The academic field of peace studies emerged during the Cold War to address the nature and sources of interstate and internal conflict, as well as the methods to prevent this conflict and deal with its consequences.

Peace studies, much like political science itself, is an interdisciplinary field, built upon contributions from psychology, sociology, history and economics among others. It differs from related fields, such as strategic studies or security studies, in its implicit normative and teleological orientation: an expectation that scholarly research can contribute to reducing the sources of conflict to produce a more just and peaceful world.