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Resuscitating a Discipline: An Agenda for Critical Peace Research

Department of Political Sciences and Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland

Samu Pehkonen

Department of Geography at the University of Joensuu, Department of Regional Studies, University of Tampere, Finland

Tarja Väyrynen

Department of Politics and IR, University of Tampere, Finland

In this article we write a narrative of the emergence and decline of Peace Research (PR), reflecting especially on its relationship to neighbouring disciplines. In writing this narrative we play critically with medical metaphors, which are often used in PR. We begin with an analysis of the development of PR as it has been practised in the two main journals, Journal of Conflict Resolution and Journal of Peace Research, and show how the initial critical and creative spirit of PR has turned into a `normal science' that does not reflect on its basic categories or its role in society. Then we show how PR could learn from the critical research agendas developed in Security Studies. In the last section we move beyond the academic critical research to a more reflexive and participatory agenda. The article concludes with an idea of Critical Peace Research as an epistemic community that can house a variety of approaches with a shared understanding of the importance of critical reflection, dialogue and creativity.

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