Australia and peace research

Abstract

Until fairly recently, Peace Research was a relatively unknown field of study in Australia. This situation has been changing during the 1980s with the establishment of the government-funded Peace Research Centre in Canberra in 1985 and the subsequent emergence of other centres at Monash, La Trobe and Sydney Universities, plus a proliferation of peace studies courses in tertiary institutions throughout the country. This paper traces the evolution of peace research in Europe and North America from the late 1950s to the present day. Second, it examines the intellectual and institutional barriers which inhibited the development of peace research in Australia and how these have - partially at least - been overcome. Finally, it examines some of the controversies which have dogged the field of peace research in Australia during the 1980s. Show more