Martial(ling) peace at the war museum

Emotion, desires and representations of the war-peace dichotomy

Bibliographic Data

ID8912110
AuthorsNicole Wegner (0000-0002-9534-4820, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume59
Issue2
Pages228-246
Publication date2024-05-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCooperation and Conflict (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-8367 • E-ISSN: 1460-3691
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00108367241237636
OpenAlexW4396723759
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited70

This article investigates the role of emotions and the conceptual use of peace to justify martial violence. Drawing upon empirical evidence collected at the Canadian War Museum, the article explores how representations of war history present militarized violence as both a threat to, and the solution for, global peace. Building on scholarship in IR and Peace Studies that theorizes the relationship between war and peace, this article puts forward a novel analytical concept – martial peace – to investigate this paradox. It theorizes that manoeuvring peace as a justification for military activities not only results in depoliticizing the contexts of conflicts and war, but also serves to euphemize the violence that occurs in the name of peace and within so-called peaceful societies. Using Canada as a case study, the article explores how martial peace obscures settler colonialism and generates affective militarism as key components of nationalist projects

Peace and conflict studies · Peace economics · Peace movement · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Military History and Strategy · Peacebuilding and International Security

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