Nevertheless, peacemaking implies the use of cooperative, constructive processes to resolve human conflicts, while restoring relationships. Peacemaking does not deny the essential need for adversary processes, but peacemaking places adversary processes into a larger perspective. Litigating disputes is not seen as a primary dispute resolution mechanism, but as a last-resort process. When we speak of peace, we understand it in two ways. First, there is negative peace.
Negative peace means the absence of violence, typically through coercion rather than cooperation.
When Mom tells Sally to stop beating up on Sarah, she is imposing a negative peace in the household. Sally s conflict with Sarah is not resolved, but merely suppressed. The concept of negative peace extends not only from our mundane example in the home, but also to international peace. International peace is said to exist during a cessation of violence and hostility. This form of peace is often imposed by U.N. peacekeepers.