NOTES

THINKING ABOUT PEACE (Thomas Gregor)

Why do we know so little about peace?

1. Peace is hard to define and hard to find.

2. Peace is an assumed condition of human relationships and therefore needs no special attention.

3. Peace is less exciting than war.

4. Peace is impossible or unlikely, and is therefore of little interest.

5. Peace is scarce and therefore difficult to study.

What do we know about peace?

1. Human nature as peaceful

2. Absolute peace and relative peace

3. Would we like to be perfectly peaceful?

4. Characteristics of relatively peaceful societies

5. Kinds of peace [instead of negative and positive)*

6. The key to peace

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*sociative - institutions, values, and attitudes that bind individuals in relationships of interest and sentiment

restorative - institutions which serve the purpose of
separating would-be belligerent, dampening the spiral of conflict, and reconciling former adversaries

separative - peace is maintained by evasion, deterrence, or fear

Source: Gregor, Thomas, 1996, "Introduction," in his edited book A Natural History of Peace, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. ix-xxiii.