Peace as Nirvana: some critical comments on Galtung's recent peace research: some critical comments on Galtung's recent peace research

Recently Johan Galtung has shifted his focus to the study of cultures and civilisations. He commences with a critique of the West as a violent civilisation and goes on to examine some ‘oriental’ alternatives, introducing the category of ‘cultural violence’ in the process. In the most recent phase, Buddhism is identified as a preferred civilisational viewpoint, although more in the abstract than the concrete. Critical scrutiny of Galtung's turn eastwards reveals a number of problems, including an excessive reductionism and a tendency to caricature various civilisational and cultural forms. Although suggesting that the concept of nirvana provides an illuminating and less teleological account of peace, Galtung's embracing of Buddhism as a source of insight for peace thinking and practice is tentative as a consequence of Buddhism's perceived underdevelopment as an account of social and world space. Its deficiencies notwithstanding, the buddhic turn sheds light on both Galtung's personal philosophy and the adjustment of peace research to a postmodern intellectual milieu.