Revolutionary Peace

Johan Galtung: Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilisation, PRIO/ SAGE, 1996, 280 pp.

If there is a grand old man of peace research it is the Norwegian Johan Galtung, a pioneer in the field with professorships from Hawaii to Tromsí and many places in between.

Peace by Peaceful Means, one of more than 50 books Galtung has written, is an immensely rich publication which draws together much of his thinking and teaching concerning both theory and models for action.

Originally a mathematician, Galtung subsequently broadened his scope to encompass social science, economics, education and religion, and his encyclopaedic knowledge is very much present in this stimulating and thought-provoking book. From his bird's eye view - with glimpses of deeper, detailed analysis - Galtung sees things most of us usually miss, and his language is often a reader's joy.

Theories on peace, conflict, development and civilisation may not sound very thrilling, but in the Gal-tungian version they are. What would you say about describing development assistance as 'the legitimate offspring of a Western imperialist father and a Christian missionary mother' and Male Protestant Economics as the most inconsiderate around? Or an analysis of Hitlerism, Stalinism and Reaganism as certainly much different but not as much, as most of us would think?

To a surprising degree, Galtung has been able to sustain an underdog perspective over the years. This is probably one important explanation for his own preference for a combination of the Green, Pink (North European welfare society) and Yellow (Buddhist-Confucian) economic models, while he sees Marxism (Red) and "Smithism" (Blue) as the products of an Occidental mind shaped by monotheistic, uni-versalist and therefore missionary religions.

This is a book to read and to reread not only by peace researchers and practitioners but also - and not least - by theologians.

New Routes 4/97

CALENDAR

Church and Peace International

Annual General Assembly
St. Antoine Communauté de l'Arche near Grenoble, France
27- 29 March

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European Peace Congress 98
29-31 May
Osnabrück, Germany

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Church and Peace Administrative Committee Meeting
4-7 June
Enschede, Netherlands

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Group of Young Ecumenists in Europe
"Meeting with the Orthodox"
5-13 July
Romania
Organized by Church and Peace and IFOR, German branch

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Regional Conferences
Eastern Europe gathering
6-8 March; Deva, Rumania

Francophone
18-20 September; Centre Alain de Boismenu, Miribel, France

German-speaking
3-4 October; Thomashof, Germany
Church and Peace
Britain and Ireland

4th English-speaking Regional Conference
"Reconciliation - God's Gift, Our Task" (see p 20)
19-21 June
Hothorpe Hall, Leicester
Inclusive cost: œ70
Contact: Catharine Perry
2 Clerkenwell Crescent, MALVERN, Worcs. WR14 2TX
Tel: (+44) 01684 576370

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Peacefest 98
"Celebrating the Peaceable Community"
A day of worship, seminars, music, workshops, children's programme, stall, displays, activities
Sponsored by the Network of Christian Peace Organizations
4 May
Coventry Cathedral
Enquiries: Rob Drost
(+44) 01832 720 257

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International Training for Nonviolence
"Nonviolence in the Context of War or Armed Conflict"
13-28 June
Contact: Kurve Wustrow
Kirchstr. 14
D-29462 Wustrow