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This book explores the meaning of peace according to (some of) the people who make it. Based on some 200 interviews, it empirically studies the visions of peace that professional peaceworkers from the Netherlands, Lebanon and Mindanao (Philippines) are working on. As such, it seeks to add a strong empirical element to the debate on liberal peacebuilding. The main argument of the book is that amongst practitioners, there is no liberal peace consensus at all. Rather, peace professionals work on a distinct set of peaces, that differ along four dimensions. In five case study chapters, the operational visions of peace held by Dutch military officers, diplomats and civil society peace workers, as well as civil society peace workers from Lebanon and the Philippines are explored and compared to each other. Differences are observed along both geographical and professional lines, but also within each group.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 Peace in peace studies: beyond the 'negative/positive' divide.- Chapter 3 Western dissensus, non-Western consensus. A Q study into the meanings of peace.- Chapter 4 Military visions of peace.- Chapter 5 Diplomats: peace as governance.- Chapter 6 Dutch civil society: Peace Writ Large.- Chapter 7 Lebanon: civil peace.- Chapter 8. Mindanao: justice, harmony and peace of mind.- Chapter 9. Conclusion. Visions, divisions, tensions and solutions.- Summary.
About the author
Gijsbert van Iterson Scholten is Lecturer in political science and conflict studies at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he was previously a researcher. Before his academic career, he worked for a number of years at leading Dutch peace NGO, Pax for Peace.
Summary
This book explores the meaning of peace according to (some of) the people who make it. Based on some 200 interviews, it empirically studies the visions of peace that professional peaceworkers from the Netherlands, Lebanon and Mindanao (Philippines) are working on. As such, it seeks to add a strong empirical element to the debate on liberal peacebuilding. The main argument of the book is that amongst practitioners, there is no liberal peace consensus at all. Rather, peace professionals work on a distinct set of peaces, that differ along four dimensions. In five case study chapters, the operational visions of peace held by Dutch military officers, diplomats and civil society peace workers, as well as civil society peace workers from Lebanon and the Philippines are explored and compared to each other. Differences are observed along both geographical and professional lines, but also within each group.
