A Question of Values: Johan Galtung's Peace Research (Critical Perspectives on World Politics)

In this first comprehensive and critical account of the development of Johan Galtung's thought, Peter Lawler places Galtung's work in the context of past and contemporary debates in international relations, political theory, and the social sciences more generally. The starting point of the book is an examination of the young Galtung's writings on sociology and the foundational model of peace research that emerged from them. Going on to survey subsequent periods, Lawler sees each of the distinct phases of Galtung's work as the reflection of a shifting wider intellectual milieu, ranging from the positivism of North American sociology in the 1950s through the postmodern sensibilities central to contemporary social theory. Throughout, he scrutinizes the conceptual icons (e.g.,'positive peace'and'structural violence') that Galtung has contributed to the discourses of peace research and international relations,'as well as the broader philosophical and methodological underpinnings of his work. Providing the most extensive survey of Galtung's work to be published in English, Lawler also shows how Galtung's prolific and often iconoclastic writings, in their weaknesses as much as in their strengths, can shed light on a range of difficult questions about values and their place in the theorizing of global politics. 1. The Sociological Origins Of Galtung's Peace Research -- 2. Peace Research As Science -- 3. Structural Violence -- 4. The Critique Of Global Structure -- 5. Constructivism -- 6. From Human Needs To Global Values -- 7. The True Worlds -- 8. Peace As Nirvana -- 9. Conclusion. Peter Lawler. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 241-255) And Index. Places the work of Johan Galtung in the context of past and current debates in international relations, political theory, and more generally, in the social sciences. This comprehensive and critical account scrutinises Galtung's conceptual icons, such as, ""positive peace"" and ""structural violence"".