| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1062215 | Political Geography | 2011 | 12 Pages |
In 1885, Kropotkin called for geography to be ‘a means of dissipating [hostile] prejudices’ between nations that make conflicts more likely, and ‘creating other feelings more worthy of humanity’. As a body of scholars, we have risen far more ably to the negative task of ‘dissipating’ than to the positive charge of ‘creating’: Geography is better at researching war than peace. To redress that imbalance, we need both to conceptualise more clearly what we mean by peace, and make a commitment to researching and practising it. These arguments are made with reference to the broader literature and research along the Danish/German, Israeli/Palestinian and Kyrgyz/Uzbek interfaces.
► Geography has handled the study of war with more depth and panache than the study of peace. ► This needs rectifying in order to make geography more useful. ► We must do two things: conceptualise peace, and make a commitment to it.
