ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of peace in its real (actualised) and ideal (imagined) forms. The aim is to explore this question from a variety of perspectives to arrive at a point of not only looking beyond the binary of real and ideal but also to look within the dynamics of relations and processes to know peace. The chapter’s narrative moves first to establish some terms of reference around the concept of peace drawing on a variety of linguistic and cultural traditions. The chapter then moves to an examination of how peace can be understood in its various idealised forms, with these ideals serving more analytical or more normative functions. Contributions from the field of utopian studies help frame consideration of the possibilities and limitations of considering peace in its ideal forms. The focus then shifts towards peace in its various realised forms, with critical examination of the underpinnings of the realised forms of democratic, liberal, and imperial peace. The narrative then moves to a discussion of some of the more post-modern and critical formulations of peace, moving from the local and the everyday to the embodied and ultimately towards the relational. The chapter concludes with some questions that are intended to provoke further reflection on how peace is considered and enacted in both its ideal and real forms.
