Vol. 5: Johan Galtung [Norway]: Pioneer of Peace Research. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 5 – presented by Dietrich Fischer [Switzerland] (Heidelberg – New York – Dordrecht – London: Springer, 2013).

ISBN (Print): 978-3-642-32480-2
ISBN (Online/eBook): 978-3-642-32481-9
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-32481-9

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• It contains groundbreaking texts from the founder of this unique academic discipline
• It addresses an important field, peace studies (As Willy Brandt pointed out, “Peace is not everything, but without peace, everything is nothing”)
• It includes some of the most important contributions from Galtung’s 160 books and over 1600 articles

This is the first ever anthology of key articles by Johan Galtung, widely regarded as the founder of the academic discipline of peace studies. It covers such concepts as direct, structural and cultural violence; theories of conflict, development, civilization and peace; peaceful conflict transformation; peace education; mediation; reconciliation; a life-sustaining economy; macro-history; deep culture and deep structure; and social science methodology. Galtung has contributed original research, concepts and theories to more than 20 social science disciplines, including sociology, international relations and future studies, and has also applied his new insights in practice. The book is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, and can serve as a supplemental textbook for graduate and upper undergraduate courses in peace studies and related fields.

Content Level » Research

Keywords » Conflict Transformation - Johan Galtung - Mediation for Peace - Peace Research Institute - Peace Studies - Structural Violence - TRANSCEND Method

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Johan Galtung, Dr. Dr hc mult, a professor of peace studies, was born in 1930 in Oslo, Norway. He is a mathematician, sociologist, political scientist and a pioneer of peace studies. He founded the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (1959), the world’s first academic research centre on peace studies, and the Journal of Peace Research (1964). He has helped establishing dozens of other peace centres around the world.
He taught as a professor for peace studies at universities all over the world, including Columbia (New York), Oslo, Berlin, Belgrade, Paris, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Sichuan, Ritsumeikan (Japan), Princeton, Hawai’i, Tromsoe, Bern, Alicante (Spain) and many others on all continents. He has motivated thousands of individuals to dedicate their lives to the promotion of peace and the satisfaction of basic human needs.

He has mediated in over 100 conflicts between states, nations, religions, civilizations, communities, and persons since 1957. His contributions to peace theory and practice include conceptualization of peace building, conflict mediation, reconciliation, nonviolence, theory of structural violence, theorizing about negative vs. positive peace, peace education and peace journalism. His unique imprint on the study of conflict and peace stems from a combination of systematic scientific inquiry with a Gandhian ethics of peaceful means and harmony. He has conducted research in many fields with his original contributions to peace studies, to human rights, basic needs, development strategies, a world economy that sustains life, macro history, the theory of civilizations, federalism, globalization, the theory of discourse, social pathologies, deep culture, peace and religions, social science methodology, sociology, ecology, and future studies.
He is author or co author of more than 1600 articles and over 160 books on peace and related issues, including Peace By Peaceful Means (1996), Macrohistory and Macrohistorians (with Sohail Inayatullah, 1997), Conflict Transformation By Peaceful Means (1998), Johan uten land (autobiography, 2000), Transcend & Transform: An Introduction to Conflict Work (2004, in 25 languages), 50 Years 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives (2008), Democracy Peace Development (with Paul Scott, 2008), 50 Years - 25 Intellectual Landscapes Explored (2008), Globalizing God (with Graeme MacQueen, 2008), The Fall of the US Empire - And Then What (2009), Peace Business (with Jack Santa Barbara and Fred Dubee, 2009), A Theory of Conflict (2010), A Theory of Development (2010), Reporting Conflict: New Directions in Peace Journalism (with Jake Lynch, 2010), Korea: The Twisting Roads to Unification (with Jae-Bong Lee, 2011), Reconciliation (with Joanna Santa Barbara and Diane Perlman, 2012), Peace Mathematics (with Dietrich Fischer, 2012), Peace Economics (2012), A Theory of Civilization (forthcoming 2013), and A Theory of Peace (forthcoming 2013). In 2008, he founded the TRANSCEND University Press. 36 of his books have been translated into 33 languages, for a total of 134 book translations.
He is founder (in 2000) and rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University, the world’s first online Peace Studies University. He is also the founder and director of TRANSCEND International, a global non profit network for Peace, Development and the Environment, founded in 1993, with over 500 members in more than 70 countries around the world. As a testimony to his legacy, peace studies are now taught and researched at universities across the globe and contribute to peacemaking efforts in conflicts around the world.
He was jailed in Norway for six months at age 24 as a Conscientious Objector to serving in the military, after having done 12 months of civilian service, the same time as those doing military service. He agreed to serve an extra 6 months if he could work for peace, but that was refused. In jail he wrote his first book, Gandhi’s Political Ethics, together with his mentor, Arne Naess.
As a recipient of over a dozen honorary doctorates and professorships and many other distinctions, including a Right Livelihood Award (also known as Alternative Nobel Peace Prize), Johan Galtung remains committed to the study and promotion of peace.