MASTER PROGRAMME

PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES

Peace and Conflicts Studies (PCS) seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of violence and war and ways to resolve conflicts around the world. Despite its global reach, key concepts and theories dominating the discipline’s discourse originate primarily in European intellectual history and Northern experiences of violence and war, even though the "objects of study” are today predominantly located in the Global South.  PCS needs to be decentered to live up to its cosmopolitan aspirations, and voices of different regions affected by conflict have to be incorporated to coauthor the idea of peace.  Examining the specific case of India, the article illustrates how the historical, religious and spiritual traditions and the politics of the subcontinent have informed Indian discourses on peace with the potential to fertilise global dialogues on peace and peacebuilding.