Peace Ethology Behavioral Processes and Systems of Peace

A scholarly collection of timely essays on the behavioral science of peace

With contributions from experts representing a wide variety of scholarly fields (behavioral and social sciences, philosophy, environmental science, anthropology and economics), Peace Ethology offers original essays on the most recent research and findings on the topic of the behavioral science of peace. This much-needed volume includes writings that examine four main areas of study: the proximate causation of peace, the developmental aspects of peace, the function and systems of peace and the evolution of peace. 

The popular belief persists that, by nature, humans are not pre-disposed to peace. However, archeological and paleontological evidence reveals that the vast majority of our time as a species has been spent in small hunter-gatherer bands that are basically peaceful and egalitarian in nature. The text also reveals that most of the earth’s people are living in more peaceful societies than in centuries past. This hopeful compendium of essays:

• Contains writings from noted experts from a variety of academic studies
• Offers a social-psychological perspective on the causation of peaceful behavior
• Includes information on children’s peacekeeping and peacemaking
• Presents ideas for overcoming social tension between police and civilians
• Provides the most recent thinking on the behavioral science of peace

Written for students and academics of the behavioral and social sciences, Peace Ethology offers scholarly essays on the development, nature, and current state of peace.

Peter Verbeek, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Benjamin A. Peters, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA

List of Contributors ix

Foreword xi
Robert M.Sapolsky

Acknowledgments xv

1 The Nature of Peace 1
Peter Verbeek and Benjamin A. Peters

Part One Proximate Causation 15

2 A Social‐Psychological Perspective on the Proximate Causation of Peaceful Behavior: The Needs‐Based Model of Reconciliation 17
Nurit Shnabel

3 Inclusion as a Pathway to Peace: The Psychological Experiences of Exclusion and Inclusion in Culturally Diverse Social Settings 35
Sabine Otten, Juliette Schaafsma, and Wiebren S. Jansen

4 The Peacekeeping and Peacemaking Role of Chimpanzee Bystanders 53
Teresa Romero

5 The Experiential Peacebuilding Cycle: Grassroots Diplomacy, Environmental Education, and Environmental Norms 73
Saleem H. Ali and Todd Walters

Part Two Development 93

6 The Developmental Niche for Peace 95
Darcia Narvaez

7 Children’s Peacekeeping and Peacemaking 113
Cary J. Roseth

8 The Role of Relationships in the Emergence of Peace 133
Ellen Furnari

9 Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers: Communal Approaches to Healing the Wounds and Building Peace in Postconflict Societies 153
Michael Wessells and Kathleen Kostelny

Part Three Function 171

10 Keeping the Peace or Enforcing Order? Overcoming Social Tension Between Police and Civilians 173
Otto Adang, Sara Stronks, Misja van de Klomp, and Gabriel van den Brink

11 Constitutions as Peace Systems and the Function of the Costa Rican and Japanese Peace Constitutions 191
Benjamin A. Peters

12 Exploring the Village Republic: Gandhi’s Oceanic Circles as Decentralized Peace Systems 211
Joám Evans Pim

13 Building Peace Benefits 231
Daniel Hyslop and Thomas Morgan

Part Four Evolution 247

14 The Evolutionary Logic of Human Peaceful Behavior 249
Douglas P. Fry

15 Trans‐Species Peacemaking: Our Evolutionary Heritage 267
Harry Kunneman

16 Natural Peace 287
Peter Verbeek

Index 321

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