Has peace become obsolete as a guiding concept in the discipline of International Relations (IR)? With this guiding question, Mathias Albert and Hendrik Simon open the forum they edited in the journal “Zeitschrift für Internationale Berziehungen”. While research into the causes of war and, above all, Strategic Studies continue to flourish in the face of ever-new wars, IR seems to have retained little interest in peace theory. On the occasion of Lothar Brock's 85th birthday this year, the forum reflects on possible further developments in theoretical debates on peace – especially in times of new wars. The current armed conflicts once again urgently raise the question about the possibility of lasting peace – as well as about the role that peace should play in contemporary theorizing in IR. The forum aims to present various answers to these questions – and at the same time to initiate, paraphrasing Lothar Brock, new “thoughts on theory-building” on peace, particularly in the German-language parts of the discipline.
The German-language forum contains texts by Mathias Albert/Hendrik Simon, Sabine Jaberg, Beate Jahn, Christoph Weller, Thorsten Bonacker/Mariam Salehi and Lothar Brock. The texts can be read via the Nomos eLibrary (access required).