Five Fundamental Doctrines of Political Philosophy and Their Negative and Positive Applications to Peace

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Rohollah Eslami
Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad - Mashhad - Iran
10.22034/ipsan.2026.582647.1007
Abstract
This article examines the genealogy of peace in political philosophy from a negative and positive perspective. In this analysis, peace is not considered as a mere state of absence of war, but as an active and structural process. Political philosophy functions as an analytical and strategic tool; this article shows that philosophy itself can play the role of a “weapon” in shaping the understanding and possibility of peace, and that the institutional mechanisms and techniques of peace implementation are formed in subsequent steps. The theoretical framework of the article is designed based on the concept of apparatus and apparatus in Althusser’s political philosophy, in such a way that the relationship between theory, power, and possibility of implementation is examined in a historical and institutional context. The main question of the article is which schools of political philosophy have a relationship of peace possibility and which have a relationship of refusal with peace?
. This article concludes that political philosophy’s analysis of peace should consider both the negative (absence of war) and the positive (peacemaking activities) dimensions in order to provide a more accurate understanding of the interaction between theory, power, and practice in politics.
Keywords
Political philosophy
peace
war
apparatus
negative peace
positive peace
paradigms of political thought
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Peace Studies
Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring 2025
Pages 1-20