Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 55

PEACE STUDIES

Creating room for peace and conflict studies in
military professional development has numerous possibilities, such as the inclusion of military personnel
in existing peace and conflict studies programs, and
the inclusion of peace and conflict studies curricula
within the Army’s professional military and civilian
education systems. We propose that processes that
contribute to building the capacity for meeting human
needs complement conflict prevention and management activities. The learning is multidirectional, with
military professionals providing another dimension
of understanding and critique to peace and conflict
studies and its application as part of a broad peacebuilding and development strategy. In other words,
military personnel have much to contribute to the field
of peace and conflict studies.

Peace Building and the Military

Some will certainly disagree with our suggestion
that there is a proper role for peace and conflict studies in professional military education. Civilians may
judge it as a form of “sleeping with the enemy.” We
think this is a shortsighted view. If war is too serious
a business to be left solely to the generals, we argue
peace is too important to be left to those without military experience because members of the military can
support informed decision making. Creation of a just,
sustainable, and lasting peace is everyone’s business;
certainly, it is the business of those on the ground.
All those involved in peace making, peace keeping,
and peace building should be welcomed to the peace
development table.
Louis Kreisberg notes that as “the conflict resolution
(CR) field has developed, it offers many strategies and
methods that are relevant for partisans in a fight as well
as for intermediaries seeking to mitigate destructive
conflicts.”9 Conflict resolution, one component of
conflict transformation and management, is more than
negotiation and mediation. The focus is on responses
to conflict that are contextually driven and grounded
in theory and practical experience. When we discuss
peace, we are talking about the study of conditions
that are advancing inclusive, sustainable development
within political, economic, and cultural contexts. Conflict management and conflict transformation address
activities occurring on the ground that prevent peace
from breaking out.
Peace development needs more than good intentions. Far too often, individuals believe their good
MILITARY REVIEW May-June 2014

intentions alone are all that is required for success
in resolving conflict and building peace. Experience proves otherwise. Effective peace development
requires the participation of subject matter experts
regarding conflict. A just, sustainable, and lasting peace
is brought into existence through hard work. Skill
mastery and individuals educated in transdisciplinary
responses to conflict and violence are essential.
The approach outlined here for integrating
peace and conflict studies into Army professional
education is premised on a three-tier approach that

Far too often, individuals
believe their good intentions
alone are all that is required
for success in resolving conflict and building peace.
correlates with the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. Our definitions here do not mirror
exactly those found in Army doctrine; rather, they are
used to construct an approach that would complement
existing doctrine.
Strategic peace building is grounded in the analysis of conflict. It is heavily weighted toward the
understanding and development of t he foundation
of peace theory. Students follow an interdisciplinary
approach to conducting analysis primarily at mega
levels of conflict, toward societal and regional peace
and peace operations.
Operational peace building encompasses the macro
and meso levels and bridges the theoretical aspects of
peace building found at the strategic level with tactical
approaches to conflict transformation and management. Students at the operational level of practice
integrate theory into practical responses to conflict.
Theory translates into practice, and feedback from
practice refines theory in a constant feedback loop.
The focus at the operational level is construction of
the institutions and structures of peace such as community justice centers, training programs in conflict
transformation and management, and transitional
justice activities.
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