Wolfgang Dietrich
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Dietrich is an Austria
n peace researcher
and political scientist
. He is a member of the faculty of the Institute for Political Science at the University of Innsbruck/Austria
, visiting professor at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Vienna and the University for Peace
in Costa Rica
, as well as member of the faculty of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Castellón/Spain
.
He was educated in Austria
and England
, received a Ph.D.
in history
and literature
at the University of Innsbruck in 1980 and a D.S.J. at the same University in 1984. In 1990 he was promoted to the degree of "Universitätsdozent" in Political Science
according to the Austrian Law of Higher Education (UOG).
Wolfgang Dietrich has spent most of the eighties in Central America
. He was president of the Austrian section of Amnesty International
from 1989 to 1991. In the nineties he did field research
in Latin America
and the Caribbean
, India
, Eastern Africa and Southeast Asia
. He was director of the European Peace University
from 1995 to 1998 and academic director of the Austrian Institute for Latin America from 1995 to 2007. Currently he is program director of the MA Program in Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, as well as Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies at the same university and member of the Austrian UNESCO commission.
, cultures of peaces, theories of peaces, peaces and world system theory, as well as, in his newest works, the contributions of humanistic psychology
to peace studies.
His best known and often quoted contribution to peace studies is the Call for Many Peaces published in 1998 and republished in 2006. Therein Wolfgang Dietrich dissolves the notion of a homogenous, universal peace in the plural
ity of the many peaces and thus establishes an approach, which is founded in respect towards the Other, without however deriving thereof the necessity of understanding this Otherness in all its facets or having to share opinions. Peace is thus thought in the sense of "many peaces" as a noun with a plural. He asserts that what peace means differs on closer inspection from culture to culture and the connotations and etymological
interpretations of the concept of "peace" do not coincide in different language
s, but are an expression of the plurality of worldviews and perception
s of the societies
speaking those languages. Peace
so no longer signifies an arrival in the utopian paradise at the end of all days, but implies a concretely livable societal process of conflict transformation
.
Since 2008 Dietrich distinguishes between the energetic, moral, modern, post-modern and trans-rational understanding of peace. He advocates the so called trans-rational approach, which combines the mechanistic understanding of modern peace with those cosmovisions which are energetically oriented towards the establishment and maintaining of harmonious relations between humans, nature
and cosmos
. From there he derives his culture-sensitive call for an elicitive approach to conflict transformation. Conflict work to him means facilitating the exploration and creation of new options by the conflicting parties instead of prescriptive conflict resolution by external experts.
This approach inaugurated by Wolfgang Dietrich is didactically implemented and practically applied at the Innsbruck School of Peace Studies.
http://homepage.univie.ac.at/w.dietrich/php/cms/
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n peace researcher
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
and political scientist
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. He is a member of the faculty of the Institute for Political Science at the University of Innsbruck/Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, visiting professor at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Vienna and the University for Peace
University for Peace
The University for Peace was established in Costa Rica in 1980 "to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence."At present, the UPEACE Costa...
in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, as well as member of the faculty of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Castellón/Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
He was educated in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
at the University of Innsbruck in 1980 and a D.S.J. at the same University in 1984. In 1990 he was promoted to the degree of "Universitätsdozent" in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
according to the Austrian Law of Higher Education (UOG).
Wolfgang Dietrich has spent most of the eighties in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. He was president of the Austrian section of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
from 1989 to 1991. In the nineties he did field research
Field research
Field research is the collection of raw data in natural settings. It helps to reveal the habits and habitats of various organisms present in their natural surroundings...
in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Eastern Africa and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. He was director of the European Peace University
European University Center for Peace Studies
European Peace University is a private university in Stadtschlaining, Austria.The institution was founded in 1988 as European University Center for Peace Studies by Gerald Mader in his capacity as president of the ASPR, with the support of European UNESCO commissions, and is affiliated to the...
from 1995 to 1998 and academic director of the Austrian Institute for Latin America from 1995 to 2007. Currently he is program director of the MA Program in Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, as well as Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies at the same university and member of the Austrian UNESCO commission.
Research focus
Wolfgang Dietrich’s research focuses on the history of peace studies, peaces and development, peaces and postmodernityPostmodernity
Postmodernity is generally used to describe the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity...
, cultures of peaces, theories of peaces, peaces and world system theory, as well as, in his newest works, the contributions of humanistic psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
to peace studies.
His best known and often quoted contribution to peace studies is the Call for Many Peaces published in 1998 and republished in 2006. Therein Wolfgang Dietrich dissolves the notion of a homogenous, universal peace in the plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
ity of the many peaces and thus establishes an approach, which is founded in respect towards the Other, without however deriving thereof the necessity of understanding this Otherness in all its facets or having to share opinions. Peace is thus thought in the sense of "many peaces" as a noun with a plural. He asserts that what peace means differs on closer inspection from culture to culture and the connotations and etymological
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
interpretations of the concept of "peace" do not coincide in different language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s, but are an expression of the plurality of worldviews and perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
s of the societies
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
speaking those languages. Peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
so no longer signifies an arrival in the utopian paradise at the end of all days, but implies a concretely livable societal process of conflict transformation
Conflict transformation
Conflict transformation is the process by which conflicts, such as ethnic conflict, are transformed into peaceful outcomes. It differs from conflict resolution and conflict management approaches in that it recognises "that contemporary conflicts require more than the reframing of positions and the...
.
Since 2008 Dietrich distinguishes between the energetic, moral, modern, post-modern and trans-rational understanding of peace. He advocates the so called trans-rational approach, which combines the mechanistic understanding of modern peace with those cosmovisions which are energetically oriented towards the establishment and maintaining of harmonious relations between humans, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
and cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
. From there he derives his culture-sensitive call for an elicitive approach to conflict transformation. Conflict work to him means facilitating the exploration and creation of new options by the conflicting parties instead of prescriptive conflict resolution by external experts.
This approach inaugurated by Wolfgang Dietrich is didactically implemented and practically applied at the Innsbruck School of Peace Studies.
Selected bibliography
- Variationen über die vielen Frieden, Band 2: Elicitive Konflikttransformation und die transrationale Wende der Friedenspolitik, Wiesbaden, VS-Verlag, 2011.
- (Ed.): The Palgrave International Handbook of Peace Studies: A Cultural Perspective, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
- Variationen über die vielen Frieden, Band 1: Deutungen, Schriften des UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies der Universität Innsbruck, Wiesbaden, VS-Verlag, 2008.
- Peaces – an Aesthetic Concept, a Moral Need or a Transrational Virtue? in: Asteriskos. Journal of International and Peace Studies, Volume 1/2, 2006, Seite 25-47.
- (Ed.): REAL 2006 - Relaciones Europa - América Latina y la cuestión de la pobreza, el desarrollo y la democracia, Wien, Diálogo/25, 2006.
- (Ed.): Schlüsseltexte der Friedensforschung/Key Texts of Peace Studies/Textos claves de estudios para la paz, Wien, LIT Verlag, 2006.
- La marimba: lenguaje musical y secreto de la violencia política en Guatemala; in: América Latina Hoy - Revista de Ciencias Sociales Vol 35. Salamanca/Spain, December 2003.
- (Ed.): International Intervention in the Post-Cold War World - Moral Responsibility and Power Politics; New York/London, 2003.
- Farewell to the One Peace, in: Peace Review, Journal of Social Justice, San Francisco, Volume 14/1, 2002.
Sources
http://homepage.univie.ac.at/w.dietrich/php/cms/