Why peace does not mean the war is over: how violence becomes a culture

“When you study war cultures, you look at what people think, say, and do during times of war,” Ismee Tames says. “But you also examine how these patterns continue long after the fighting has stopped.” She has been appointed Professor of War Cultures at Utrecht University, retroactively effective from 1 November 2025. What exactly are war cultures? And how do they shape our daily lives, even in times of peace?

What are war cultures?

“War cultures are ways of thinking, speaking, and acting that take shape during wartime,” Tames explains. “In a war, everything is under immense pressure. Everything revolves around the belief that safety is only possible once the enemy has been defeated. It becomes a matter of us versus them, friend or foe, life or death.”

“The idea of ‘all or nothing’ seeps into many areas of society.”

“The idea of ‘all or nothing’ seeps into many areas of society. It shapes how people and institutions behave. The conviction that the enemy must be eliminated – and that violence is the only way to do so – becomes part of a culture. Such shared beliefs make it easier to mobilise the military and the economy, and also to tighten, suspend, or introduce laws and regulations.”

Societal relevance

Through her chair, established by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, Tames studies war cultures in modern history. “I ask two additional questions,” she adds. “How do ideas and habits formed during wartime become permanent features of a society? And what other ways of thinking, speaking, and acting remain possible in times of crisis? As people do not inevitably have to be swept up in the spiral of violence.”

“Ismee Tames brings together historical insights with current debates on democracy, security, and social cohesion,” Dean Thomas Vaessens says. “Her work helps us better understand how violence and conflict shape societies. For the past ten years, Tames has already been an endowed professor at our faculty and we are delighted that NIOD has made it possible to reappoint her as professor.”

“War cultures, as it were, seeped into peacetime.”

How war cultures become embedded in society

“The signing of a peace agreement doesn’t automatically mean an end to war cultures,” Tames notes. “I examine how the idea that we must ‘eliminate enemies’ becomes firmly rooted in politics and everyday life. After the world wars, wartime measures were barely rolled back. War cultures, as it were, seeped into peacetime.”

She sees these patterns clearly reflected in her research on stateless refugees in that period. “After the First World War, the fear of ‘outsiders’ and ‘enemies’ didn’t simply vanish. The belief that there were ‘traitors within’ meant that wartime systems of deportation, internment, visas, identity documents, and border controls did not disappear. That same fear also formed the base for international refugee agreements.”

Alternatives to war cultures

War cultures are fuelled by fear, Tames explains. “But violence doesn’t have to be the default response. I am particularly interested in people who resisted that idea. People who found other ways to respond, who consciously rejected violence and chose protection and care instead. How did they avoid being swept up in panic and taking-up-arms? How did they manage to look more broadly? Not in terms of destroying life, but at enabling it?”

“Their actions show that care and solidarity can survive even in the harshest circumstances.”

Tames points to those who sheltered people persecuted during the Third Reich or the Cold War, and to the staff of small organisations that supported stateless refugees in the 1920s and 1930s. “Their actions show that care and solidarity can survive even in the harshest circumstances.”

Reducing the risk of war

“In wartime, certain dynamics of tracking down, excluding, confronting, and eliminating ‘the other’ come to dominate,” Tames summarises. “These dynamics create cultural patterns, such as the belief that everything will be fine once the enemy has been destroyed.”

But the enemy is never truly destroyed, she warns. “The logic of war thinking ensures a new one is always found. After the Second World War, the Netherlands quickly identified Indonesia and the communists as its new foes. In our own century, we have seen the ‘war on terror’. Time and again, the Netherlands proved susceptible to the idea that violence was the solution. And time and again, this proved not to be the case.”

Still, Tames believes there are ways to break the cycle. “It starts with recognising war cultures. Only then can we replace the patterns with different ways of thinking and acting.”

“Everyone can start doing this today. When we’re angry or afraid and catch ourselves wishing someone would simply ‘disappear’, taking a moment to pause can make all the difference. Making space for reflection helps us see that shutting others out has never brought real safety. Quite the opposite.”