Introduction

The twentieth century was the most murderous in recorded history. The total number of deaths caused by or associated with its wars has been estimated at 187m, the equivalent of more than 10" of the world's population in 1913'. In the 1950s a small group of scholars, building on the work of an even smaller number of pioneers, formed the nucleus around which 'Peace Research' was to cohere. The question of visibility and recognition are still pertinent, as two recent publications demonstrate. Griffiths and O'Callahan survey the key concepts of International Relations and the work is as up-to-date as it can be. Enquiries about the idea of peace, its construction, its implementation and its practical consequences can hardly be more timely. We live in hard times: as Tom Paine would have it 'these are the times that try men's souls' – and women's, a significant point in itself: like most other enterprises, PR has recognized questions of gender.