Professor Johan Galtung

Diana Schumacher recently sent news of the death of Johan Galtung (1930 – 2024) who was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 and served as its first director until 1970. He also established the Journal of Peace Research in 1964 (For more information about his life and work use this link: Johan Galtung).

The Security Studies Network minutes noted the following members’ references in the 1990s.

• In 1982, Johan Galtung published Environment, Development and Military Activity: Towards an Alternative Security Doctrine, which was cited on this website.
• Sponsorship of colleague to attend a 1999 meeting at the Institute for Policy Research & Development, based in London, which included on its advisory board Dr.Johan Galtung
• Eirwen Harbottle recommendation that SSN further the work done on sub-regional security at the request of Shridath Ramphal, Commonwealth Secretary and that earlier links with Johan Galtung be renewed. BP: 28.4.99

One of SSN four pillars, in memory of Brigadier Michael Harbottle, was defensive defence.  “Transarmament” was used by Professor Johan Galtung—as a technical term to describe this shift in military strategy. He distinguished between offensive and defence armaments and suggested transitioning to a defensive system of national defence, advocating precise weapons with limited range and destructive effects. See his 1984 article: “Transarmament: From offensive to defensive defence”, Journal of Peace Research. 21 (2): 127–139.

In 2002 SSN commissioned A Non-offensive Defence Stance for the UK: an introductory study on the Implications of the UK adopting a Non-Offensive Defence Stance, by Dr Steven Schofield, which was launched in a house of Commons committee room, hosted by former defence minister, MP Peter Kilfoyle.In 2004 Eirwen recalled: “The series of wars between Ecuador and Peru over an uninhabited small border territory ended when the Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung proposed to make the disputed territory a national zone, jointly administered by both governments, with a natural park and peace monument to attract tourists and bring more income to both countries.  He pointed out that this cost only $250 for a meal with the incoming president and a night in a hotel, whereas the first Gulf war cost $100 billion, not counting the destruction it caused, and the lives lost”.

Johan Galtung was director of Transcend and co-founder of the organization in 1993 and Alice Gavin comments that his successful role in this 1990s conflict illustrated the potential of the Transcend method.

A forthcoming post on the Non-Lethal Defence site will focus on the work of Ioannis (Yannis) Stivachtis (right), who cited the work of Galtung and other contributors in this 2003 paper:

“One factor contributing to arms races is the aforementioned security dilemma, that if a country acquires weapons to increase its own security, it decreases the security of potential opponents . . . In contrast, non-offensive defence is designed to break out of that dilemma. If a country adopts a purely (or primarily) defensive military posture that increases its own security without threatening the security of others, it can unilaterally find a way out of an arms race caused by mutual fear”.

In a Stirrer article (2008, closed website) there was a reference to the late Nicholas Gillett, who used to train teachers in the West Midlands and warned that a lack of local roots needs to be addressed by schools if anomie and alienation are to be avoided: “Johan Galtung rates this danger as being as serious a threat as nuclear war . . . every school needs one or two teachers who had grown up in the locality and so have something very important to share with the children. Already schools are using grandparents’ memories to make social history seem more real”.

After reading Ted Dunn’s book, A STEP BY STEP APPROACH TO WORLD PEACE : REGION BY REGION, Galtung wrote to him saying “I think regionalization of the world’s problems is the only feasible way”.

The last reference found was in a 2020 post, Profile: Alfred Fried, PJ pioneer, by Peter van den Dungen:

“In the era of fake news, peace journalism has become even more vital. News media habitually emphasises conflict over peaceful resolutions, differing viewpoints over common ground, and sensationalism over depth and context using frames and a language that conform to has been labelled “war journalism” by peace scholar Johan Galtung. Audiences are given the impression that conflict is inevitable, and that peace or conflict resolution are beyond reach (Clint Witchells)”.

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