The Role of Peace and Justice in Contemporary Conflict

The interplay between peace and justice plays an important role in any contemporary conflict. Peace can be described in a variety ways, as being ''negative'' or ''positive'', ''liberal'' or ''democratic''. But what is it that makes a peace just? This book draws together leading scholars to study this concept of a ''just peace'', analysing different elements of the transition from conflict to peace.

Core Themes Covered

The volume covers six core themes: conceptual approaches towards just peace, macro-principles, the nexus to security and stability, protection of persons and public goods, rule of law, and economic reform and accountability. Contributions engage with understudied issues, such as the pros and cons of robust UN mandates, the link between environmental protection and indigenous peoples, the treatment of illegal settlements, the feasibility of vetting practices, and the protection of labour rights in post-conflict economies.

Key Arguments

Overall, the book puts forward a case that just peace requires not only negotiation, agreement, and compromise, but contextual understandings of law, multiple dimensions of justice, and strategies of prevention.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.