Description
In the UN’s report Our Common Agenda, point three on ‘promotion of peace and prevention of conflicts’ is key for peace-and-conflict scholars. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, societal divisions, extremist activities, and violence have increased. The current war in Ukraine warns us against the risk of more inter- and intra-state conflicts, potentially endangering UN’s democratic and peace efforts. This, however, encourages more research on how peace can be sustained. In peace and conflict studies, social-relations dynamics, particularly, the tenets on which they are built, are still understudied. Therefore, this paper looks at the way categorisation influences social relations to understand conflict persistence, peace support, and democratisation processes. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this study specifically looks at the cases of Germany and Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic through the analytical lenses of Bridget Anderson, James Banks, and Marshall Rosenberg. In different ways, these scholars highlight the long-term implications of ordering citizens into social categories. Using discourse analysis, it examines how a language of division can fuel social tensions and, potentially, induce violence. By analysing the effects of categorisation on societal (dis)integration, this paper advances peace and conflict studies, providing insights on why long-term peace appears difficult to achieve.
