Truth, Liberation, and the Architecture of Just Peace: Januarius Asongu’s Contribution to Contemporary Peace and Conflict Studies

Abstract

Gerald Jumbam Nyuykongmo

This article critically examines Januarius Jingwa Asongu’s contribution to peace and conflict studies through Critical Synthetic Realism, epistemic fracture, epistemic sovereignty, and liberative realism. Situating these concepts alongside Galtung’s structural peace, Burton’s human-needs approach, Lederach’s conflict transformation, and African critiques of externally imposed conflict management, the article argues that Asongu’s distinctive promise lies in connecting the epistemology of public truth to the ethics and institutional practice of just peace. The analysis considers colonial legacies, constitutional legitimacy in the former British Southern Cameroons, international intervention, nonviolence, trauma, religious peacemaking, and the protection of minorities. It also identifies conceptual and empirical limitations: the need to operationalize epistemic fracture, distinguish normative argument from historical proof, and demonstrate comparative advantages over established peacebuilding frameworks. The resulting interpretation presents Asongu’s work as a promising but unvalidated philosophical synthesis whose value depends upon its openness to critical testing and institutional application.

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