PEACEMAKING

Berenice A. Carroll

"Peacemaking" appears to be a commonplace term, easily understood and frequently used in public discourse and in peace movements. The Internet reports more than 50,000 entries containing the term "peacemaking." On closer examination, it is much more elusive. Dictionaries define it tautologically as "the making of peace"; standard encyclopedias do not recognize it as a topic for separate entry (though it does appear in two encyclopedias of peace); and there is surprisingly little on "peacemaking" in academic texts on international politics.

Where it does appear, the term "peacemaking" is used primarily in four senses:

1. Settlement or termination of a war or dispute by explicit agreement among the belligerent parties or others ("peace settlements").
2. The process of transition from hostility to amity, or from war to peace ("ending hostilities and preferably also resolving the active issues of war"), with or without explicit agreement.
3. The development of procedures and institutions to facilitate conflict resolution, or termination or prevention of wars or conflicts ("pacific settlement of disputes").
4. Efforts to create the foundations or conditions for lasting peace ("peacebuilding").

See also ALLIANCES, COALITIONS, AND ENTENTES; ARBITRATION, MEDIATION, AND CONCILIATION; DISSENT IN WARS; GENDER; INTERVENTION AND NONINTERVENTION; PACIFISM; PEACE MOVEMENTS; RACE AND ETHNICITY; TREATIES.

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