ABSTRACT
In this chapter, students will learn about two concepts that are central to security studies and yet tend to receive little analysis in their own right: violence and peace. The chapter highlights that both concepts are complex and contested. Rather than try to settle on a definition of either, the chapter is structured around a series of questions that serve to explore the complex nature of violence and peace. As such the chapter asks: what is violence? How do we come to know it? Does violence work as a means of resistance? What does this mean for our understanding of peace? Finally, if there is no fixed definition of violence or peace, what does this mean for security studies?
