Research at the Galtung-Institut builds on the rich and interdisciplinary tradition started by Johan Galtung and many others. On the following pages you can find more about our research and download our recent publications.

The basic point is that peace is a relation, between two or more parties. The parties may be inside a person, a state or nation, a region or civilization, pulling in different directions. Peace is not a property of one party alone, but a property of the relation between parties. Saying that in no sense belittles the significance of the party’s intent and capability to build peaceful relations. But, like a marriage, it is not the sum of the capabilities of the parties. Which is why we can have lovely people related in a less than lovely marriage. And vice versa.

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Professionalization of peace work moves us beyond peace research and studies, both indispensable for skills. The purpose of peace research is to produce intersubjectively communicable and verifiable KNOWLEDGE according to the general rules of research. Thus, research is incompatible with secrecy, as research has to take place in public space. And one purpose of peace studies is the communication of the findings of peace research, in line with general rules for education, another public space activity. The free access of the rest of society to what happens is of the essence. As peace workers are not planning to hurt or harm, in other words to exercise violence, s/he has nothing to conceal.

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