Peaceful Approaches For A More Peaceful World

This volume is meant for readers to gain a deeper grasp of the challenges, unique to the present age, for realizing a genuinely peaceful order as well as to consider thoughtful proposals for meeting these challenges.

"You are invited to join The Great Peace Give-Away and give people what they truly hunger for in these difficult times--the gift of peace. The Peace Book provides simple everyday tools that can help us have more peace in our lives and in the world."--Back cover.

Violent conflicts today are complex and increasingly protracted, involving more nonstate groups and regional and international actors. It is estimated that by 2030—the horizon set by the international community for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals—more than half of the world’s poor will be living in countries affected by high levels of violence. Information and communication technology, population movements, and climate change are also creating shared risks that must be managed at both national and international levels. Pathways for Peace is a joint United Nations†“World Bank Group study that originates from the conviction that the international community’s attention must urgently be refocused on prevention. A scaled-up system for preventive action would save between US$5 billion and US$70 billion per year, which could be reinvested in reducing poverty and improving the well-being of populations. The study aims to improve the way in which domestic development processes interact with security, diplomacy, mediation, and other efforts to prevent conflicts from becoming violent. It stresses the importance of grievances related to exclusion—from access to power, natural resources, security and justice, for example—that are at the root of many violent conflicts today. Based on a review of cases in which prevention has been successful, the study makes recommendations for countries facing emerging risks of violent conflict as well as for the international community. Development policies and programs must be a core part of preventive efforts; when risks are high or building up, inclusive solutions through dialogue, adapted macroeconomic policies, institutional reform, and redistributive policies are required. Inclusion is key, and preventive action needs to adopt a more people-centered approach that includes mainstreaming citizen engagement. Enhancing the participation of women and youth in decision making is fundamental to sustaining peace, as well as long-term policies to address the aspirations of women and young people.

With existing literature focusing largely on Western perspectives of peace and their applications, a global understanding of peace is much needed. Spurred by more recent debates and discourses that criticize the dominant realist and liberal approaches for crises in contemporary state- and peace-building, the contributors to this handbook emphasize not only the need to solve this eternal conundrum of humanity, but also demand—with the rise of increasingly more violent conflicts in international relations—the development of a global interpretive framework for peace and security. To this end, the present handbook examines conceptual, institutional and normative interpretive approaches for making, building and promoting peace in the context of roles played by state and non-state actors within local, national, regional, and global units of analysis.

How can a just peace be built in sites of genocide, massive civil war, dictatorship, terrorism, and poverty? In Strategies of Peace, the first volume in the Studies in Strategic Peacebuilding series, fifteen leading scholars propose an imaginative and provocative approach to peacebuilding. Today the dominant thinking is the "liberal peace," which stresses cease fires, elections, and short run peace operations carried out by international institutions, western states, and local political elites. But the liberal peace is not enough, the authors argue. A just and sustainable peace requires a far more holistic vision that links together activities, actors, and institutions at all levels. By exploring innovative models for building lasting peace-a United Nations counter-terrorism policy that also promotes good governance; coordination of the international prosecution of war criminals with local efforts to settle civil wars; increasing the involvement of religious leaders, who have a unique ability to elicit peace settlements; and many others--the authors advance a bold new vision for peacebuilding.

This volume looks at research methods through the lens of peace studies and peace values. Apart from reviewing established methods from peace psychology, it presents some innovative ideas for conducting research in the area of peace psychology. Many of these methods are drawn from the field, from activities used by active peace practitioners. A critical component of this volume is its core argument that peace research should be conducted by peaceful means, and should model peaceful processes. Organized thematically, the volume begins with a review of the established best practices in peace psychology research methodology, including methods for qualitative research, for quantitative research, and participative action networks. In doing so, it also points to some of the limitations of working for peace within the tradition of a single discipline and to the need to expand psychology methodology, to methodologies. Therefore, the second half of the volume proceeds to explore the realm of innovative, relatively unorthodox research methods, such as participatory and workshop methods, the creative arts, and sports for research purposes. The use of new advances in information technology to conduct peaceful research are also discussed. The concluding chapters synthesize key issues from the previous chapters, and links peace psychology with ideas and implementation of research designs and practices. Finally, it discusses the nature of academic knowledge, and more specifically, academic knowledge in peace psychology, and where that fits into the mission to build a more peaceful world. Overall this book aims to provide peace psychologists with an array of possibilities and best practices for approaching their research. Many researchers find the experience of doing research a somewhat lonely, if not isolating, experience. Methodologies in Peace Psychology: Peace Research by Peaceful Means aims to alleviate this feeling as the use of these more innovative methods leads to a closer engagement with the community and a much more social experience of research. This volume is a useful tool for both new and experienced researchers because it provides leads for idealistic young researchers who want their work to make a difference, in addition to encouraging more reflection and analysis for experienced peace psychologists.