Paper long abstract:

The subject of my paper is the meaning and potential of an individual understanding of peace amongst people in a post-conflict period. The research is based on qualitative interviews with Sudanese citizens in March 2009.

There are lots of political standpoints on how to conceptualize peace when war comes to an end. However, in my paper I look at the potentials and priorities that people in a postconflict society see themselves. Usually personal conceptions of peace are linked to personal experiences and expectations and to accepted social norms and traditions. Peace in this understanding is an individual and personal concept. When individuals talk about peace, it often appears as a category which looks into the future, it is a vision of the own life and the life of the community. Personal experiences are always part of it.

Nevertheless the idea that the peaceful development of a society and its politics is linked to specific components, which are global and therefore universal, can offer a path into a deeper understanding of concepts of peace.