Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:19:26 +0000

I see “peace studies” as euphemistic term for “international relations,” used by those who downplay the importance of the use of violence as a means to achieve desired ends–endemic to the human condition since cavemen started hitting each other with bones and pointy things.

To me it is akin to calling medicine “healthy people studies” when the focus of medicine is largely on what happens when people are NOT healthy.



Good analogy, in a back-handed sort of way. Just as traditional IR has overemphasized war and underemphasized peace and its preconditions, so has traditional Western medicine overemphasized disease and its treatment and underemphasized wellness and disease prevention. In both cases some schools and scholars—concededly still at the margins of their respective disciplines—are trying to correct that unhealthy imbalance. I applaud their efforts.