Negative Peace

[Page 531]Peace is often associated with the inner state of a person, which arises when the person is experiencing a sense of well-being and tranquility. In contrast to personal peace, negative peace is a term that applies to relationships that can take place at various levels of analysis: interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup, and international. According Johan Galtung, the Norwegian sociologist who coined the term negative peace, negative peace occurs when there is the absence of direct violence in a relationship. At the international level, negative peace refers to the absence of war. This entry presents a historical overview of the concept of peace, followed by an elaboration on the meaning of negative and positive peace. The entry concludes with a section on the relationship between peace ...