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A critical analysis of Positive and Negative Peace

Abstract

Peace is a small word with a deeper meaning attached to it different interpretations, different perspectives
and different understandings yet the meaning is one but for one's own self. Setting a benchmark about what
peace means to a person is their own way of looking at it. But Peace is something which is vastly
misinterpreted in today. Everyone has their own perceptions about it out of which only a small section
actually come near in addressing 'peace’. In the present article, the word peace is the central focus and it has
been written comparing the concepts of positive and negative peace. It is often stated that, the word peace is
very often used and harmed and that since it lacks a satisfying definition and difficult to conceptualize.

Introduction

The term 'peace' initiates most freshly, 11th century from the Anglo French pes, and the Old
French paris, meaning "peace, reconciliation, silence, agreement". But, Pes itself comes from
the Latin pax, meaning "peace, compact, agreement, treaty of peace, tranquility, absence of
hostility, harmony." The English word came into exercise in a variety of personal good
wishes from c.1300 as a version of the Hebrew word shalom, which, according to Jewish
theology, comes from a Hebrew verb meaning 'to restore'. Anyway it has numerous other
meanings in addition to peace, including justice, good health, safety, well-being, prosperity,
equity, security, good fortune, and friendliness.
Defining peace is not a simple because, like most every other word, it is strongly attached to
personal implications. It is impressionable based on person vision of ‘peace’and because of
that fact peace has lot of definitions; “Peace is the normal, non-warring condition of a nation,
group of nations, or the world”, “Peace is an agreement or treaty between warring or
antagonistic nations, groups, etc., to end hostilities and abstain from further fighting or
antagonism”, “Peace is a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in
personal relations: Try to live in peace with your neighbors”, “Peace is the normal freedom
from civil commotion and violence of a community; public order and security:”, “Peace is the
freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, an anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquility;
serenity.”

Peace has lot of definitions as above because, peace itself connected with various aspects;
religion, education, social factors etc and peace is discussed with various terms such as inner
peace, outer peace, positive and negative peace. Peace does not mean the total absence of any
conflict. It means the absence of violence in all forms and the describing of conflict in a
positive way. Hence Peace is more than just the absence of conflict or war. Peace is a
multidimensional concept that can be viewed through the lens of both negative peace and
positive peace.

Concept of Violence

Peace is a term that most usually refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility.
Violence is an extreme form of aggression, such as assault, rape or murder. It has many
causes, including frustration, exposure to violent media, violence in the home or
neighborhood and a leaning to see other people's actions as aggressiveness even when they're
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not. Violence and other forms of abuse are most usually understood as a pattern of behaviour
intended to establish and uphold control over family, household members, intimate partners,
colleagues, individuals or groups. While violent offenders are most frequently known to their
victims, acts of violence and abuse may also be dedicated by strangers.

Violence and abuse may occur only once, can involve various tactics of slight manipulation
or may occur frequently while increasing over a period of months or years. In any form,
violence and abuse profoundly affect individual health and well-being. The root causes of all
forms of violence are founded in the many types of disparity which continue to exist and
grow in society. Violence and abuse are used to establish and maintain power and control
over another person, and often reflect a disparity of power between the victim and the abuser.
There are nine different forms of violence and abuse: Physical violence; Sexual violence;
Emotional violence; Psychological violence; Spiritual violence; Cultural violence; Verbal
Abuse; Financial Abuse; and, Neglect.
When conceptualizing violence, it is important to incorporate all aspects of violence while
allocates room for understanding the relationship between the forms. A broader example is
compulsory, one that includes not just war, torture and other physical abuse but also
emotional abuse, oppression, and exploitation. Some of the peace research makes links
among these different forms of violence, thus elucidating root causes. To differentiate
between types of violence, Johan Galtung presents the concepts of direct and structural
violence. Direct violence can take many forms. In its typical form, it involves the use of
physical force, like killing or torture, rape, sexual assault, and beatings. Further, it
understands that verbal violence, like humiliation or put downs, is also becoming more
widely recognised as violence. Johan Galtung, further, describes direct violence as the
“avoidable impairment of fundamental human needs or life which makes it impossible or
difficult for people to meet their needs or achieve their full potential. Threat to use force is
also recognised as violence.” Structural violence exists when some groups, classes, genders,
nationalities are assumed to have, and in fact do have, more access to goods, resources, and
opportunities than other groups, classes, genders, nationalities and this imbalanced advantage
is built into the very social, political and economic systems that govern societies, and the
states. These tendencies may be obvious such as apartheid or slighter such as traditions or
tendency to award some groups privileges over another.

Title: Two basic types of Violence

Source: author originated source

Johan Galtung argues that with a very slight different notion of violence, it can respectively
develop a more slight understanding of peace. If it achieve the absence of direct violence in
society but still have systems in place that prohibit people from reaching their full potential.
“The reason for the use of the terms ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ is clearly seen: The absence of
personal violence does not lead to a positively defined condition, whereas the absence of
structural violence is what we have referred to as social justice, which is positively defined
condition (egalitarian distribution of power and resources).- Galtung (1969), p 183.

Positive peace and Negative peace

Peace is not just the absence of violence, it is much more. Peace is best understood through
the concepts of "positive peace" and "negative peace". Negative peace is the absence of
violence or the fear of violence; it is the definition of peace that we use in the Global Peace
Index (GPI). Positive peace is the attitudes, institutions and structures, that when
strengthened, lead to peaceful societies. The concept of peace undergone various changes in
1964 and Johan Galtung’s ideas on peace is very important. Starting in the 1960s, several
authors have been distinguishing between negative peace and positive peace. Amongst these,
Johan Galtung defined in 1964 negative peace as the absence of direct violence and positive
peace as the absence of indirect violence enabling persons to be integrated.

Positive Peace

Positive Peace is a true, lasting, and sustainable peace built on justice for all peoples. Efforts
to achieve positive peace emphasize: establishing peace through world order by supporting
international law, compliance with multilateral treaties, use of international courts, and
nonviolent resolution of disputes, participation in international organizations, trade, and
communication, establishing social equality and justice, economic equity, ecological balance;
protecting citizens from attack, and meeting basic human needs, establishing a civil peace
that provides the constitutional and legal means necessary to settle differences nonviolently ,
eliminating indirect violence, that shortens the life span of people, sustains unequal life
chances, or reduces quality of life for any citizen ,Practicing conflict resolution as a
foundation for building peaceful interpersonal relationships. The concept of positive peace
involves the elimination of the root causes of war, violence, and injustice and the conscious
attempt to build a society that reflects these commitments. Positive peace assumes an
interconnectedness of all life.

Negative Peace

Negative peace is defined as a peace without justice. It is a false sense of “peace” that often
comes at the cost of justice. In a negative peace situation, it may not see conflict out in the
open, but the tension is boiling just beneath the surface because the conflict was never
reconciled.
“Peace is not merely the absence of some negative force -war, tension, confusion, but it is
the presence of some positive force–justice, goodwill, the power of the kingdom of God.”-
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Efforts to achieve negative peace emphasize: managing interpersonal and organizational
conflict in order to control, contain, and reduce actual and potential violence, reducing the
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incidence of war by eliminating the extreme dangers of the war system and limiting war
through international crisis management, preventing war through strategic deterrence and
arms control. The concept of negative peace addresses immediate symptoms, the conditions
of war, and the use and effects of force and weapons. Words and images that reveal the
horror of war and its aftermath are often used by writers, artists, and citizen groups in their
efforts to stop it.
Table 01: Variation between negative and positive peace
NEGATIVE PEACE POSITIVE PEACE

Absence: Presence:
of war of tranquility
of conflict of harmony, well-being
of violence of strengthened human bonds
of repression of shared human values
of shared feelings of
of evil humanity

Source: Author originated source

Conclusion

Peace, like many theoretical terms, is difficult to define. Like happiness, harmony, justice,
and freedom, peace is something frequently recognize by its absence. Thus, Johan Galtung, a
founder of peace studies and peace research, has proposed the important distinction between
“positive” and “negative” peace. “Positive” peace indicates the simultaneous presence of
many desirable states of mind and society, such as harmony, justice, equity, and so on.
“Negative” peace indicates the “absence of war” and other forms of large scale violent
conflict. It is critical that understanding of peace because person may create peace depending
their own understating. If person define something vague it will be a difficult to put in into
practice and begin to build long lasting peace.

References
Antony Adolf. 2009. Peace A World History. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. David Barash, ed. 2010.
Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies. Second Edition. New York and Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Charles Webel and Jorgen Johansen. 2012. Peace and Conflict Studies: A Reader. London and New York:
Routledge. Charles Webel and Johan Galtung, eds. 2009. The Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies. London
and New York: Routledge.
Elise Boulding. 2000. Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
David Cortright. 2009. Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas. Cambridge and New York:
CambridgeUniversity Press.
Johan Galtung, Carl G. Jacobsen, and Kai Fritjof Brand-Jacobsen. 2002. Searching for Peace: The Road to
TRANSCEND. London: Pluto Press.
Nigel J. Young, editor in chief. 2010. The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, Four Volumes. Oxford
and New York: Oxford University Press.

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