Societal Peace: a conflict-theoretical concept

The lecture explains a scientific understanding of ‘societal peace’ („Gesellschaftlicher Frieden“) based on theories of social conflict. This concept goes beyond the traditional idea of peace and conflict research, in which peace is understood as the opposite of violence. Instead, it focuses primarily on practice-oriented questions that are becoming more pressing than ever as socio-political disputes become more radicalised and the danger of escalation in social conflicts increases. The term ‘peace’ is generally associated with greater expectations than just the absence of war. Thus, ‘societal peace’ can also be expected to protect society from the escalation of its conflicts. Because the state's monopoly on the legitimate use of force plays an important role in this, the understanding of ‘societal peace’ cannot be primarily based on the absence of violence. Instead, a way of dealing with socio-political conflicts that prevents conflict escalation is of central importance. The prevention of conflict escalation in daily social coexistence is at the centre of this conflict-theoretical consideration of ‘societal peace’.