In simple terms
A friendly intro before the formal notes — no formulas yet.
Beyond the Battlefield: Understanding Peace and Conflict
This topic moves beyond seeing conflict as just fighting, and peace as just the absence of fighting. We'll explore the hidden causes of violence and the deeper requirements for a truly lasting peace.
Imagine a weed in a garden. Pulling the top off is like stopping a fight (negative peace). It looks fine for a while, but the root is still there. To get rid of the weed for good, you have to dig out the entire root system and improve the soil so it can't grow back. That's like addressing poverty or inequality to build a lasting, positive peace.
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Define the Basics: Clearly distinguish between conflict (a disagreement), violence (the harm caused), and peace (the resolution). Understand the difference between 'negative peace' (no war) and 'positive peace' (a just society).
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Uncover Hidden Violence: Use Galtung's Violence Triangle to identify not just direct violence (fighting), but also structural violence (e.g., poverty caused by an unjust system) and cultural violence (e.g., beliefs that justify discrimination).
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Analyse a Real-World Conflict: Apply these concepts to a specific case study. Identify the different types of violence at play and how they interact to sustain the conflict.
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Evaluate Peace Efforts: Assess attempts at peace. Did they only achieve negative peace (a ceasefire), or did they address structural and cultural issues to build positive peace (peacebuilding)?
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Full topic notes
Formal explanation with the rigour you need for the exam.
Deconstructing Peace and Conflict
The foundational distinction in this topic is between negative and positive peace, a concept developed by peace researcher Johan Galtung. Negative peace is simply the absence of direct violence or war. While a ceasefire or a peace treaty is a crucial first step, it is often fragile because the underlying causes of the conflict remain. Positive peace, in contrast, is a much more ambitious and stable state. It refers to a society with justice, equality, and the capacity for non-violent conflict resolution. It is not just the absence of violence, but the presence of the conditions that allow human potential to flourish.
Galtung's Violence Triangle: A Framework for Analysis
To understand how to build positive peace, we must first understand the full spectrum of violence. Galtung proposed a 'violence triangle' to illustrate that violence goes far beyond physical harm. He identified three interconnected forms of violence.
Direct Violence: The visible, event-based violence, such as killing, torture, or verbal abuse. This is the 'tip of the iceberg'.
Structural Violence: The invisible, process-based violence built into social and political systems. This includes poverty, sexism, racism, and unequal access to resources, which cause 'avoidable impairment of fundamental human needs'.
Cultural Violence: The symbolic violence embedded in a culture that legitimises direct and structural violence. This can be found in religion, ideology, art, and language that normalise discrimination and harm.
Interconnection: The three forms are mutually reinforcing. Cultural violence justifies structural violence, which in turn can lead to outbreaks of direct violence. Addressing only direct violence without tackling the structural and cultural roots is bound to fail.
The Path to Peace: From Ceasefire to Society
Achieving peace is a multi-stage process. Peacemaking involves negotiations to end direct violence and secure a ceasefire (achieving negative peace). Peacekeeping follows, often involving third-party actors like the UN, to monitor the ceasefire and keep former enemies apart. The most challenging stage is Peacebuilding, which involves long-term efforts to rebuild social, economic, and political institutions to address the root causes of the conflict (structural and cultural violence) and foster positive peace.
In your exam answers, avoid generic statements. The key to a high-scoring response is the effective use of specific, detailed case studies. When you introduce a concept like 'structural violence', you must immediately follow it with a concrete example from a real-world conflict (e.g., 'such as the discriminatory housing policies against Catholics in Northern Ireland prior to 1998'). Explicitly link your evidence back to the theory.
Worked examples
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Using Galtung's violence triangle, analyse the conflict in Northern Ireland known as 'The Troubles' (c. 1968-1998).
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To analyse 'The Troubles' using Galtung's framework, we must identify examples of direct, structural, and cultural violence and explain their interconnections.
Distinguish between peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, using the Colombian peace process as an example.
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These three concepts represent distinct but often overlapping stages in resolving conflict. The Colombian peace process provides clear examples of each.
How it all connects
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Tap a linked idea to see how it connects back to the main topic — that connection is what examiners reward.
Glossary
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Quick check
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Revision flashcards
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Negative Peace
The absence of direct violence or war. A ceasefire is a classic example of achieving negative peace. This concept was popularised by theorist Johan Galtung.
Key takeaways
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Direct Violence: The visible, event-based violence, such as killing, torture, or verbal abuse. This is the 'tip of the iceberg'.
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Structural Violence: The invisible, process-based violence built into social and political systems. This includes poverty, sexism, racism, and unequal access to resources, which cause 'avoidable impairment of fundamental human needs'.
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Cultural Violence: The symbolic violence embedded in a culture that legitimises direct and structural violence. This can be found in religion, ideology, art, and language that normalise discrimination and harm.
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Interconnection: The three forms are mutually reinforcing. Cultural violence justifies structural violence, which in turn can lead to outbreaks of direct violence. Addressing only direct violence without tackling the structural and cultural roots is bound to fail.
Practice — then mark it
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Test Your Knowledge on Peace, Conflict and Violence
Test Your Knowledge on Peace, Conflict and Violence
Extra simulations & links
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Frequently asked
Checkpoint
One marked question is worth ten re-reads — close the loop before you move on.
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