Towards a Comparative Study of Peace Ideas: Goals, Approaches and Problems

The paper sees a recent increase in studies on peace ideas as a positive phenomenon, but suggests that scholars should concentrate their efforts on specific questions and on an inter-cultural comparative analysis of peace ideas. Goals, approaches, and problems of such comparative study are discussed on the basis of earlier works on (the history of) peace ideas. The need for comparative analyses is documented by the suggestion of several ways in which a comparative approach can contribute to and improve the quality of studies in this field. Five approaches to comparative studies are discussed: (a) descriptive, (b) typologizing, (c) testing an idea or a hypothesis, (d) application of a common denominator and (e) the method of question and answer. Finally, both practical and methodological problems encountered in such an enterprise are identified. It is suggested that the methodological problems of applying similarities/dissimilarities and of comparability itself will require considerable systematic effort if a common denominator applicable to peace ideas in different cultures and periods is to be found. This common denominator would enhance not only the comparative study of peace ideas but might equally well contribute to establishing the identity of Peace Research in general.