Critical Edge and Legitimation in Peace Studies

Abstract

Historically established as critical knowledge and thus an alternative to normal science in International Relations, Peace Studies came to be co-opted, in the 1990s, by the regulatory structures of the international system as a cornerstone of many of the options put into practice especially in post-war reconstruction processes. In this context, recovering the critical lineage of Peace Studies today involves two radical options. The first entails qualifying intended peace as sustainable peace. The second implies the epistemological decolonisation of Peace Studies.