A Divided Discipline? Mapping the Field of Peace and Conflict Studies
Posted: 13 Jan 2017 Last revised: 5 Jul 2017
Date Written: January 12, 2017
Abstract
Scholars in the field of ‘peace and conflict studies’ have long worried that their discipline is divided -- between studies of violent conflict, and studies of efforts to peacefully manage conflict. However, empirical research into the existence, extent, and nature of such a division is scarce. We remedy this, by addressing two questions: 1) How is work in the field of peace and conflict studies distributed between its two nominal pillars: ‘peace’ and (violent) ‘conflict’?; 2) To what extent is there communication and exchange between the two sets of studies? We find that studies of violent conflict hold a dominant position in the field, although there is also a sizable body of work that explores topics of peace, understood as conflict prevention and/or response. That said, we find only limited evidence of intellectual exchange between studies of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict’. We also find evidence of gendered, regional, and methodological divides.
Keywords: Conflict Studies, Peace Studies, Bibliometrics
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