Who betrayed us? Peace and security research in times of war

Abstract:

The relationship between peace research and security research has changed. The conceptual distinction is blurred. Peace research can be divided into critical peace research and peace and conflict research, while security research can in turn be divided into security policy research and strategic studies. The core of our argument is that peace and conflict research and security policy research have become largely intertwined over the last forty years. In the wake of the Russian war against Ukraine, some representatives of critical peace research on the one hand and strategic studies on the other are attempting to re-emphasize the conceptual separation of peace and security and to emphasize the ideological difference between peace and security research. The article argues that this denies important conceptual developments, reverses academic professionalization and neglects key research findings. This does not mean that peace and security are identical and that there are not different questions that ask about the long-term prospects of a more peaceful world on the one hand and the short-term goals of a more secure environment on the other.