Arendtian Peace: Transforming Conflict through Wordly Politics

Carol Rifelj Lecture Series

People often say that they love peace—but what exactly do we mean by peace? Is it an aspirational ideal or an achievable reality? Is it an end in itself or a means to a greater goal? Peace is a contested concept; it is frequently criticized as utopian, ineffective, or even dangerous—sometimes generating more harm than anticipated. This lecture examines how Hannah Arendt’s thought offers distinctive insights into contemporary peace discourse and practice. Despite her status as one of the most original political thinkers of the twentieth century, Arendt’s relevance to peace studies remains underexplored. James argues that for Arendt, peace is achieved and sustained by balancing the forces of change and continuity in political life: by revealing our distinctiveness and difference through action in the public sphere, and by building and preserving enduring institutions. This vision of Arendtian peace is rooted in her idea of worldliness: an attitudinal quality that balances agonistic action with institutional stability. Arendtian peace does not seek to suppress conflict but to transform it through worldliness toward free politics beyond enforcement, domination, and violence.