Beyond the moral violence of nations: a critical historiography of peace activism in the decolonizing world

Abstract

As the field of peace history awakens to its provincializing moment, scholars are increasingly demonstrating how activists and networks from across the global South opposed war and violence throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Arguably, historians are moving beyond expressions of peace from postcolonial nations, like the idea of ‘moral violence’ by Indonesian President Sukarno at the 1955 Bandung Conference. This paper assesses the work of historians seeking to overcome Eurocentric models and chronologies of peace activism and peace movements. It has three aims. First, it briefly sketches the broader historiography of peace history by demonstrating how Eurocentric perspectives slowly give way to more global ones. I then touch upon three key aspects that global peace history historians grapple with: scale, definitions, and fault lines. Finally, I assess the potential of global peace history for the fields of global history and peace studies. I argue that peace activism in the decolonizing world cannot simply be added to ‘canons’ of peace history, nor can concepts from peace studies be bluntly applied to global peace history. Instead, definitions of and engagements with peace must be historicized and localized worldwide to build new approaches that take the global South as a starting point.