Theory and Practice of Peace‐Making

This book deals with theory and practice of peace‐making from medieval to modern times. It is the result of a series of lectures which established a short history of mediation. From antiquity to medieval, early modern and modern times experts followed the theory and practice of peace‐making and found comparable practices in different epochs which make clear that the mediator, who tries to end conflicts by convincing the parties of a peaceful solution, is not a modern phenomenon. The function has medieval and early modern predecessors which worked with very similar methods as their contemporary successors do. It was very necessary to elucidate this forgotten history.

Literature: Althoff, Gerd (ed.): Frieden stiften. Vermittlung und Konfliktlösung vom Mittelalter bis heute, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2011 (with contributions from Rainer Albertz, Gerd Althoff, Alfons Fürst, Barbara Stollberg‐Rilinger, Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, Christian Walter, Ulrich Willems, and Hubert Wolf).