The Department of Peace Studies is an academic department established in 1973 at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was the first peace studies department established in any British university. , it claimed to be the world's largest university research centre for the study of peace and conflict. Activities of the centre include studies of

peace process A peace process is the set of political sociology, sociopolitical negotiations, agreements and actions that aim to solve a specific armed conflict. Definitions Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of ...

es, international relations, security studies, conflict resolution, development and teaching in these fields.

History

The idea for a School of Peace Studies dates back to 1964, two years before the establishment of the University of Bradford. When they were devising the charter of statutes, Ted Edwards and Robert McKinlay, the university's first vice-chancellor and pro-vice chancellor, agreed that they would establish such a school when the opportunity arose. Later in the 1960s, the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

approached a number of universities with similar ideas, and Bradford proved to be the only one prepared to fund such an initiative. With 10 weeks of the launch of a public appeal in 1971, the required £75,000 to found the centre had been raised, with contributions coming from figures including

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

J.B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

. The university matched the funding. The first cohort of Master's students joined the department in 1974. During the 1980s, some Conservative Party politicians questioned whether peace studies was an appropriate academic subject and considered the Department of Peace Studies a front for the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucl ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

is reported to have asked "Has that peace studies problem been dealt with yet?" and

Peter Swinnerton-Dyer Sir Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet, (2 August 1927 – 26 December 2018) was an English mathematician specialising in number theory at the University of Cambridge. As a mathematician he was best known for his part in th ...

, chair of the University Grants Committee (UGC), was tasked with investigating the department. The UGC gave the department "a clean bill of health".

Notable alumni and students

Saeb Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat ( ''Ṣāʼib ʻUrayqāt''; also ''ʻRēqāt, Erikat, Erakat, Arekat''; 28 April 195510 November 2020) was a Palestinian politician and diplomat who was the secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO from ...

, Palestinian politician and diplomat *

Lindis Percy Lindis Percy (born 1941, Leeds) is a peace activist in the United Kingdom and was a founding member and joint coordinator of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases. Reporting for ''The Guardian'', journalist Rob Evans claimed tha ...

, peace activist. *

Lloyd Russell-Moyle Lloyd Russell-Moyle (born 14 September 1986) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Kemptown from 2017 to 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, he was a ...

, Labour MP. * Robert Swindells, author. *

Sadegh Zibakalam Sadegh Zibakalam Mofrad (; born 12 June 1948) is an Iranian academic, author and pundit described as reformist and neo-liberal. Zibakalam is a former professor at University of Tehran and appears frequently on international news outlets including ...

(PhD 1989), Iranian professor, writer and political analyst.

Past and present faculty

Haleh Afshar Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, (; 21 May 1944 – 12 May 2022) was a British life peer in the House of Lords. She had a life-long interest in women's rights and Islamic law. She was a professor at the University of York and she wrote over a do ...

* Gabor Batonyi *

Adam Curle Charles Thomas William Curle (4 July 1916 – 28 September 2006), better known as Adam Curle, was a British academic, known for his work in social psychology, pedagogy, development studies and peace studies. After holding posts at the University ...

Uri Davis Uriel "Uri" Davis (, ; born 8 June 1943 in Jerusalem) is an academic and civil rights activist. Davis has served as Vice-Chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and as lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. D ...

Michael Harbottle Brigadier Michael Neale Harbottle, OBE (7 February 1917 – 30 April 1997) was a senior British Army officer who was chief of staff of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus from 1966 to 1968, a peace campaigner and amateur cricketer. E ...

Baruch Hirson Baruch Hirson (10 December 1921 – 3 October 1999) was a South African political activist, academic, author, and historian, who was jailed for nine years in apartheid-era South Africa before moving to England in 1973. He was co-founder of the ...

* Aki Orr * Munro Price * Michael Randle * Paul Rogers * Saleem Shahzad *

Hilary Wainwright Hilary Wainwright (born 1949) is a British sociologist, political activist and socialist feminist, best known for being a co-editor of '' Red Pepper'' magazine. Early life and education Wainwright's father was the Liberal MP Richard Wain ...

Tolstoy Cup

The Tolstoy Cup is an annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match played between the students of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and the Department of War Studies at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

since 1995. The rivalry between 'Peace Studies' and 'War Studies' was featured on the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' list of "Great college sports rivalries". The competition is named after ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'', the 1869 novel written by the Russian author

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

. The "trophy" is a framed copy of the book. It is kept by the department of the current winners.

References

External links

* of the Department of Peace Studies and International Development {{DEFAULTSORT:Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford University of Bradford 1973 establishments in England 1973 establishments in the United Kingdom Education in Bradford Peace and conflict studies Schools of international relations