World disorder and peace research: a sociological, post-nationalist reading of the pathway to sustainable peace

ABSTRACT This paper offers a sociological reading of the concept of world order within the peace research debate, mindful of the complexity of systemic factors that influence changing interpretations. By addressing the clash of thought currents that have seen ‘traditionalist’ peace researchers interpret peace as a phenomenon opposed to conflict, while ‘progressive’ researchers view it as a social and sustainable development capable of mitigating conflict while containing disruptive aspects, this study critically reconstructs utopian conflict theories within a complex mosaic, which leads from conflict to a new vision of a peaceful world. In this view, there is no longer room for a concept of world order as expression of an arbitrary system of dominance, but a tendency to read social reality through the lenses of the complexity theories as a worldwide disorder. Following giants such as Kenneth Boulding and Johan Galtung, this paper investigates the four interconnected pillars of the new worldview – peace, society, economy, and nature – and the role played by conflict in defining its identity. Pursuing a vision that seeks to recompose the contents of positive peace and sustainable development, the researcher will try to understand the direction taken by the new sustainability paradigms.