Oil and Water? The Philosophical Commitments of International Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution¹.

Dahl, Elizabeth S. (2012) Oil and Water? The Philosophical Commitments of International Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. International Studies Review, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2486.2012.01111.x While there have been important studies that have mapped the fields of peace studies (PS) and conflict resolution (CR), the focus usually has been on tracing their historical evolution and typical areas of application. In contrast, this article aims to examine PS and CR's philosophical assumptions and commitments, topics more rarely investigated. Rather than assuming that CR and PS are analyzing, diagnosing, and addressing conflict in the same way, this study will trace their respective philosophical genealogies (including, where possible, variations within each) and the concrete implications of these stances in terms of intellectual wagers about power, truth, structure, and conflict. These findings will tell us more about what is happening in these two fields and guide future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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