ABSTRACT
The perennial quest for peace amidst recurrent conflicts has marked human existence for centuries and the efforts to situate the role of intellect over instinct continue to comprise a crucial component of policy-making and academic discourse. Interestingly, however, although India's domestic politics and foreign relations have witnessed a considerable degree of violence since independence, the academic analysis of peace and conflict has failed to emerge as a major thrust area. The ‘domestic’ looms large in any understanding of peace and war among states and societies. There remains considerable debate over the meaning of peace. The popular view among pacifists and theologians in the West sees peace as an absence of dissension, violence or war. Peace here implies political equality in terms of participation and capacity for decision making, wellbeing and equitable life chances, a guaranteed livelihood and an access to a life without the threats of disease, malnutrition, poverty, cultural domination and with full recourse to dignity.
