Aims

We propose the foundation of a European Network of Peace Historians which would be open to both individuals and institutions from all European countries as well as from other parts of the world. The general aims of the network will be: to facilitate and organise intellectual exchange on historical peace research; to increase the visibility of peace history; to support individuals and groups who want to organise workshops and conferences in this field; to foster postgraduate work on peace history, and to support teaching publications in this field; to lend its name and connections to research grant applications in the field of peace history; and to facilitate and support relevant publications.

The network will be based on a wide definition of peace history or historical peace research that includes at least seven distinctive fields: the history of pacifism, peace movements, anti-militarism and non-violent direct action; the history of non-violent conflict resolution and of peace-building after violent conflicts, both at the level of foreign relations and within societies and nation-states; the significance of gender roles, gender conflicts and gendered images for the history of conflicts, non-violent conflict resolution and peace movements; the history of armaments and arms control; the history of internationalism and international organisations, both governmental and nongovernmental; the history of collective violence in the perspective of opportunities for non-violence; and the study of images and concepts of peace in the past. The network will not be based on any academic or political definition of ‘peace’, and will therefore not exclude anyone on the grounds of differing analytical viewpoints or personal convictions. The network is not only directed at historians: literary scholars, art historians, sociologists and political scientists who do research on aspects of the history of non-violence are invited to become members and to engage in interdisciplinary discussions.