peace & conflict: defining peace & violence

Question 1

negative peace

Answer 1

• absence of personal violence
• Peace is in relation to war
• When there is no war or not even a likelihood of war erupting due to an imbalance of power in the world, there is peace.
• Thomas Hobbes

Question 2

positive peace

Answer 2

• absence of structural + physical violence
• Positive peace entails the equal or “egalitarian distribution of power and resources”
• Without development there is no peace. Not just economic development but the removal of any form of inequality
• Johan Galtung

Question 3

founder of peace studies

Answer 3

Johan Galtung

Question 4

definition of violence

Answer 4

Violence is the cause of the difference between the potential and the actual, between what could have been and what it

Question 5

direct violence

Answer 5

visible, occurs physically or verbally, offender and victim can clearly be pointed out

Question 6

structural violence

Answer 6

• institutionalized forms of discrimination
• when some groups have more access to goods, resources, and opportunities
• built into social, political, economic systems

Question 7

cultural violence

Answer 7

• all aspects of culture that can be used to justify or legitimate the use of direct or structural violence
• attitudes and beliefs taught since early childhood

Question 8

pillars of positivity peace

Answer 8

• well functioning govt
• equitable distribution of resources
• free flow of information
• good relations w/ neighbors
• high levels of human capital
• acceptance of the rights of others
• low levels of corruption
• sound business environment

Question 9

6 stages in the evolution of peace (Smoker-Groff chart)

Answer 9

1. absence of war (negative peace)
2. balance of forces - political powers are balanced and no threat of war
3. no structural violence (positive peace)
4. feminist peace (removal of any form of discrimination)
5. holistic gaia-peace - importance on fate of planet
6. holistic inner-outer peace (peace with oneself)