On the Transrational Turn in Peace Research: Themes, Levels, and Layers of Elicitive Conflict Transformation

Abstract

Transrational peace research is concerned with a systemic balance of harmony, justice, security, and truth. At the center of its epistemology is the following question: What specific meaning do these terms have in a given situation? Transrational peace studies operate on all four sides of Lederach’s pyramid in a descriptive, not a prescriptive, fashion. Therefore, the epistemic subject of transrational peace studies is the systemic examination of the interrelations among individual and societal behavior in the four horizontal fields (harmony, justice, security, truth) and on all vertical levels, from the grassroots to middle and regional levels of administration and management to the highest-ranking representatives of state and society.