This editorial introduces the special issue “Paths to Peace? Infrastructures, Peace and Conflict”, which seeks to bridge transport and mobility history with historical peace and conflict studies – two fields that have largely evolved separately. Drawing on Johan Galtung’s definitions of “peace” and “violence”, the issue shifts beyond a traditional international history and diplomacy focus to explore societal dynamics more broadly, including social inequalities and racism. Building on scholarship that examines the interplay between technology and ideology or infrastructure and power, the contributions investigate themes such as state formation, nation-building and the structural violence inherent in infrastructure provision. Collectively, they emphasise the importance of incorporating the material and physical structures of the past into historical peace and conflict studies, while advocating for infrastructure history to engage with broader conceptual frameworks of peace and conflict.
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