The road to sustainable peace: Galtung’s concept of positive peace as a framework to examine post-war reconstruction initiatives in Syria

Abstract

Premised on Galtung’s theory of positive peace (1969), this study examines whether the Syrian government’s post-war initiatives to reconstruct the education sector aim to promote a culture of positive peace. Data is obtained from semi-structured interviews with twelve participants consisting of senior government officials, teacher educators from a public university and the equivalent of pre-service and in-service teacher training centres within a government-held area. The validity of meaning developed from interview data was also assessed through cross-checking emerging patterns with document examination. Research findings reveal that the government’s current approach to reconstruction is based on a negative concept of peace that aims to bring life back to ‘normal’ as it was before the conflict.