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Whether mankind is capable of creating and living in a world at peace; 5 articles. Includes the place of conflict and peace research in university studies.

Recently the concept of psychological trauma has been used for after-effects of violence not only in the individual, but also in collectives. As there is no elaborated theory of collective trauma, the article discusses a psychological approach: starting from individual traumatic processes (eg, latency, complex feelings of guilt), the interaction between trauma & society is emphasized. Some typical features of trauma can be found as "trauma-analogous processes" on a societal level. Due to the difference between individual & collective, these processes certainly function differently, eg, according to conflicting interests of victims, bystanders, & perpetrators. September 11 (2001) is taken as an example, showing the benefit of the approach in understanding some collective phenomena such as the obvious misunderstandings between Americans & Europeans in the aftermath of the catastrophe. In conclusion the author calls for cautious use of the concept & suggests further effort toward an interdisciplinary theory of collective trauma. 42 References. Adapted from the source document.