Pax ex machina? An Aristotelian critique of digital peacebuilding’s theory and practice

This article critically examines the view that digital technologies offer an opportunity to greatly enhance peacebuilding efforts. With reference to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and his distinction between the intellectual virtues of knowledge (epistêmê) and craft (technê), the article aims (i) to critically engage with the almost unquestionable assumption that ‘the digital’ is teleologically inclined towards social progress; (ii) to caution the optimism with which scholars and practitioners alike invest their faith in ever more advanced digital applications for achieving peace; and, (iii) to interrogate the relationship between the very name of this recent academic sub-field (‘digital peace’) and its epistemological aim(s) and praxis (‘postdigital’). In Aristotelian logic the former indicates a desire (to use or develop digital tools to build peace) which is distinct from peace as objective goal and equitable end (telos).