The Contested Idea of Peace: A Path for Public Administration through Jane Addams

Abstract

Beginning with the odd finding that "peace research is just the study of war" this paper explores "positive peace" as an important yet neglected notion in public administration. It does this by examining the ideas of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jane Addams, a pioneer in public administration and peace theory. Addams feminist, pragmatist ideas of peace, which we call peaceweaving, emerged from her experience as a settlement worker in Chicago. Her ideas are placed in historical context, and applied to contemporary peace developments in Kosovo. Using her ideas lead us to a better understanding of what is going right and what is still going wrong in that complicated peace operation.