John W. Burton: From Cold War Politics to Peace Research Pioneer

Utilising a chronological approach, the aim of this introductory essay is to explain and illustrate the evolution of John Burton’s approach to politics and, especially, human conflict, culminating in the concept and practical processes of Provention. Burton never intended to be an academic. His early years were spent in the ‘practical politics’ where he encountered problems and conventional ‘solutions’ which were often failures or counterproductive. As an academic he sought an alternative, free from the ‘lessons of history’ and informed by psychological and sociological inputs, to demonstrate that conflicts were capable of resolution, and not an inescapable problem for humanity.