Arbeitskreis Herrschaftskritische Friedensforschung: Wissenschaftsfreiheit als Prämisse von Friedens- und Konfliktforschung [Academic freedom as a prerequisite for peace and conflict research], March 2025.
As in other disciplinary fields, the same applies to German speaking peace and conflict research: it is easy to lament threats to academic freedom in distant countries. Opposition/dissent is welcome as long as the attacks on research, teaching, and civil society in one’s own country are aimed at the so-called political center from the far right. However, when science itself is involved in defining and controlling the spaces of the (un)speakable, things become complicated—and controversial.
At the beginning of the year, members of the Working Group on Peace Research Critical of Power within the German-language academic association for peace and conflict studies, which has existed since 1968, came together to draft a statement. The occasion was the two “antisemitism resolutions” passed by the German Bundestag in November 2024 and January 2025, which seek to commit eligible science and civil society organizations to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which is controversial in expert discourse.
Ironically, the very academic field that claims to study the conditions that make war and peace possible has so far remained remarkably silent when colleagues are disinvited, spaces are taken away, and research projects and publications are obstructed. In particular, when it comes to containing and silencing critical positions on the genocide in Palestine/Israel and the complicity of Western actors such as the Federal Republic of Germany, reasons of state and self-censorship sometimes become powerful tools of war itself, even among academics.
The working group’s statement aims to raise awareness of this and to mobilize opposition. At the general meeting of the Working Group for Peace and Conflict Research (AFK e.V.), this has so far only been partially successful. Despite the expected controversy, however, the text was ultimately discussed with broad approval on March 20, thus providing an important impetus for the AFK as a whole to continue its engagement with the topic.
↗ https://afk-web.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Critical-Peace-Res-WG-Statement-.pdf