Peace is a general concept of societal harmony and social friendship in the absence of violence and conflict. In a social context, peace is generally used to describe a absence of strife and war between people or groups. Peace, therefore, implies a state of mutual respect, tolerance and trust between people. A state without peace is considered to be unsafe and therefore people tend to avoid it and live in a state of paranoia.
Peace, therefore, is not an abstract ideal, but rather an actual concrete reality that people want to achieve in their societies. A variety of social science paradigms are used in order to understand peace. The most prominent paradigm in peace studies is the level of conflict as the major factor in creating peace. Another important aspect of peace studies is the role of internal institutions and policies in mediating the conflicts and misunderstanding that exist between people. The other most important feature of peace studies is the relation between security and peace, with the two aspects being interdependent and dependent upon one another.
Since there are many different types of paradigms used in peace studies, it would be impossible to explain peace completely in terms of these various paradigms. Nevertheless, certain types of paradigms remain consistently across all types of studies. Some of these common paradigms include norms of conduct, reciprocity and commitment, which are essential in promoting peace. These three aspects are also used in other fields such as business, sports, medicine and politics.