ABSTRACT
Understanding causes of war and finding remedies to their seemingly constant recurrence is a central theme in peace research. Central in most definitions of peace is the absence of war. This implies a hope for a world without war. This topic was firmly put on the agenda by the First World War and was further reinforced by the experiences of the Second World War and the dangers of the Cold War. The number of armed conflicts has refused to come close to the zero level. The vision may be widely shared, but the ways to reach the goal remain unclear and without global agreement, whether in politics or in academia. There are organizations in place with this as a major purpose. The United Nations was created to achieve this goal, and it has been used increasingly since the end of the Cold War. But it still is far from dealing with all conflicts, and those on its table often remain elusive to lasting peacemaking. A different approach is to develop relations which are not dominated by the immediate fear of war. This is exemplified by the European Union. Its ambition is to bring countries together through integration, interdependence, shared values and a willingness to acknowledge past suffering. On many scores it may be more successful than the UN, but this experience is limited to those that are within the Union or aspire to enter it.
