Violence: direct, structural and cultural

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Direct (visible physical harm), structural (harm built into unfair systems) and cultural (ideas that justify the other two) — from Johan Galtung.

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Visible physical harm — war, assault, killing, torture — with a clear attacker.

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Harm built into unfair systems — poverty, discrimination, denied healthcare — that damages and kills people without any single attacker.

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The ideas, beliefs and norms (ideology, religion, propaganda) that make direct and structural violence seem normal or acceptable.

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Cultural violence justifies structural violence, which breeds the grievance that fuels direct violence — so they reinforce each other.

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Because it has no single attacker and is built into how society is organised, so it is easy to overlook — yet it harms far more people than war.

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The injustice it represents — poverty, exclusion — breeds grievance that can erupt into direct violence, so it is often the hidden root of conflict.

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Positive peace means the absence of all three types of violence, so removing structural and cultural violence is what makes peace lasting.

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A child dying of a preventable disease because of poverty, or a group locked out of jobs, schools and political voice.

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It is a major, often underlying cause, but power, identity, greed and leadership also drive conflict, so it is not the sole root.

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Because it tackles conflict at its source — the injustice and grievance — rather than just stopping the fighting.