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Introduction: This pilot case study paper demonstrates how school programming can be aligned and enhanced to better create a climate of peace on an elementary school campus by utilizing an integral peace leadership lens. Working collectively as a Peace Leadership Advisory Group, the elementary school leadership team, and the university research team helped to align existing programming and explore and implement new programming to create a comprehensive plan for bringing peace ideas together at the elementary school level. Methods: This pilot was a single case study that utilized Participatory Action Research. Data were collected through observation, survey, and interviews with school leadership and analyzed using thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, and grounded theory methods, respectively. Results: The pilot study revealed that the efforts to build peace on campus were successful overall, with students and staff having a positive experience with peace programming throughout the academic year. Discussion: The findings indicate that aligning existing programming as a way to frame a culture of peace and then supplementing that programming with additional activities serves as a way to unite a campus around the idea of peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives China's peace engagement in conflict-affected countries: does China provide peacebuilding support where its help is needed the most or to advance its own interests? Despite a growing body of literature addressing this question, the analytical scope remains limited to China's short-term peacebuilding measures and individual case studies. In this article, we build on longitudinal large-N data addressing China's long-term peacebuilding. We detect a strong association between Chinese peace engagement and the economic needs of recipients. Mixed results are obtained regarding the role of China's interests. While security and diplomatic interests appear to drive its peace engagement to some extent, there is no clear evidence of its economic interests influencing the engagement in conflict-affected countries. The article makes three contributions. First, we add to the growing literature on China's peace engagement by adopting a broad definition of peacebuilding and, by doing so, expanding the analytical scope. Second, we contribute to the literature on emerging peacebuilding actors drawing on the case of China. Last, we make a policy-relevant contribution by demonstrating the complexity of peacebuilding actors' motivation in engaging with conflict-affected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'local' as a site of peacebuilding and as a subject position has played a significant role in scholarly debates on peacebuilding and international intervention, and increasingly so in work on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Local women are called upon to represent the conflict experience, and localisation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda is becoming part of the rhetoric around implementation. This article examines the impacts of this focus with reference to peacebuilding and women's inclusion initiatives in Iraq in locations previously held by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The article analyses three programmatic case studies situated in Ninewa, a governorate in northern Iraq. The analysis offers a four-part typology of local women participants – local women as peacebuilders, a-political (and a-sectarian), non-elite and intermediary – and uses these types to explore how the participation and presence of local women is constructed within peacebuilding programming. By introducing these types, this article makes visible the practical and conceptual impact of the focus on the 'local' on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, its implementation in post-conflict contexts, and on how local women and their contributions are perceived in Women, Peace and Security-focused peacebuilding interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine three business-related initiatives designed to achieve peace positive impacts in the Cape Town township of Langa. Each was seemingly straightforward in its purpose, logic, and implementation. However, their positive intent was frustrated and their impacts ultimately harmful to their articulated goals. Understanding why this is so can be difficult in violent, turbulent, and information-poor environments such as Langa, confounding progress even by actors with ethical intentions. To aid in sense making and to provide insight for more positive future action, we develop from 125 interviews conducted for this study causal loop models for these initiatives within their conflict subsystems. These explain the perverse impacts of these initiatives by illuminating their (lack of) salience to key conflict factors, their (in)sufficiency to effect positive change in light of competing systems dynamics, and their (in)attentiveness to interdependencies with the intentions and actions of others. We thus contribute to understanding of the factors required to achieve positive social outcomes in more extreme contexts. More generally, we demonstrate the value of systems analysis both for scholarship related to business and peace and for reducing blind spots that can inhibit sound planning for ethical business action amidst complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of micro-dynamics has grown over the last two decades, emerging now as a mainstay in research on peace and conflict. The focus on micro-dynamics, and other micro-level approaches, challenges the primacy of state-centric research. Yet despite the growing literature around the micro-dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding, the term remains opaque. Its use has evolved beyond a sweeping indicator for 'subnational', yet the field of study has seen limited development of the definitional parameters of the term and why the term retains utility. In this article we explore the deployment of the concept in distinct literatures, provide a working definition, and assess its application to the study of peace and conflict. We argue that micro-dynamics are simultaneously a unit of analysis, a social phenomenon and a sense-making tool for understanding human relations in the broader societal ecosystem. We contend that a micro-dynamics approach contributes to peace and conflict studies, offering insight into how individuals get on with their lives in conflict-affected areas. By providing multilayered insights of complex scenarios based upon thick, empirically led inductive analysis, the micro-dynamics lens generates a granular understanding of (i) how individuals and groups live and perceive boundaries and (ii) the shifting and malleable nature of inter- and intragroup relations in conflict-affected societies. A micro-dynamics lens, moreover, evidences (iii) the interconnected nature of the micro- and other scalar levels of analysis, elucidating understanding of what we characterize as the peace and conflict ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on peace has been filled with notions of peacebuilding in crisis or creating more problems than it solves. However, as peacebuilding is critiqued for not fulfilling its promises, the nuances of peace and violence present in peacebuilding practices are often left ignored. Arguing that peace is a continuum of peace and violence seen by understanding peace as embodied, spatial, and political, the article analyses peacebuilding practices creating a conflictual Lebanese peace. The article looks closer at three such practices: service provision, local interactions, and Lebanese local governance. Through empirical material, the article illustrates how service provision, local interactions and local governance are performed through power relations sustaining a continuum of peace and violence. As such, the article argues that rather than a continuum between peace and violence, Lebanese peacebuilding is a simultaneous process of peace and violence. This questions the assumed opposition between violence and peace and claims that by emphasising peace as embodied, situated, and political we can discern different peace(s) more peaceful for some than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the challenges of peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through the lens of the shadow state framework. Despite earlier applications of the shadow state concept to African states, the relevance of the notion of a shadow state to post-conflict settings remains underexplored. The paper argues that the persistence of shadow state dynamics, fueled by patrimonialism and wartime alliances, significantly impedes peace efforts. Conventional top-down peacebuilding approaches, such as DDR and SSR, often fail to address the complex realities of shadow states. Overall, the study highlights the inadequacies of these methods and sheds new light on how entrenched shadow state networks undermine peacebuilding in DRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent Zimbabwe has experienced continual episodes of mostly violent intra-state conflict that have left the country polarised and divided along mostly ethnic, racial, and class lines. In the aftermath of each conflictual episode, peacemaking attempts have been implemented to secede hostilities, however, these attempts have only built peace at the superstructure while neglecting the grassroots, which has been the microcosm of conflict wherein most of the actors are, be they perpetrators, victims and survivors. State-led attempts at reconciliation have failed to address the after-effects of conflict, and it is the argument of this paper that endogenous approaches to relational peacebuilding cannot continue to be ignored as they can potentially address some of the fault lines. Respondents to the study were purposively selected from three provinces in the country. Findings indicate the relevance and efficacy of these approaches in building peace at the family and community levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into why, to date, discourses of peace in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict context failed to present a challenge to the hegemony of ethnonationalism. With the liberal world order in crisis and Armenian and Azerbaijani identities entering a period of redefinition following the latter's overwhelming military victory and exodus of the Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh, the article argues for a sustained effort towards rethinking peace and ongoing dialogue among realist, liberal, and post-liberal thinkers a road towards a multifaceted and interdisciplinary process that could move the South Caucasus away from violence and towards peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, the use of indicators to track implementation of international peacebuilding and peacekeeping programmes, policies and practices has proliferated. Indicators are criticised by many scholars for their technocratic, standardised and colonialising effects. This article follows a different line of inquiry. Can indicators be transformative? Contemporary critiques place indicators as bureaucratic artefacts in a vacuum, detached and decontextualised from the nuances of human agency developing, utilising and subverting them. I conceptualise indicators as powerful gendered technologies of knowledge creation developed, used and subverted by institutional actors. Using interviews with institutional actors and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Reports, I trace institutional stories of one indicator (out of 26) developed to capture implementation of the UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The indicator investigated tracks the number of senior gender experts employed within UN Peacekeeping and Special Political Missions. Stories of progress, skill, and location in the reporting of this indicator between 2010 and 2020 highlight strategies deployed and opportunities taken by feminist-change advocates within the UN to prompt a deeper implementation of the WPS agenda. While indicators hold the danger of reinforcing neoliberal norms, the failure to conceptualise the potential for developing, utilising and/or subverting the indicators smacks of hubris, limiting opportunities for meaningful transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue delves into the concept of peace beyond traditional definitions, engaging with decolonial and feminist perspectives to emphasize peace not merely as the absence of war or conflict but as a broader notion encompassing the absence of all forms of violence, the presence of justice, and the pursuit of liberation. Drawing from diverse geopolitical and epistemological backgrounds, this collection of articles proposes a transition towards pluriversality, plurivocality, and pluritudes in understanding peace, aiming to disrupt disciplinary boundaries and foster a more comprehensive, nuanced, just, and liberatory understanding of peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an empirical comparison of peace processes in carbon-dependent economies over time, this article investigates the impact of decarbonization and the related declining availability of political finance on peacemaking. While the period of high oil prices in the mid-2000s saw a small number of peace deals that attempted comprehensive settlements, the decline of oil prices in the years from 2014 resulted in a new era of turbulence. The turbulence is characterized by a high number of peacemaking attempts that strongly lean toward conflict management rather than resolution. The reasons for this new turbulence are twofold: the available means for substantial "buy-in," into a political marketplace by ruling elites in carbon-dependent conflictive political marketplaces have vanished while, at the same time, the strategic interest of international powers in geopolitical stability and their willingness and capability to invest in such stability has declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of International Relations as a field of study in part responded to the experience of World War One. Its consolidation and differentiation after World War Two went hand in hand with the entanglement of the incipient discipline with the Cold War. Peace research emerged as a reaction to this development. It established itself as critical research insofar as it was concerned with clarifying the connection between (if not unity of) the East-West and North-South conflicts on the one hand, the deformation of international communication under the conditions of nuclear deterrence and global ideological confrontation on the other. In this context, theory building focused on the concept of peace as a challenge to the dominant understanding of global conflict (for instance as an object of strategic studies). Towards the end of the Cold War, the focus shifted to the interaction between democracy and peace and the possibility of conceptualizing peace as a civilizational process. Debates on peace theory, for some years, were also subsumed under a rapidly blossoming interest in an 'expanded concept of security' in the social sciences. At the same time, the practical promotion of peace (peacebuilding) came to the fore, while theory building on the democratic peace was increasingly confronted with (interventionist) wars by democracies. As a result, the focus of theory building in IR shifted again, now in favor of examining the development of global orders and the significance of norms in this context. This also involved a debate on the limits of 'peace through law' (i.e. the constitutionalization of international law), the justification of force as part of normative ordering in world politics and issues of peace ethics. Can we nevertheless speak of a fading of peace-theoretical interests in IR - even in the face of the escalation of the threat of war? If so, do the ideas presented in this ZIB-Forum present some points of departure for reviving interest in peace theory as part of IR? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Peacebuilding and transitional justice are the intervention processes that are very important in war-torn societies in the post-conflict period, and their relations with each other are worthy of attention. There has always been the challenge of revenge and forgiveness, that is, criminal justice on the one hand and national reconciliation on the other. Regarding the interaction between Peacebuilding and transitional justice, distinct, conflicting, and even contradictory opinions have been raised. The following lines are intended to comment on the interaction of Peacebuilding and transitional justice in the post-conflict period. Therefore, it is shown that these two are related to each other and work parallel in conflict situations. According to the topic under discussion, the current research is descriptive-analytical and it was done through the library method. The following article has shown that the peace and justice that takes place with the intervention and entry of peacekeepers and foreign forces (so-called top-down peace and justice) is different from the local peace and justice without the entry and intervention of outsiders. (so-called peace and justice from the bottom up) and they do not always have the same results. Therefore, transitional justice and Peacebuilding are not only in conflict with each other. However, the results of the study of the relationship between transitional justice and Peacebuilding indicate that these two processes due to only dealing with past violence, have caused socio-economic justice or normal and social daily behaviors to be marginalized.

Discussions about the role of heritage sites and practices in provoking conflict – or conversely, as opportunities for building peace – have gained new impetus in recent years. In this context, we discuss a site of contested heritage in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Susya national heritage site. The article first highlights the way this contestation relates to wider conflict over territory (as well as political, economic and cultural resources). Using oral histories gathered by Palestinian youth researchers, it then considers how heritage narratives reinforce or challenge competing claims to 'belong' in Susya against a backdrop of protracted conflict. Finally, the article asks whether such contested heritage sites could play a role as resources for peace by adopting a conflict transformational paradigm, and what the barriers are to this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written about rebuilding conflict-affected societies, but its implementation in urban contexts needs further examination. In urban studies, some scholars have highlighted the relationship between urban dynamics and the conditions for peace and conflict. Meanwhile, critical peace scholars have emphasised the value of everyday practices for peacebuilding. This study situates the conventional peacebuilding components of security, reconciliation, and development within Marawi City's people, places, and practices to advance an integrated framework for analysing urban peacebuilding. The data for analysis draws on focus group discussions around the issues of security (e.g., clearance of unexploded ordnances), reconciliation (particularly the return of displaced persons), and development (i.e., the resumption of livelihoods). Results show that identity, spatiality, and relationality are entangled in post-conflict cities like Marawi, posing complex and unique challenges to peacebuilding efforts. Therefore, sustaining peace in post-conflict cities needs careful consideration of the urban characteristics of the people, places, and practices that influence peacebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, no studies have examined the nationwide support for environmental peacebuilding projects in post-conflict countries, that is, projects that seek to use the management of natural resources as a way of fostering peace and cooperation. However, public support can be crucial for the legitimacy and effectiveness of these projects. This article aims to address this gap by exploring which project characteristics influence public support for environmental peacebuilding projects. It does so through a conjoint experiment in Colombia with 1,504 survey respondents, focusing on forest conservation projects. The findings indicate that provisions related to the reintegration of ex-combatants and the dialogue between victims and ex-combatants resonate positively with respondents. Participants from the political right or those opposed to the 2016 peace agreement were somewhat less responsive to this information. The most significant impact was observed with provisions for job creation and public investments that targeted the entire population. Based on these findings, we conclude that the inclusion of environmental peacebuilding provisions in forest conservation projects can increase public support for them in post-conflict countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do peacebuilding institutions affect political behavior? This article studies the historic victory of the Colombian left in the 2022 presidential elections in light of the implementation of local peacebuilding programs through the 2016 Peace Accords. Using a quasi-experimental design, we show that the Development Plans with a Territorial Focus (PDET), a central component of the 2016 Peace Accords between the government and the FARC, increased the vote share for the leftist coalition, Pacto Histórico, in the 2022 elections by increasing voter turnout in PDET regions. In a departure from existing literature, we find that the explanatory effect of violence on vote share is significantly reduced when we include an indicator for PDET implementation and additional covariates. While there is a substantial body of work examining the effects of conflict violence and the presence of armed actors on elections, there has been relatively little focus on how the peacebuilding has affected vote choice and political behavior. We see our project as a bridge to fill this gap in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the role of anti-extractivism as environmental peacebuilding through a conflict transformation framework. Environmental peacebuilding aims to foster peace through addressing environmental issues to remedy root causes of conflict; such efforts must further account for and respond to the changing climate. To this end, we explored how community-level movements encounter structural constraints, oppressions, or opportunities. Rather than relying on existing structures as a means to resolve conflict, we suggest that environmental conflict transformation presents an opportunity to foster climate resilient peace responding to differing needs of various groups, extending beyond the absence of war, and responding to the realities of climate change. We conducted case studies with the organizations Casa Pueblo in Puerto Rico and Movimento Bem Viver in Brazil to explore how conflict transformation helps shift environmental peacebuilding toward both being able to respond to destructive patterns and to achieve a more peaceful future through a process of change. We argue that the act of negating extractivism is a positive action toward transformation for peace. We thus contribute theoretical and empirical insight to the study of environmental peacebuilding, broadening ongoing discussions on building climate resilient peace that is beneficial to both humans and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triple humanitarian, development, and peace nexus is rising in prominence to promote better coordination between actors and actions. In this article, we examine three key challenges regarding the addition of peace to the double humanitarian–development nexus: how (1) the peace component affects the humanitarian principles; (2) projects adapt to differing timescales of activities; and (3) donor financing strategies and funding modalities affect the nexus implementation. Methodologically, we analyse projects in Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Indonesia, conduct a literature review and 55 interviews. Our findings show that incorporating peace into the humanitarian–development nexus requires systemic and cultural shifts in how international aid is delivered and accounted for, including, in some cases, a move away from project-based approaches. The main implications of this research are that adding peace to the nexus approach requires increased coordination and a critical rethink of humanitarian and development systems across political and operational actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of peacebuilding evaluation has evolved over time in response to the complex nature of peace efforts. However, it still predominantly relies on evaluation models that aim to measure discrete peace outcomes adhering to rigid notions of rigour. The inclusive rigour framework presented in this article responds to this challenge, adding to complexity-aware and epistemologically plural approaches to build credible causal explanations in conditions of uncertainty. It identifies three interconnected domains of evaluation design and practice: effective methodological bricolage, meaningful participation and inclusion, utilisation and impact. Rigour here is not defined by methodological choice alone, but rather, relies on an active view of evolving methodological choices throughout an iterative process as maximum use value and meaningful participation are sought. Using three cases, we highlight the critical role of partnership arrangements and associated evaluation cultures and mindsets underpinned by power dynamics that enable or hinder the practice of inclusive rigour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To strengthen political capacities for transitions in territories, based on democratic mediations of social conflicts, oriented towards reconciliation and the construction of stable and lasting peace. Methodology: The research was framed within the framework of Research-Action-Participation (IAP), which involved the design, formulation, implementation, and evaluation of processes articulated between communities, public and private institutions, and social organizations, mainly using qualitative methods. Results: This article explores public policies as an ambiguous field of a transdisciplinary nature, and then reviews their connections with concepts such as 'participation,' 'deliberative capacity,' and 'mediation,' assumed as central axes in the formation of public policies. Likewise, it delves into different notions of peace (paces, in a broad sense), which allows us to highlight how different epistemological and methodological conceptions in pacifism determine approaches and devices in social construction. Finally, it examines the links between public policies as devices (strategies) for social mediation, and peacebuilding as a route for the agency of multiple social processes. Conclusions: The central conclusion revolves around the assertion that public policies acquire a peaceful nature insofar as they involve non-violent forms of social interaction. With them, those involved seek to achieve the highest possible level of well-being based on the resources and contexts in which they find themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Forum Pedagogiczne / Pedagogical Forum is the property of Uniwersytet Kardynala Stefana Wyszynskiego w Warszawie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the most consistent findings on UN peace operations (UNPOs) is that they contribute to peace. Existing scholarship argues this is because UNPOs' peacekeeping troops solve the security dilemma that inhibits combatant disarmament and prevents their political leaders from sharing power. We argue that existing scholarship's focus on peacekeeping troops overlooks UNPOs' role in enabling governments to implement redistributive power‐sharing reforms contained in peace agreements, along with their broader peace processes. While peacekeeping troops can help belligerents refrain from violence, military force alone cannot explain how political elites implement redistributive reforms that threaten their status. We argue that UNPOs that have predominant peacebuilding (as opposed to peacekeeping) mandates help sustain political elites' commitment to implementing peace agreement reforms and, thus, contribute to inclusive peace (increased political inclusion and reduced violence). We test our argument using a data set on UNPO mandates and original fieldwork on three sequential UNPOs in Burundi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Entramado is the property of Universidad Libre Seccional Cali and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article focuses on civic education and the constitution of subjects within a complex landscape of peace and war making in Colombia. Using a genealogical approach to study the manufacturing of citizens, and drawing on a document analysis of policies, curricular guidelines, and teaching resources, this paper evidences an increasing attention to students' skills, conducts, and interpersonal relations, rather than structural inequality and injustice. Through the examination of the "integral citizen," I argue that the development of students as skillful civic subjects has become central to the aspiration of building and sustaining peace and democracy. Such citizens are described as individually embodying the virtues and skills of problem-solving, conflict-management, autonomy, and self-regulation of emotions. This research adds to our understanding of the construction of the ideal citizen in conflict-affected settings, and how education policy intersects with larger efforts for meaningful and sustained change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the 'emotion turn' has emerged as an influential analytical lens in International Relations (IR), there is not yet a well-developed understanding of the role that emotions play in facilitating or inhibiting peace. This special issue of Cooperation and Conflict engages with the analytical potential of emotions and the promise this perspective holds for innovative analyses of peace processes and peacebuilding. To demonstrate the political significance of emotions to peace, the contributors explore how emotions shape the bounds and boundaries of actors and alliances committed to fostering peaceful societies. This introductory article offers possible avenues to leverage the analytical potential of IR's emotions agenda to engage with peace and peacebuilding. First, we discuss how the emotions agenda contributes to the conversation about what peace is and should look like. Second, we argue that emotions can help us to articulate peace as an embodied knowledge of complex socio-political relations and power dynamics. To visualize 'peace' without the permanent contrast of violence, we mobilize this perspective to illuminate actors' practices and the constraints they face in the pursuit of a peaceful political order. Third, we discuss what an emotions agenda for peace might entail for critical and constructive peacebuilding studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This white paper takes the unknown and the vague and movement towards/in those realms – as frames for a discussion of present practice and emergent potentiality of anthropological engagement with peace (building) studies. Arguably, embracing the unknown or vague as generative constants as well as fundamental elements of non-linear peacebuilding further open collaborative, communicative spaces of possibility. Aspects of this discussion are drawn from broader conceptual/methodological considerations in both peacebuilding and social anthropology so as to contribute to an interdisciplinary alignment. Furthermore, the positions and persuasions in this work are (in)formed by extensive, on-going examinations of research and narratives active in Southeast Europe today. By looking to emergent concepts in peace studies via anthropology while moving with regional-specific ethnographies that speak back against North Atlantic hegemonies, there is offered a discussion that brings local realities into transnational (socio-academic) deliberations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace through Health (PtH), developed in practice in the 1980s and conceptualized soon after by international institutions and scholars, has become a field focusing on the unique role of health in making, building and promoting peace. PtH advocates that health professionals, the actors of PtH, should play an active role in any peace process and should, therefore, be trained accordingly. There is, however, no agreed and established training which addresses PtH for health professionals. It is because each particular type of violence, which is the opposite of peace in the Galtungian sense, and the conditions and the geography in which it takes place have different characteristics. This paper attempts to examine the theoretical and practical aspects of PtH in Turkey and to lead the development of systematic training for PtH in the country. Considering that an advanced health system in the country stands out in the international arena, it is necessary to develop interdisciplinary modules as a part of this for the Turkish tertiary curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-group relations are a popular form of relations between traditional African people and their neighbours. In Nigeria, the Achara Unuhu and Nwogharu Ezza people shared the same ancestral origin. This study used oral history and other qualitative methods to trace the nature of the conflict that manifested between the Achara Unuhu and Nwogharu Ezza people of Ebonyi State Nigeria. Data was collected through focus group discussions and interviews of randomly selected respondents. It found that the conflict led to the loss of lives and properties. This loss of lives and properties in turn led to the reactive peacebuilding action of the people using multi-track strategies to bring back peace. The study maintains that there is therefore need to sustain the peacebuilding and inter-group relation efforts of the Achara Unuhu Izzih community and Nwogharu-Ezza forefathers thereby terminating the factors that drive conflict in the two communities. This study will advance the body of knowledge in traditional peacebuilding processes in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigate (partly guided) conceptualisations of “peace” (and “war”) in children’s school drawings and their accompanying textual framings. We draw on a transdisciplinary framework grounded in ethnography and metapragmatics, combining tools from socio‐pragmatic (critical) approaches to multimodal discourse. Our data consists of authentically generated, photographed image‐text worksheets that were publicly displayed on the fence of a primary school in a small town in Northern Italy in April 2022. Combining qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures, the (textual and multimodal) conceptualisations range from peace as a very concrete mode of secure‐relaxed experience of basic relationships, of home and togetherness, and of self, to peace as care and unity on a more (global‐)political scale. Contrary to ideologies on children’s drawings as naïve‐unmediated “windows” to inner states, our analysis shows how the trans‐/locally re‐/produced repertoire(s) of multimodal frozen mediated actions (including emblematic patterns such as emojis, peace‐flags, comics‐speech bubbles, etc.) are deployed ranging from realistic scenes to abstract and complex visual designs. Thereby, children show themselves as literate and often humorous‐creative practitioners of visual communication.

Truth telling processes, initiatives to prosecute war-time perpetrators, and ex-combatant reintegration are examples of common peacebuilding practices after war. Yet, little is known of how women are affected by peacebuilding initiatives such as these, or how they perceive these initiatives for peace. For many women, peace after war does not bring peace to everyday life; research shows that domestic violence increases during and after war. In addition, some peacebuilding measures have been found to increase risk and insecurity, not least for women. To better understand the interconnections between gender and post-conflict attitudes to peacebuilding, we asked 2,041 women and men in Sri Lanka and Nepal of their views on post-war peace initiatives. In line with our expectations, we find that women are more skeptical than men towards peacebuilding measures that involve increased risk in everyday life, such as truth-telling and coexisting with former adversaries and warring groups reintegrating in local communities. There are no gender differences pertaining to peacebuilding initiatives that take place far away at the national level, for example, concerning accountability or, in the case of Nepal, the peace agreement. Our findings suggest that international peacebuilding practice is blind to the everyday insecurities of women after war. That a basic gendered lens is missing from most peacebuilding designs is both alarming and deeply troubling, but identifying this critical aspect provides the opportunity for imperative change. By shedding light on the challenges women face after war, we hope this article contributes to finding ways to mitigate unknown and unintended side-effects of peacebuilding efforts, and thereby to the development of better, evidence-based peacebuilding practice–of benefit to both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international community's sobering track record of sustainably reducing the number of armed conflicts worldwide, as well as the increasing involvement of non-human complexities in times of climate crisis suggest that current approaches to foster peace are too narrow and inflexible. So far, demands and calls for more flexible and adaptive peace practice made by policy-makers and researchers have not led to a related paradigm shift. In order to contribute to such a change of practice, this article advances a speculative analytical attempt that seeks to conceptually uncover new modes of engaging with the world for the purpose of peace. It builds on Baruch Spinoza's materialism and describes peace as intimately interrelated with the issue of political community. Following Spinoza, the article reconsiders the imaginary of political community as something that is constantly being rearticulated by a contingent complexity of human and non-human actors, and thus transcends the geographic scope of its formal borders as well as its epistemic scope across power hierarchies. Finally, the article introduces the human–non-human multitude as political subject that is able to detect and interpret the constituents of a political community, and therefore to maintain and sustain peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can thus create both more certainty and uncertainty in (and about) peace processes. This forum article presents a first collaborative attempt to explore how the use of technology by conflict parties and peacebuilding actors influences these dynamics. We examine various fields of engagement, ranging from conflict prevention to peace mediation, peacekeeping, and longer-term peacebuilding. Our discussion engages with a variety of related activities, including predictive analysis and foresight, conflict analysis, cease-fire monitoring, early warning and early action, and problem-solving and trust-building dialogues. We suggest approaching un-certainty as a spectrum between uncertainty and certainty that can be studied across epistemic, ontological, and normative dimensions, thus inviting further academic research and policy reflection. The article is coauthored by scholars and current or former practitioners and underlines the necessity, benefits, and feasibility of research–practice exchanges on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates United Nations (UN) calls that 'making peace with nature' should become the crucial mission of the 21st century. It ponders the kind of diplomacy envisioned for such a reconciliation ecology to be credible. Drawing on one of the most promising and less known programmes of the UN system – namely, Harmony with Nature (HwN), which pioneers Earth-based jurisprudence and rights of nature – it conceptualises this diplomatic shift and assesses the conditions under which ecological diplomacy can be productively operationalised in the 21st century vis-à-vis a mere rhetorical appropriation and co-optation by intergovernmental agendas. Building on Indigenous thought and animist epistemologies, programmes such as HwN espouse a new relationship with Planet Earth and make it possible to explore 'nature' as diplomatic interlocutor. We argue that existing paradigms of peacebuilding fail to sufficiently capture the diplomatic aspects and complex local dynamics of the human–nature relationship and suggest a reconceptualisation based on an ecological diplomacy that is both expansive and transformative and views this relationship as one of troubled coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have shown how UN stabilization peace operations mix liberal and illiberal goals and strategies. Yet, further research is needed to theorize and comprehend illiberal peacebuilding features of stabilization operations. This article fills this gap by demonstrating how UN stabilization operations wield illiberal peacebuilding practices. Building upon previous scholarship, we understand illiberal peacebuilding both as an approach and outcome which is oriented by and helps diffuse illiberal norms in the societies where illiberal peacebuilding is instrumentalized by local, regional and international actors. We frame UN stabilization operations in the CAR, the DRC, and Mali as illiberal peacebuilding processes infused with illiberal strategies and show that liberal actors can engage with illiberal strategies for peace promotion. We also analyse peace agreements that accompany these missions as illiberal peacebuilding outcomes and show how these are shaped by illiberal norms. Our key finding is that a set of illiberal norms – exclusion, violence, power inequality and authoritarianism – are central for both UN stabilization operations and peace agreements signed in CAR, DRC and Mali. Therefore, we challenge the UN discourse that stabilization is a needed first step towards liberal and inclusive peace agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of diverse moral and value-based frameworks within the context of peace education. The selected schools represent three distinct ideological orientations: secular and faith-neutral (Roots Millennium School System/RMS), faith-inspired (International Islamic University School-IIUI School System), and faith-based Deobandi Madrassa (Jamia' Faridiyya Islamabad). Employing a comparative case study approach, the research endeavors to address several key research questions: What religious or moral-ethical philosophies underlie the distinct moral frameworks of each school system? How have these schools developed formal and informal strategies to translate these philosophies into practical implementation? To what extent are these frameworks influenced by specific religious worldviews and responsive to challenges in political, economic, or cultural spheres? What dimensions of peace education are encompassed within these values-based frameworks? The findings of the study reveal that all three types of schools possess the potential to foster peace education. However, each school employs a unique approach based on its underlying ethical framework. This study underscores the importance of considering the ethical frameworks of educational institutions when devising peace education programs and policies. Furthermore, it emphasizes the significance of cultivating an inclusive and diverse learning environment that nurtures respect for varying moral frameworks and cultivates critical thinking concerning ethical dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African countries experience a lot of recurring conflicts because the underlying causes of most conflicts on the continent have either been unresolved or tackled at the surface level. This situation leads to the loss of lives and property. Ghana's National Peace Council (NPC) is one of the existing peace infrastructures whose mandate is to educate the public on peace and conflict management. However, there is a paucity of literature on how this peace council educates the Ghanaian population on peacebuilding. The study, therefore, sought to uncover strategies employed by Ghana's NPC in educating the public on peacebuilding. Data was gathered through interviews and focused group discussions with participants who work with the NPC. The study also relied on secondary data, which consisted of recordings of peace education programmes through mass media such as TV and radio. The findings revealed that two main strategies are employed by the NPC of Ghana, namely, the use of media platforms (TV and radio) and socio-entertaining strategies. In addition to traditional media, this study argues that the NPC should utilise modern media, such as social media and the Internet, for peace education. If utilised, these two media forms would reach a much larger audience and could be used to prevent conflict in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the factors that influence the South Sudanese diaspora's perceptions of its role in peace, its disagreement with the creation of new states in South Sudan, and its opinion of the 2018 peace agreement. Through a survey conducted among diaspora members in Nebraska, United States, in September 2018 and May 2019, this study finds that participants with a high level of engagement in their diaspora community are significantly more likely to disagree that the diaspora's contribution towards peace in South Sudan is negative, thus viewing their role favorably. Furthermore, participants from the Equatoria region are significantly more likely to disagree with increasing the number of states and to hold a negative view of the 2018 peace agreement. Other demographic variables, such as age, number of years spent in the diaspora, level of education, and level of interest are also statistically significant in various models. This article argues for the relevance of diasporas in politically contentious and volatile contexts such as South Sudan. It contributes to the literature on peacemaking and peacebuilding by using new data to study a relatively under-explored diaspora community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana's democratic progress in the Fourth Republic is often linked to the management of peaceful elections, successful political alternations, and some public trust in democratic institutions. However, pockets of violence have also marred and derailed some progress. While the capacity to reduce political tensions and resolve electoral disputes has gained significant scholarly attention, scholars still overlook the role of infrastructure for peace (I4P) in the analysis. Focusing on the Ghanaian National Peace Council, this qualitative study examines the extent to which I4P prevents electoral disputes, what its strengths and challenges are, and how the ongoing challenges might be remedied. Findings on peace accords, election observation, and policy dialogue processes were significant before, during, and after electoral manifestations. A formalized I4P was also productive through institutional partnerships. However, institutionalization within governmental structures and its consequential budgetary limitations necessitate prudent management of its peace fund to facilitate emergent conflict situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) programs are critical components of postwar transitional processes. The interlinkages between the two programs have been essential, especially in determining how combatants in armed groups and armed forces could become part of reconstituted security sector institutions, including the military and the police. Additionally, these links help determine who may be eligible as participants in these processes, and why some actors should be excluded. Over the past four or so decades, academic and policy understanding of postconflict settings has led to the acknowledgment that the two programs reinforce each other and should be designed to ensure fluidity and complementarity. However, there are usually gaps in linking the two, which have negative implications for peace, security, and stability in countries in transition from violence to peace. While there are several studies on the links between DDR and SSR, this paper seeks to examine both previous and current practices in both conflict and postconflict settings, with the aim of interrogating the changes that have been introduced over time to strengthen the links, and some of the gaps that are still existing, or emerging, especially as the nature of armed conflicts continue to change in Africa. Methodologically, the paper adopts a qualitative approach, through which interviews were conducted with practitioners, policy makers, and academics in the fields of DDR and SSR, across countries that previously implemented and those that are currently implementing DDR and SSR programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research asks why peace has not come to Colombia despite the end of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Total Peace is an ambitious project of Gustavo Petro’s government to build the elusive peace in Colombia. However, the country's current security and violence situation shows a crisis in realizing the peace project. New criminal actors are proliferating, massacres are increasing, the confinement of marginal populations is on the rise, and ambushes against members of the security forces continue. The disconnection of the Total Peace policy with the security and defense policy has led to the strengthening of armed structures and the non-compliance of some agreements by criminals with the negotiation processes. The article finds that violence against the state has decreased, but criminal violence against the civilian population has increased. The research concludes by identifying why more armed peace exists than Total Peace. Therefore, the Petro government must implement actions to reorient its peace strategy in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the Global Peace Index (GPI), a comprehensive metric evaluating global peace through factors like safety, security, ongoing conflict, and militarization. The objective is to dissect the GPI's assessment of global peace, identifying key factors that influence a nation's peace status. Employing statistical analysis alongside data visualization techniques, the study methodically examines the GPI's multifaceted criteria. The findings underscore the critical role of safety and security, alongside the impact of ongoing conflicts, in determining a nation's peace status. Notably, the analysis reveals pronounced regional disparities in peace, illustrating the intricate challenges of bolstering global peace. The paper concludes by proposing targeted peace-building initiatives, advocating for a holistic strategy to foster safer, more secure societies globally. It is recommended to address the underlying issues identified, marking a significant step towards realizing the aspirations of the GPI for enhanced global peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article systematically reviews the quantity and quality of Rebecca L. Oxford’s publications over five decades of research and publication in language education and related fields. The first section portrays Oxford’s contributions in four thematic areas: language learning strategies, language teaching, psychology, and peace. For each theme, many of Oxford’s publications and ideas are presented. The second section is an overview of her career achievements, such as books published, courses taught, and academic honors. The third and the fourth sections present the systematic review. Specifically, the third section explains in detail the methodology used by Panahi and Mohebbi for their systematic review of Oxford’s work, while the fourth section presents results of the systematic review across 338 of her works (journal articles, book chapters, and books). Oxford’s personal response is the last section [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]