Critical Edge and Legitimation in Peace Studies*

Abstract

*Historically established as critical knowledge and thus an alternative to normal science in International Relations, Peace Studies came to be co-opted, in the 1990s, by the regulatory structures of the international system as a cornerstone of many of the options put into practice especially in post-war reconstruction processes. In this context, recovering the critical lineage of Peace Studies today involves two radical options. The first entails qualifying intended peace as sustainable peace. The second implies the epistemological decolonisation of Peace Studies.

Moro Women's Participation and Legitimation in the Bangsamoro Peace Process

“…While the Mindanao case shows encouraging women's participation supported by civil society that could be reproduced in other peace processes, we are reminded that peace agreements themselves do not guarantee the eradication of all forms of violence that condition war. For Pureza and Cravo (2009, 14), the peace formula used in the peripheries should meet the real local needs and aspirations. Following their argument, a ‘peace formula’ or process that only reproduces the relationship between the dominators and the dominated in Mindanao and other places dealing with conflicts co-opts the gender justice and emancipatory goals of the WPS.…”

“…Moreover, the successful lobby to expand the WPS to counter violent extremism risk commodification, agenda hijacking, and only deeper gender insecurity (Ní Aoláin, 2016, 277). Paffenholz (2021) and Pureza and Cravo (2009) go even further in respectively criticising the liberal peacebuilding paradigm as a broken system, and the UN structure itself that standardised elements of post-war reconstruction in support of states as reproducing hegemonic models. All these illustrate how the WPS can work against sustainable peace.…”

Chasing the Conflict: Growth and Trajectory of Peace Studies in Mindanao

“…In fact, such activism likewise characterized the evolution of peace studies in the West (Pureza and Cravo 2009;Harris, Rank, and Fisk 1997). One may argue that the activist mooring has been unhinged today from their communities of origin, as peace studies became increasingly institutionalized in academic settings and internationalized.…”

Cotidianidades y solidaridades políticas: una cartografía de la educación para la paz en Colombia

“…La emergencia del campo puede rastrearse a principios de la segunda mitad del siglo XX (GRASA, 2010); pero, no será sino hasta 1992 que el marco conceptual del campo producido por Galtung (1970Galtung ( /1996 sea empleado como parte del aparato conceptual que el sistema de Naciones Unidas utiliza para operacionalizar sus intervenciones en los países en conflicto. Esta normalización del vocabulario, metodologías y referentes en la conversación sobre la paz a propósito de un único referente que, es además promocionado por las principales agencias de financiación en todo el sur global como mecanismo de trámite de las violencias, ha sido objeto de una multiplicidad de críticas, entre las que se cuenta la revisión de la naturaleza estandarizada del modelo que se encarga de reproducir la matriz cultural occidental en contextos culturales no-occidentales a través de la ecuación que iguala paz a democracia electoral y economía de mercado (CUNHA, 2006;PUREZA & CRAVO, 2009). Así, se constituyen los términos en los que se define un orden socio-político-económico que los países violentos del sur deben buscar, y los del norte promover.…”