Overview
This lecture explores the concepts of negative and positive peace, emphasizing their limitations and significance in shaping national security and peace strategies, especially for military and political leaders.
Negative Peace: Definition and Limits
- Negative peace is defined as the absence of war or direct violence.
- Historically, negative peace focuses on order and the cessation of active conflict, often enforced through military power.
- This perspective aligns with Hobbesian realism, viewing peace as an anomaly and war as natural.
- Negative peace uses a short-term focus, seeing peace as achieved when fighting stops.
- This limited view can freeze the status quo, neglect repair of relationships, and ignore systemic injustices.
- Military culture may view peace as weakness, further polarizing soldiers and peace advocates.
- Negative peace often frames peace and war in simplistic binaries, which can undermine genuine, long-term peacebuilding.
- Peace as simply “not war” is insufficient for today’s complex, postmodern security challenges.
Positive Peace: Concepts and Challenges
- Positive peace involves the presence of justice, harmony, cooperation, and strong institutions.
- It is a long-term, ongoing process that addresses root causes of conflict, not just its symptoms.
- Positive peace incorporates diverse cultural traditions, e.g., Shalom (wholeness and justice), Ubuntu (humanity toward others), and heiwa (social harmony).
- Promoting positive peace requires qualities like courage, dialogue, creative problem solving, and empathetic understanding.
- The term "just peace" highlights the need for justice in sustaining peace and protecting the vulnerable.
- Positive peace is supported by attitudes, institutions, and structures fostering low violence and well-being.
- The conflict resolution field has shifted from ending crises toward longer-term peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
Peace Continuum and Relational Frameworks
- Peace is not binary; relationships can range from severe rivalry to strong alliance.
- Warm peace involves established diplomatic ties and cooperation (e.g., US-Canada).
- Structural positive peace substitutes freedom for repression and equity for exploitation, reinforced by dialogue.
- Leaders should use both negative and positive peace concepts to inform short-term actions and long-term vision.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Negative Peace — Absence of direct violence or war.
- Positive Peace — Presence of justice, equality, cooperation, and harmonious relationships.
- Just Peace — A form of positive peace that explicitly incorporates justice.
- Ubuntu — African philosophy emphasizing humanity and interconnectedness.
- Conflict Transformation — Addressing root causes of conflict for lasting peace.
- Warm Peace — Active, cooperative, and friendly relations between states.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review cultural concepts of positive peace (e.g., Shalom, Ubuntu, heiwa).
- Reflect on how justice and relationship-building can be integrated into peace strategies.
- Consider examples of conflict transformation and peacebuilding for further study.