Utopianism in Peace Research: The Gandhian Heritage

The focus is on utopianism in peace research, defined as the trend which embraces the core value of peace to the extent where tensions and contradictions in the concept of peace are glossed over. The starting-point is Johan Galtung's definition of peace as the absence of both direct and structural violence. The definition is considered useful, but it is shown that it makes the achievement of peace extremely difficult. After a more concrete identification of the tensions and contradictions in the concept, the focus is on peace as the absence of violence. The entity of developmental violence is introduced and defined as violence which contributes to reduce the total sum of violence inflicted upon individuals, groups and nations. It is argued that the utopian trend in peace research, based on the Gandhian heritage, fails to recognize the existence of developmental violence and thus paints itself into a corner from which there is no satisfactory exit. The plea is for a more open, constructivist position which can make it possible to ask questions about blends of violence and non-violence and about situations where non-violence is infeasible.