Linda Forcey writes in her introduction to this important new book that more than forty years have passed since Albert Einstein prophesied unparalleled catastrophe were we not to change our modes of thinking. Learning how we should go about this is peace studies. This book explores the meanings of peace, including political approaches and strategies for better understanding and change from a wide range of ideological and philosophical perspectives. The chapters, by scholars of sociology, history, psychology, political science, and several interdisciplinary fields, pose challenging philosophical, ideological, and pedagogical questions. The contributors encourage active thought about the complex interrelationship of the personal and systemic dimensions of peace.
Ideal for interdisciplinary, introductory peace study courses, this volume stimulates thought about the peace process by examining individual behavior and responsibility as well as that of the political and social collective. It challenges the reader into thinking deeply about peace by focusing on the complex interrelationship of its personal and structural dimensions. Although the book is organized into three parts—Meanings, Politics, and Strategies—the themes presented necessarily overlap. As is stated in the introduction, the meanings we give to the process of peace, the politics that govern the ways in which we view the world and our place in it, and the strategies for a better world we choose to pursue are so interrelated as to forestall neat compartmentalization.