2 Positive peace
There are many paths to peace and many approaches to peace education. However, a commitment to non-violence is at the heart of the work of peace educators. Johan Galtung was a Norwegian theorist in the field of peace studies who has had an enormous influence on the work of peace educators. An idea popularised by Galtung is that of positive and negative peace.
In Galtung’s theory, positive peace means not only an absence of all types of violence (and the fear of violence), but also the presence of social justice and institutions that support and further harmony (Cremin and Bevington, 2017). When Martin Luther King Jr talks about peace as the presence of justice he is talking about positive peace. It is not just about the absence of something (in this case racial tension), but the presence of something positive (in this case justice).
Activity 3 Positive and negative peace in schools
Click on the terms below to read how Jackie Zammit, a peace educator working in the West Midlands, explains how Galtung’s ideas of positive and negative peace might look in schools. As you read, consider why the example Zammit gives might illustrate the concept of negative peace, and how the problem of football arguments might be approached from a perspective of positive peace.
Jackie Zammit:
Comment
Banning football to tackle the problem of arguments is an example of negative peace for several reasons. Firstly, it is a peace that is imposed by the more powerful (adults) without exploring what a peaceful solution might look like to the people directly affected by the arguments (not just the argumentative football players, but also the people whose breaktime is disrupted). Secondly, imposing a solution misses an opportunity for children and young people to develop social and emotional attributes that help them manage challenging experiences as well as their skills in conflict resolution – part of the hard work Zammit says is needed to secure positive peace in schools (Zammit, 2018). Thirdly, whilst banning football might address the immediately visible violence in the arguments, it may not address underlying issues around what the children and young people see as ‘just’ and ‘fair’ in their school lives. Notice that here, positive peace goes beyond classrooms, into breaktimes and indeed every part of school life.