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In the era of globalization, no country is monocultural today. All countries are cultural mosaics since different ethnic groups have their own unique set of traditions. It is particularly important to appreciate and respect these traditions since they represent an integral part of our cultural heritage. Likewise, in many countries, the majority population is far greater than all the minorities combined, whereas, in others, the minority groups all together comprise a significantly large number. In this increasingly integrated yet fragmented world, many multi-ethnic countries face the challenges of preventing cultural conflicts between diverse groups and finding solutions. A fresh wave of persecution and violence against minority groups for their membership in a pluralistic society has escalated in many parts of the world, altering the climate of peaceful coexistence and democratic oversight. Such challenges are particularly pressing for marginalized, vulnerable groups. The article endeavors to foster a more holistic interpretation of the questions: why do some regions of the world experience major incidents of 'crimes against humanity' and gross human rights violations while others do not, and how do the 'us vs. them' politics, politicians, and other leaders subtly transform civilians into killers? The article also examines the triggering factors of major tragedies, particularly what sets off acts of ethnic cleansing or genocide. As such, exploring the demagogues' malicious mission to subvert justice, democratic success, and the rule of law, creating destructive cultures on the path to mass atrocities, is the additional emphasis of this piece. This entry's relevance depends on the quest for the conditions and prospects for conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and peaceful cohabitation across different cultural traditions in the changing socio-political and cultural milieu owing to contemporary global shifts to authoritarianism and illiberal populism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses the author's reflections on a recent convening at the Fetzer Institute on cross-cultural religious literacy (CCRL), and suggests that CCRL education in Vietnam should be pursued via a two-tiered model. Tier one is short-term training on CCRL capacity building for all parties involved in policy-making and implementation to address immediate needs. Tier two is long-term education on CCRL for the whole society through elementary schools and through an ongoing dialogue and process of reviewing and improving all religious policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with Christine Ahn, Founder of Women Cross DMZ and co-founder of the Feminist Peace Initiative, and Dr. Marie Berry, Director of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy. Topics include their grassroots activism in feminist anti-war movements, challenges to U.S. foreign policy, and the impact of war on diasporic communities, highlighting their efforts to amplify marginalized voices in peacebuilding and policy-making.

Motivation: The European Union (EU) Trust Fund has supported the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia. It represents innovative funding that goes beyond the classic parameters of the so‐called "liberal peace"—that is, imposing a standard formula of guaranteeing security and public order, promoting electoral processes through a party system, and fostering economic openness and free markets. Purpose: We analyse the planning, financing, and operational mechanisms of the Trust Fund to identify those elements that encourage or constrain co‐operation for peacebuilding; elements able to integrate and complement the agendas, actors, and dynamics at international, national, and local levels. Methods and approach: The article is based on the ongoing support of the Trust Fund for over four years, including an extensive documentary review, participation in numerous events and meetings, and making more than ten field visits to the Fund's intervention areas. More than 50 interviews were conducted with ex‐combatants, local leaders, and representatives of the EU, public institutions, and civil society organizations (CSOs). Findings: The Trust Fund has tried to build peace at local and territorial levels. It has proved an assertive and pluralistic instrument, innovating in inter‐institutional co‐ordination, political dialogue, and articulation at the local level. This has not only been visible strategically, but also technically by developing innovations with a high potential for adaptation or scaling up; for example, public access to project progress indicators, the widespread use of third‐party funding to distribute resources to the weakest or most isolated CSOs, and inclusion of the territorial approach in project design and intervention logic. The Fund has been limited, however, by a context in which peacebuilding initiatives have tended to come from central government and donors, rather than from local actors. The government (of President Duque) was reluctant to implement the entirety of its commitments to peace: the EU Delegation was equally reluctant to challenge the government over this. Policy implications: The experience of the EU Trust Fund in Colombia can provide valuable ideas to support peace processes elsewhere, to enrich the EU's position and approach to managing and resolving armed conflicts. New instruments, such as the "Team Europe Initiatives" or the "Neighbourhood, Development and International Co‐operation instrument – Global Europe," focused on multi‐stakeholder co‐ordination and international partnerships, can benefit significantly from lessons learned in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of contemporary peace-building paradigms argue that the formal end of an intractable conflict does not automatically provide a meaningful change in either side's social beliefs. Through an analysis of Turkey's Kurdish conflict (viewed in the light of the ethos of conflict theory) I intended to examine the nature of the Turkish ethos that contributed to the peace process's failure in 2015. To gain a greater understanding of the set of social beliefs, in 2015 I conducted 20 in-depth interviews with non-Kurdish local opinion leaders. My findings indicate that Turkey's inattention to the Turkish ethos of the conflict constituted one of the prominent shortcomings of its peace process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-conflict societies, traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on electoral behaviour. In Northern Ireland, Westminster elections between 2001 and 2017 were marked by the rise of hardline parties, but the 2019 election saw a significant shift towards the centre. The centre ground vote soared, resulting in the lowest level of political polarisation since the early 2000s. What are the factors underlying this transition to a moderate vote? Drawing on public opinion surveys and electoral data, we find that Brexit played a crucial role in incentivising voters to support parties prioritising non-sectarian constitutional interests. The findings suggest that voters employ party competition as a balancing mechanism. Our article contributes to the understanding of how individuals in post-conflict societies navigate the complex relationship between violence, politics, and peacebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Post-Rebel Electoral Parties (PREP) dataset offers an important new tool to study the transformation of rebel groups into political parties. It provides longitudinal data on the electoral participation and performance in national elections of political parties formed by armed opposition groups after civil war. Post-rebel electoral parties sit at the center of overlapping research agendas that address how best to build durable peace, and how to build resilient political systems and capable states after devastating conflict. A better understanding of how and why these parties participate and perform in elections over time is critical to any assessment of liberal peacebuilding. These parties – their strategic choices, organizational development, and impact on the political systems in which they participate – are also relevant to the broader study of comparative democratization, political parties, and party systems. Our dataset follows these parties forward through up to three decades of participation in postwar electoral politics. The current version of the data consists of 78 distinct parties derived from 56 conflict actors. The data cover 322 legislative election years and 216 executive elections in 39 countries over 30 years (1990–2021). This article describes the data and articulates the need for and motivation behind the dataset. We then illustrate the relevance of the data by testing the impact of rebel participation on the long-term peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peacekeepers play a vital role in enforcing agreements and promoting stability after a civil war, but participation is costly. While troop-contributing countries may appreciate the material and diplomatic benefits that come with performing this task, they also want to minimize the associated costs and potential downsides of the mission. We examine troop contributions in post-civil war peacekeeping missions, determining which countries are most prone to withdrawal and when. Drawing from a domestic audience cost perspective, we argue that those countries that are most exposed to political risk from scandals or fiascoes are most apt to flee, viewing post-war elections as identifiable exit points. Using data on more than 50 peacekeeping operations between 1996 and 2017, we analyze troop contribution dynamics for over 155 different countries to determine whether and when post-war elections prompt peacekeepers to exit. We find evidence that democratic states are more likely either to withdraw completely from UN missions or to reduce their contributions by removing peacekeepers from the front lines in the wake of host country elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of scholarship on the internal causes of conflicts, this study examined how government institutions externally fuel persistent communal conflicts (PCC) in Nigeria. With multiple methods and triangulation of sampling techniques, we examined 12 pairs of warring communities, 4464 respondents, and 18 key interviewees. The causes of PCC were misapplication of constitutional/legal instruments and biased enforcement administration that favored one community over the other. Through matrix correlation, institutions like constitution and legal mechanisms, peace‐building mechanisms, and the enforcement agents' roles fuelled PCC among the warring communities. This correlation has a negative relationship that led to the people's loss of confidence in the umpires, vengeance, jungle justice and intolerance among the warring communities. We concluded that these institutional lapses created a class of disadvantaged and aggressive victims who have become intolerant of other communities. There is a need to sanitize governmental institutions to treat communal disputes with justice and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that war affects various groups of survivors differently, yet the severe consequences faced by war widows are often overlooked. Combining insights from fieldwork in Sri Lanka with secondary sources, we conclude that the time is ripe for the daunting challenges of war widows to be brought into the limelight. We argue that widowhood after war is conditioned both by the post-war context and society’s gendered constructions. The social expectations that follow pose exceptional trials in everyday life for war widows globally. As an important case and illustrative example, we analyse Sri Lanka: a decade ago emerging from civil war; today, in dire need of economic and political transformation. We demonstrate how war widows are caught in the crossfire of demographic change, post-war insecurities, economic hardship, and gender discriminating norms and traditions. This unseen group of survivors play a critical role for the prospects for economic, social and political development in the transition from war to peace, in Sri Lanka and beyond. We conclude by calling for a concerted effort wherein research and policy come together to outline a new research and policy agenda with the aim of lessening the burden of war widows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the analysis of the Colombian case (2012-2021), which includes mapping 211 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working for peace, we propose a mixed conceptual framework that allows for the conceptualization of CSOs based on fundamental and complementary attributes. As a result of the intersection of these attributes, we propose four ideal-typical forms: (1) CSOs for the culture of peace and democratic strengthening, (2) CSOs for democratic strengthening based on membership in a vulnerable group within the conflict context, (3) CSOs for comprehensive development as a means to pacify society, (4) CSOs for the development of a group and/or territory affected by the conflict, based on belonging to that group or area. Although as ideal abstractions overlapping is possible, the results show that 166 of the studied CSOs work around the democratic cause. Specifically, 97 of them related to culture of peace, and 69 based on belonging to vulnerable groups. On the other hand, 64 of the observed CSOs work for development. Here it is possible to distinguish between CSOs that emerge around the agenda (39 out of 64) and those that organize themselves around a sense of belonging or identity (25 out of 64). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the crucial role of teachers as catalysts for societal change, the study aimed to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of teachers engaged in peace-building initiatives within their educational contexts. Through a phenomenological lens, this research sought to uncover essence and meaning of these experiences to shed light on transformative power of teacher education in fostering peace with specific aims, to understand the essence and meaning of teacher educators' experiences in peace-building, focusing on their perceptions, beliefs, & values related to peace education. Using qualitative method, include in-depth interviews data, was collected through a purposive sample from five senior teacher educators who were actively involved in peace-building efforts. The findings of this research demonstrated the positive impact of teacher education in peacebuilding and preventing youth from extremist conduct and conflicts in educational institutions. By unveiling transformative potential of teacher education in promoting peacebuilding, this study inspires educational stakeholders to recognize and harness power of teachers in building peaceful and inclusive societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Ciencias Sociales Interdisciplinares is the property of Common Ground Research Networks 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 paper examines public leadership for peacebuilding in divided societies emerging from severe violence. It deploys two theories of leadership: social identity and political astuteness, to investigate peacebuilding leadership processes. The paper investigates contradictions in social identity leadership, since peacebuilding leaders reach out beyond their own group to outgroups in hostile contexts. Semi-structured interviews with 32 leaders in Northern Ireland and in Bosnia Herzegovina, reveal that leading for peacebuilding exhibits inverse processes of social identity leadership and that political astuteness is also critical to navigate integration and differentiation within/across groups. Wider implications for public leadership in societies containing division are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the divergent strategies of middle commanders after negotiated peace? After Colombia's peace process with the insurgent group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, former FARC midlevel commanders deployed a variety of strategies, from leading reintegration projects to build peace, to rearming splinter groups to spoil peace. Most other studies approach leading and spoiling separately, thus failing to account for both outcomes. Responding to this limitation, this article proposes an integrated theory explaining middle commander strategies after armed conflict. It argues that former commanders seek to maximise personal security and influence, and they choose strategies that respond to variations in local security and community embeddedness. Former commanders in secure areas with community embeddedness will build peace, while former commanders in dangerous areas with community embeddedness will spoil peace. This argument is evaluated with a qualitative analysis using primary data collected during field work in Colombia, including 59 interviews with former FARC members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used systems theory with the structural, attitudinal, and transactional (SAT) model of peace building to explore coaches' process and content of change after receiving sport for development and peace (SDP) training in Tajikistan. Six Tajik grassroots youth coaches from the Sport for Social Change Tajikistan (SSC-T) program participated in data collection over a four-year span. A longitudinal participatory approach utilizing interviews, journals, and guided discussion was analyzed using content analysis. Data indicated that in early stages of the program, micro-attitudinal changes were being made by the participants, with more transactional changes over time with a hint of structural, macro-level changes in the schools and community at the four-year mark. More specifically, we identified five themes across time: (1) girls' involvement, (2) positive coaching approaches, (3) incorporation of peaceful living skills, (4) cultural awareness, and (5) collaboration and community impact. Results revealed that over time participants moved from micro-level individual change to more structural level change in local Tajik communities; thus, providing evidence for the SAT model of peace building as a framework (Ricigliano, 2012. Making peace last: A toolbox for sustainable peacebuilding. Routledge). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to calls for greater alignment between the peacebuilding and human rights pillars of the United Nations, this article considers what role the Universal Periodic Review might play in supporting the implementation of peace agreements, particularly the human rights components contained within them. In identifying possible contributions alongside existing challenges, this paper calls into question the benefits associated with engaging human rights mechanisms in the complex business of peacebuilding and suggests some moderate adjustments that could support the UPR's role in contributing to peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), scholars and practitioners often cite the lack of shared narrative as a primary challenge to long-term peace. A study of the multi-ethnic, collaborative story-telling work of the Post Conflict Research Centre (PCRC), a Bosnian peacebuilding organization, however, tells a different story. Instead of aiming to forge a singular narrative, PCRC weaves together multiple stories that express complex positions while driving narrative frames that show peace is possible. In a context where actors might not be ready for a joint narrative, the organization demonstrates how plural stories can co-exist, and be strategically mobilized and disseminated through diverse formats to actively engage others in peace-building processes. Identifying key narrative principles, tactics and frames employed by PCRC, this article proposes more attention is paid to how narrative can be strategically harnessed to de-stabilize the stories that drive entrenched division and to foster and cultivate a culture of peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Kenya there are an increasing number of applied theatre and peacebuilding projects taking place. Currently, the perspectives and experiences of those undertaking this work, on the ground, are not adequately reflected in academic discourse or in the processes of setting up projects or establishing modes of support and collaboration. In this article we address this by outlining findings from a series of two-day workshops with theatre practitioners. In doing so, we map the challenges practitioners face, the skills and knowledges they feel they already have, those they lack, and the future support and opportunities they would value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education has become an important agenda in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. A major aspect of this agenda is the conceptualization of education as a tool not just for development but for peacebuilding. Yet there are few studies examining how university educators might be equipped as frontline peace workers. This study explores: How might conflict affect teaching in higher education, especially in and with students from conflict-affected contexts? In what ways does higher education pedagogy serve to ameliorate or exacerbate conflict? How could the practices of academics working with students in conflict-affected contexts inform approaches to higher education pedagogy? Data for the study was collected through interviews with university educators working in Afghanistan and Somaliland, and analyzed through the lens of Santos's 'post-abyssal thinking'. Findings indicate that educators who work in conflict-affected contexts have numerous practical strategies that inform their thinking, curricular decisions, teaching, and policymaking. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How has the local turn approach been translated within peacebuilding mission mandates? Novelties introduced by International and Regional Organizations' strategic documents shape a new approach termed 'local turn' (LT) in the literature, which envisages a more context-sensitive peacebuilding focused on resilience and local ownership. While finding significant potential, academic debate describes LT as a strategic adaptation of the liberal peace paradigm, functional to the provision of means for a pragmatic retreat from (over)ambitious goals. The study builds on this by focusing on a rather unexplored type of primary source: mission mandates. Through automated text analysis, we trace the consistency of liberal peace and local turn features in the United Nations and European Union peacebuilding mandates over the past two decades. The results confirm a detachment between policy orientations versus goals and instruments already at the level of mandates and highlight traits of systematicity in the utilitarian use of LT as an exit strategy. This study enriches the literature on UN and EU peacebuilding and paves the way for further research on policy change in post-conflict reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the creative ways in which the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, used the UN Secretariat to achieve his goals, as well as the obstacles he faced in doing so. Using new sources – including confidential UN memos, elite interviews, and private archives – the paper suggests that, in the context of peacekeeping, the former Secretary-General engaged in parallel processes of 'politicization' and 'depoliticization': on the one hand he minimised, avoided and concealed the substantive dimensions of certain decisions, units and issues with the aim of marginalising those departments and officials that he saw as too close to the United States, while on the other he empowered those bureaucratic units which he felt he could more easily control. Specifically, by bestowing upon the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) a sweeping mandate while painting the role of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as merely 'operational', Boutros-Ghali used 'technicization' as a means to strengthen the Secretary-General's office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been extensively studied in war and peace literature. Research abounds on the ethical debates surrounding the bombing, the legal and political ramifications of the use of nuclear weapons, the socio-cultural underpinnings of the peace movements, and the somatic and psychological consequences of the bombing. However, Hiroshima's reconstruction has rarely been studied from the scholarly lens of peacebuilding approaches that cover various aspects of post-war reconstruction. The city and prefectural governments of Hiroshima published several reports on Hiroshima's history of reconstruction over the years, and as of 2014, with an aim to support peacebuilding efforts elsewhere and contribute to achieving a peaceful world. Using policy analysis, new empirical data, updated historical accounts, and interdisciplinary lenses, the contributions in this Special Issue respond to this objective by bridging the past war experience and the present peace aspirations from Hiroshima to bring new insights into post-war reconstruction and peacebuilding research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ongoing debate about the role of religion in peacebuilding, particular attention has been paid to religious attitudes toward violence as a locus of the peacebuilding potential of religions. In this article, I turn to the case of the Catholic Church's ambiguous and ambivalent relationship to Japan's war in the Asia-Pacific region. The focus of my analysis is an exceptionally well-documented case of four Japanese Catholic priests on a Japanese Imperial Navy-sponsored 'religious propaganda' mission to Flores, Indonesia during the Japanese occupation. The four priests, including two leaders of the Catholic Church in Japan at the time—Bishop Yamaguchi Aijiro of Nagasaki and Apostolic Administrator Ogihara Akira of Hiroshima—worked closely with European missionaries left on the island of Flores to protect the church's interests against Japanese military aggression. This unusual case of war-time cooperation between civilians from enemy nations in the context of the otherwise brutal war in Asia offers a rare glimpse into Japanese Catholic Church leaders' engagement with Japan's war efforts. The article demonstrates tact as a self-consciously limited and yet distinctively relational mode of peacebuilding that capitalises on layers of ambiguity and ambivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

War-torn or post-conflict countries face challenging, complex, and varied tasks related to security, development, and justice to meet the immediate needs of state-building and peacebuilding. Hiroshima, having overcome post-war reconstruction, has remained in the peacebuilding phase by advocating world peace through the value of 'No more Hiroshimas'. Peacebuilding studies and mainstream debates emphasising the local perspective have not, however, touched upon this historical moment, when the Hiroshima Prefectural Government enacted 'Hiroshima for Global Peace', pursuing peacebuilding through a nuclear-free world. In this context, this article analyses how Hiroshima's provincial government policy demonstrates ongoing peacebuilding in pursuit of world peace. Considering local-global relations, it examines how local policy connects the shared values of a nuclear-free world. Second, it shows how local-state relations highlight Japan's peacebuilding policy, which includes security cooperation, by sharing the vision of Hiroshima as a symbol of world peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the case of Hiroshima's post-war reconstruction using the lens of reflexive peacebuilding. Reflexive peacebuilding is a set of practices that align peacebuilding efforts with the notions of agency, time, and space, as problematised within the critical discourse on the Anthropocene. For this study, a review of relevant policies and initiatives following the bombing reveals how agencies, temporalities, and spatialities in Hiroshima's post-war reconstruction generate interweaving and sometimes contesting peace narratives. Hiroshima's experience in responding to the needs of the survivors, accommodating future generations, and using spaces for peace promotion offer insights into the blurred agency, uncertain times, and porous spaces of Anthropocene imaginaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales (1699-3950) is the property of Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, International Relations Studies Group (GERI) Law Faculty 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.)

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales (1699-3950) is the property of Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, International Relations Studies Group (GERI) Law Faculty 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.)

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales (1699-3950) is the property of Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, International Relations Studies Group (GERI) Law Faculty 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.)

Today, people all over the world associate Hiroshima with peace. It also, however, has a history as a military city. Noting the importance of this historical background, this study traces Hiroshima's post-Second World War reconstruction process from the perspective of local peacebuilding. Applying a two-pillar framework of local peacebuilding and identity-making to an analysis of written historical records, the study explores how local agency was manifested in the post-war reconstruction of Hiroshima. Key to Hiroshima's peacebuilding process was the 1949 Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law, which not only provided the financial means for reconstruction but also helped shape Hiroshima's identity as a peace memorial city. This identity served as a vision for the city's planning process and facilitated its reconstruction, although the local government's original plan was contested by citizens. By demonstrating how city identity formation can be an accelerator of the reconstruction process, our findings can inform contemporary peacebuilding studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of academic and policy discussions about a persisting gap between human rights and peacebuilding in the UN system, this article examines how peacebuilding has been integrated into the work of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). The analysis draws on interviews with UN Member State attachés and representatives of non-governmental organizations, as well as a range of HRC documents focusing on Myanmar between 2006 and 2021. The findings complement the existing academic literature with nuanced insights into the interaction between human rights and peacebuilding practitioners from a human rights, institutional perspective. The analysis reveals that the HRC is aware of the link between human rights and peacebuilding, implicitly supports peacebuilding and seeks to strengthen institutional cooperation through the prevention resolutions. However, despite efforts to increase engagement, explicit linkages and coordination with the UN's peacebuilding institutions in New York remain rare. Institutional silos, concerns about sovereignty and mandate overlap, fears of politicization as well as a lack of political will and capacity constraints present obstacles to cooperation. This article points to the need for a better information flow and stronger interaction between human rights and peacebuilding actors in Geneva and New York to enhance mutual understanding. Improving synergies between human rights and peacebuilding institutions in Geneva and New York is key to bridging the overall gap between human rights and peacebuilding—both in policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a range of research and scholarship has suggested a role for art in building peace and achieving reconciliation in societies emerging from violent conflict. As a great deal of funding is available to facilitate reconciliation and peacebuilding from a range of organisations, this paper considers what is, and what can be, known about the level to which such funds are actually apportioned to arts practice – here termed ‘Art for Reconciliation’ (AfR). It considers attempts to locate available data relating to the case of Northern Ireland, and presents indicative findings which suggest that, to the extent that information can be located, the recognition of artistic interventions by funders in this field remains limited, as does our wider knowledge about such interventions and their potential impact. It ends by considering the wider contextual factors that may serve to explain these patterns, and to limit progress in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting civil society has been a standard component of post-conflict democratic peacebuilding. In post-2003 Iraq, however, the international coalition's introduction of the muhasasa system (apportionment) inhibited local nongovernmental organizations' ability to hold the government to account and made many NGOs into vehicles of state capture. Substantiated by an interview-based study of Anbar Governorate following the 2017 defeat of the Islamic State organization (ISIS), we argue that modeling Iraq as a "limited access order" -- in which ruling elites manage society and the economy -- largely explains the muhasasa's effects on local NGOs and the widespread perception that the sector is mired in corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching youth how to self‐regulate is a focus of a trauma‐informed school approach. Peace Spaces, including Peace Corners and Peace Rooms, are a trauma‐informed intervention used to teach self‐regulation skills to students. The current study used a Consensual Qualitative Research design to identify and describe the thoughts, concerns, and experiences of teachers who implemented Peace Spaces within a middle school in a small urban center of Pennsylvania. Results of qualitative data analyses provided insight into teachers' perceptions of strengths and challenges to the implementation of Peace Rooms. Additionally, using the school's archival data, the study examined how students were using the Peace Room. Domains from interviews with teachers included: (1) How Peace Spaces are Used; (2) Reasons for Using Peace Spaces; (3) Benefits of Peace Spaces; (4) Peace Space Strategies; (5) Challenges of Peace Spaces; (6) Attitudes about Peace Spaces; and (7) Future Directions. Themes from analysis of archival data indicated that students used the Peace Room for one or a combination of five stressors, with Peer‐Related Stressors and Mental Health as the top reasons. Collectively, these results suggested Peace Rooms were useful to students who needed a space to self‐regulate and/or talk through their problems with a trusted adult. Finally, the school's data indicated a downward trend in the number of referrals for discipline. Practitioner points: Teachers see strengths and offer recommendations for implementing peace spaces in schools.Students use Peace Spaces to learn/practice self‐regulation skills or to talk to a trusted adult.Peace Spaces in schools can serve to help students with emotional and behavioral problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas much has been written about the role community media plays in peacebuilding, emphasis is often put on participatory media models as key determinants of peace or conflict sustainability. Little is known, however, about the conditions under which such media increase or impede peace efforts due to the complex nature of conflict. Moreover, how, when, and by whom such media can be tailored to offer favorable conditions for peacebuilding at the community level remain largely unanswered questions. This article draws from Howard's (An Operational Framework for Media and Peacebuilding, IMPACS, 2002) typology of media interventions, issue‐framing framework, and conflict transformation approach to probe the prospects of community media agency in peacebuilding at the community level. It argues that the way conflict narratives are produced, negotiated, and consumed across time and space is what provides individuals or groups with incentives for conflict or trade‐offs for peace irrespective of the stage at which a given conflict manifests itself. Overall, the reflections presented are conceptual and are intended to generate theoretical and methodological discussions around the role of community media in conflict transformation and peacebuilding at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on cultural creations as contributions to peacebuilding. It starts with the assumption that transitional processes require cultural transformations; that is, reconfigurations in the ways of thinking and acting about difference, conflict, and justice, supported by various types of cultural expressions that have historically been crucial for shaping values and social representations in the collective imagination. The text begins with a conceptualization of cultural creations and their contribution to peacebuilding, focusing on how pains are processed and collective traumas are symbolically represented. Subsequently, the article explores ways in which these contributions have occurred, highlighting dimensions expressed in these creations and how they can be interpreted in relation to peacebuilding. It concludes with some reflections on the social effects of art from an ontological perspective of hermeneutics and from the link between art and ritual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a descriptive study, this article has two basic arguments. The first of these is that the European Union (EU) does not experience the problem of not being able to make common decisions in its international cultural relations, policies and decision-making processes. Another basic argument of the study is that the Union uses the concept of culture as an effective foreign policy tool. In this context, the study tried to analyze how the field of culture is used as a policy tool by the Union and which programs and projects are implemented in this context at the level of regional and global cooperation of the Union. In the study, the joint decisions taken by the Union regarding the determination and implementation of international cultural relations at the political level were also analyzed. Within the scope of the study, the strategic framework of the EU's cultural policy was analyzed in detail and the reason for the importance the Union attaches to the development of international cultural relations was tried to be revealed. In this context, two main findings were obtained. The first of these is that the Union has adopted comprehensive strategic approaches towards cultural mediation and cultural exchange at the global level, in line with its desire to be a global actor with a global perspective and responsibility. The second main finding is that the role of culture in democratization, protecting human rights, preventing conflicts and building peace is indispensable for EU interests.In this context, it has been observed that the Union assigns an important role to the development of international cultural relations in defending these values at the regional and global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the premises, promises, and pitfalls of resilience in peacebuilding theory. Topics include the conceptual metamorphosis of resilience across disciplines, complexity theory in resilience-informed peacebuilding, the role of local capacities and human centrism, and critiques regarding the potential masking of interests by major international peacebuilding actors and challenges in fostering peace while avoiding unintended consequences such as sustaining violence.

Despite historical and ongoing reliance on Russia and an enduring pro-Russian stance, the official narrative of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has been surprisingly neutral. This article seeks to establish a typology of the various reasons for this divergence, looking at geographical, demographic, socio-cultural, historical, economic and military factors, as well as the extenuating influence of the preexisting conflict with Moldova. These factors combine to incline the Transnistrian population and leadership toward peace and thus demotivate an overtly negative media treatment of Ukraine in the context of the War. Given limited scholarship on the topic and the opacity of Transnistrian governance, video reports from the state-affiliated channel TSV are employed as primary sources to evidence and exemplify the various factors determining the Transnistrian position on the Russo-Ukrainian War. The article concludes by challenging the view of Transnistria as a passive Russian puppet, and proposes that the region's unusual status and location, while limiting, also lend it a certain flexibility in its media narratives and foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do you teach about peacebuilding and build the skills necessary to do the work during active war? This article shares an interview, conducted October 9, 2023, with two university professors from the Department of Sociology and Social Work (DSSW) at L'viv Polytechnic National University (LPNU). Asked to focus on their own experiences in the interview, the scholars reflect on what it has been like to try to teach not only the theories, but also the practical skills required for the living profession that is social work and community development, essentially peacebuilding skills, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The interview considers not only the challenges to the professors and their university, but also thoughts on building and keeping up morale, followed by musings as to what their work will be once the war ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explore the impact that non-judicial transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms have on victim agency by looking at the work of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) for the Bangsamoro peace process in Mindanao, the Philippines. Using data from the TJRC's reports, especially from its 2017 Listening Process Report, as well as interviews with members of the Commission, it examines the TJRC's use of the Dealing with the Past (DwP) Framework and its Listening Process (LP) – an ad hoc, non-judicial consultation process tasked to study the root causes of the conflict in the region. Through a "complex political victim" lens, this article argues, first, that the TJRC de-essentialized the victim-perpetrator dichotomy through its DwP framework, and second, that narratives of victim neglect, exclusion, and reluctance articulated in the LP reveal various dimensions of the complex political victim in the Bangsamoro conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural dynamics of the Korean conflict has evolved not only with the inter-Korean rivalry, but also the geopolitics of great power rivalries. The conflict structure was reinforced going through the Korean War and the Cold War. There have been several South Korean initiatives to build peace with North Korea in the post-Cold War era, however the peace process fluctuated due to the escalation of the US-North Korean conflict over the nuclear and missile development of North Korea, and the dispute over North Korea policy in the South Korean society. Building on the sociological understanding of 'duality of structure' and the biological insight of 'niche construction', this article demonstrates the South Korean potential, as a democratic state, to construct a niche space for its citizens' peacebuilding with North Korea under the ongoing Korean conflict structure, as well as its limitations in protecting the space before scaling out the disruption of the conflict structure, when governments do not have a clear sense of agency about their policy due to the lack of consensus among its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article begins situating itself in two contexts of the present world: 1. War and violence experienced in different parts of the globe, including the war in Ukraine and Israel; 2. Various ills, pains and deficiencies like poverty that affect the quality of life, which in turn has repercussions for peace (first section). After explaining some methodological considerations involved in the study (second section), the article moves in the third section to explain the biblical understanding of peace. This section has two parts. The first one discusses Shalom in its relational aspect. The second part will study Shalom in its existential aspect. Before concluding, in the light of the study, I will propose some implications for peace from the point of view of peace making and peace building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although bi-communal violence in Cyprus ended almost 50 years ago, the island's northern and southern sides have yet to reach a comprehensive peace deal. As a result, Cypriots live in a state of functional coexistence whereby they interact with each other in a limited fashion and nonviolently. This article examines the most common explanations for the status quo of nonresolution that has existed in Cyprus for decades before offering a new explanation to consider and address this nonresolution: the mismatch between "liberal" peacebuilding interventions and "illiberal" conditions. To overcome this mismatch, this article argues that it is first necessary to address illiberal conditions to allow peacebuilding attempts to be successful. If illiberalities are not dealt with, they will not only sustain and perpetuate nonresolution, but they will also prevent the emergence of positive peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace and conflict studies is a normative field that seeks to reduce or eradicate violence. With multiple forms of violence plaguing human society, institutionalization of civil society has long been a tenet of liberal approaches to peace intended to enhance sustainability and policy impact of activism. Along with benefits, however, institutionalization brought with it a set of challenges, including cooptation by donors and competition among activists. The article builds on the analysis of 14 in-depth interviews, insights gathered from the "Rethinking Peace" workshop conducted in Mtsheka, Georgia in July 2022, and desk research on the risks and benefits of institutionalization of activism in the context of peacebuilding in the South Caucasus and the civil rights movement in the United States. Despite clear contextual differences and varying degrees of commitment to liberal and post-liberal approaches to peace, the article highlights striking similarities when it comes to benefits and challenges of institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global proliferation of the liberal peace agenda, there has been an increase in attention to the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGO s) in the development and support of national peace agendas. However, with the rise of authoritarian states around the world, and the closing of civic spaces, NGO s have become constrained and limited in their actions. We often see autocratic and repressive regimes not welcoming the implementation of any initiatives that fall outside the scope of their official negotiation platforms, and therefore, limiting the participation of their citizens in unofficial peacebuilding initiatives. Through the application of the authoritarian conflict management framework, this article discusses the challenges of carrying out peacebuilding work in such non-permissive environments in the context of the South Caucasus and points out ways that local peacebuilding organizations and peace activists work around these restrictions to negotiate the reconciliation space that they are attempting to create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The civil war in Sierra Leone was one of the most vicious conflicts in Africa’s recent history. Baptists and other religious communities worked together to end the conflict between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Today, Nigeria has similar challenges and there is a need for close cooperation between religious communities to mediate peace between the government and Boko Haram. Faith-based peacebuilding aims at a just peace and reconciliation through non-violent means, and this study compares faith-based peace building in Sierra Leone during the 1990s with the Boko Haram uprising in Nigeria today and considers the lessons to be learnt. The article discusses how the efforts of faith-based peace building actors in Nigeria may support both the peace process and the peaceful coexistence of religious communities, arguing that within this there is an urgent need to discuss poverty and social marginalisation, build stronger relationships between governments and local communities, and open direct dialogue with Boko Haram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overarching, supraordinate identity (e.g., European identity) can enhance intergroup relations if individuals recategorize ingroup and outgroup members into one, unified group. Yet, in conflict‐affected societies, ethno‐national identities may promote negative intergroup attitudes and behaviours. The effects of European and ethno‐national identities in combination have yet to be explored in childhood. If they can be integrated, the inclusivity of a supraordinate European identity may be felt despite the divisiveness of ethno‐national identities in post‐accord societies. This research assesses supraordinate identity integration in relation to quality intergroup contact and cross‐group friendships among the post‐accord generation in Croatia, Kosovo and Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). These sites have relatively recent conflicts, but varying relationships to the EU. Data were collected from 382 children aged 7–11, split evenly by minority and majority status (Croatia n = 90; Kosovo n = 107; RNM n = 185). Children across all three sites had integrated ethno‐national/European identities. Levels of identity integration varied by site, but not group status. Identity integration was positively and significantly associated with quality of outgroup contact and number of cross‐group friends, and this relationship varied by site. Integrated supraordinate identities have promising implications for intergroup relations and the future of peacebuilding in Europe. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the notion of societal inclusion in peace negotiations, a subject that has gained increasing importance in politics, policy, norm, and scholarship over the last few decades. It argues that inclusion has gone from being considered an unnecessary disturbance to a necessary one in peace processes, especially due to its growing association with the fostering of political legitimacy and peace sustainability. Reducing inclusion to its usefulness, however, obscures its fundamentally political nature and implications. The article thus tracks and unpacks the discussion on societal inclusion, drawing in particular from Chantal Mouffe's reading of political agonism and the more recent literature about agonistic peace. Ultimately, it argues that instrumentalizing and depoliticizing political inclusion is hurtful for the democratic safeguarding of previously denied rights and counter-productive even for minimal legitimizing ends. Peacebuilding benefits from agonistic standpoints of analysis by introducing, from the negotiation stage, a political model of engagement that allows in conflict by peacefully tackling it instead of sweeping it under the rug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a critical ethnography of literacy practices experienced by a group of university students, who perceived them as promoting social exclusion in the Colombian educational system. It also gives an account of their views about how this educational system could be more inclusive and contribute to peacebuilding in the country. Inspired by Paulo Freire's understanding of literacy and Hannah Arendt's political theory, the meaning reconstructive analysis of 46 stories reveals a thematic universe composed of three main categories: understandings of social exclusion from schooling experiences, types of social exclusion as lived in schooling, and social exclusion-related factors of literacy practices. Based on two discussion groups, and an analysis in the light of the theory of practice architectures, it is argued and empirically substantiated that ethical literacy, as a way of being-with-others, is a practice that must be at the core of an education for peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]