The End of Violence. New Directions in Violence ResearchHosted by Gabriele Metzler and Felix Schnell

20 and 21 February 2015

Questions of how violence arises, what course violent processes take and what factors play a role have been investigated and discussed in many violence research studies during the past two decades. Less attention has been devoted to how we can put an end to violence. Most inquiries have focused on political, social or cultural aspects of handling violence that has seemingly ended, on the culture or politics of remembrance. Over and over, however, termination of state-sponsored wars and attainment of military objectives have proven to be illusory ends to violence. Often, violence just ebbs or is transformed. Seldom does it vanish completely, as civil wars and asymmetric conflicts vividly illustrate. Moreover, one must distinguish between macro- and micro-social contexts. These empirical and conceptual issues relating to the end of violence were discussed during the Colloquium.

Conference language was German.