ABSTRACT
The tension at hand comes from an original dictum of the field, and particularly those at the practitioner end of the field, that one goal of peace studies was to spread its knowledge and values to other fields of study and practice. In a field as broad and diverse as peace and conflict studies, there are countless debates about approaches and methods, areas of study, and depth of focus. Likewise, peacebuilding has drawn scholars from different approaches, some of whom have adopted the ethos of the field and some of whom have merely adopted its language. Broad works encourage peace studies theorists and practitioners to move beyond realist concepts of power to constructivist concepts of culture, narrative, and the role of identity in driving conflict. One outgrowth of this has been an explosion of handbooks focusing on different aspects of peace, security, development, and conflict resolution.
