Johan Galtung, the Norwegian sociologist and one of the founders of peace studies, passed away on Saturday 17 February 2024, as reported by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
Born in 1930, he studied mathematics and sociology and obtained a master’s degree in sociology and statistics. One of Galtung’s first activist experiences was fighting against the implementation of doctoral studies based on the Anglo-Saxon model, because he believed the doctoral system that was ultimately adopted and became established was in many ways pointless and outdated. A generation of young researchers and graduate students, including Galtung, claimed that the doctorate was merely a status symbol representing social elite power and not a ticket into the world of research. The doctorate is the last will and testament, something that hinders rather than encourages, these were the claims coming from circles that included Galtung at the time, who never received a “doctorate” as we know it and recognise it today.
First chair for peace studies
With a group of like-minded individuals, in 1959 Galtung established what would later become the Peace Research Institute, which he headed for a decade. He went on to found the Journal of Peace Studies in 1964 where he would publish pioneering papers on violence, peace and peaceful conflict resolution. In 1969, what Galtung initially established outside the university became part of the university curriculum and he came to the University of Oslo where he taught peace research for the next ten years. This was the first chair for peace studies, which from today’s perspective, when there are so many departments, chairs, institutes, so many published books and studies, seems almost incredible. In addition to opposing the idea of the doctorate, Galtung was in favour and supported one of the student demands from 1968: No one should hold a professorship for more than 10 years, which is why by the late 1970s, he left the University of Oslo.
After leaving the University of Oslo, Galtung continued his research and teaching at various institutes and universities, with the longest period spent at the University of Hawaii where he taught political science.
In addition to pioneering works on peace and peace studies, he also published two autobiographies: Johan without a Country and Launching Peace Studies: The First PRIO Years. His book Peace By Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization has been translated into our language(s), but at least the basic elements of Galtung’s broader work are also quite well known. In addition to universities where students are taught about the basic terms introduced by Galtung, his work is also important as the foundation for various civil society organisations that define themselves as peace organisations or organisations dedicated to nonviolence.
Galtung developed the terms positive and negative peace, where negative peace is defined as the mere absence of war, while positive peace entails working towards a society based on cooperation, a society of harmony where the causes of violence will be eliminated. Also, he believed “positive peace” could only be achieved by peaceful means. As a civilisation, we seem unable to learn this lesson. In terms of nonviolence, he spoke of three types of violence that form a triangle: cultural, structural and direct violence. Today, when we are awash with increasing levels of violence, from global wars to rising rates of femicide in our region, it is always good to go back to Galtung and try to detect the structures and cultural elements that support violence. In today’s world, we should keep reminding ourselves of Galtung’s words: There are no violent cultures! There are just aspects of culture that support violence.
His theory described our reality
As can be seen from the Peace Research Institute commemorative article about him, Galtung was in many ways a distinctive personality. Inspiring and dedicated as a mentor, not always easy to work with, sometimes inconsistent, as when he accepted various honorary doctorates despite his staunch opposition to doctorates in his youth, Galtung leaves us at a time when the world seems to be moving further away from the ideals of nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution. As much as Galtung contributed to the world and shaped it, he was also a product of an era marked by the earnest idealism following the horrors of the Second World War.
It was a time when people believed (sincerely believed) that peace, the positive kind, was possible, at least as an ideal. It was a time of decolonisation, the building of international institutions to ensure peace, the burgeoning of ideas about non-alignment, nonviolence… Without denying its faults, misconceptions and wrong turns, that ideal still pushed the world forward. Perhaps today, when we have so much theory, what we are missing is a bit of that idealistic ardour fostered by Galtung’s generation?
Johan Galtung’s name was heard at every training of the Centre for Nonviolent Action since the beginning of our work until today. At the trainings, we clearly recognised that the peace we were living lacked something, that it wasn’t “complete peace”, people recognised war as horrific violence, but we lacked terms to explain to ourselves and others everything that we had been through. We saw his concept of structural violence as a very practical tool to help people recognise violence in society, the kind of violence whose initiator is not clear or visible, the kind of violence where even those who perpetrate and support it become its victims. His theory described our reality, and that is why we felt close to Galtung. And that uncanny closeness contains the honest beauty of recognising individual humanity and the ingredients of peace often absent from our societies and our lives. When we say Galtung was also ours, this is not an attempt to lay claim to him, but a sincere expression of gratitude.
Web: https://www.galtung-institut.de/en/
Photo credits: @galtunginstitut