The Gothenburg Trajectory of Peace and Development Studies – from Wallerstein and Polanyi through ‘the Impasse’ to Global Studies and beyond

From the 1970s Björn Hettne and colleagues within Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, developed grand theories, influenced by Wallerstein and Polanyi, integrating peace and conflict with a political economy perspective on development studies. The environmental and feminist movements in the 1980s as well as the post-colonial critique in the 1990s were integrated into this work, leading Hette to suggest a ‘Global Social Theory’ by the time the School of Global Studies was established in 2006. The journey from Peace and Development to Global Studies involved academic soul-searching engaging large parts of the faculty, both highlighting divergencies and setting out new integrations. This paper seeks to siphon out what can be learned from this process and what can be salvaged from the ‘impasse of development studies’ gridlock. It is an insider’s account, but from the vantage point of someone who looks back from a distance.