The Elements Of Peace

This guide to nonviolent conflict resolution presents thirty methods of maintaining or achieving peace, each with an in-depth case study. Methods covered, and their real-world applications, include the art of diplomacy (the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords), fair trade (the 1997 fair trade certification agreement), civil disobedience (the civil rights movement in the United States), humanitarianism (the rescue of the Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust), the rule of law (the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), and peace education (the Nobel Peace Prize), among many others. It concludes with a summary of the methods and the virtues of peace. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

This volume examines the causes and purposes of 'post-conflict' violence. The end of a war is generally expected to be followed by an end to collective violence, as the term ‘post-conflict’ that came into general usage in the 1990s signifies. In reality, however, various forms of deadly violence continue, and sometimes even increase after the big guns have been silenced and a peace agreement signed. Explanations for this and other kinds of violence fall roughly into two broad categories – those that stress the legacies of the war and those that focus on the conditions of the peace. There are significant gaps in the literature, most importantly arising from the common premise that there is one, predominant type of post-war situation. This ‘post-war state’ is often endowed with certain generic features that predispose it towards violence, such as a weak state, criminal elements generated by the war-time economy, demobilized but not demilitarized or reintegrated ex-combatants, impunity and rapid liberalization. The premise of this volume differs. It argues that features which constrain or encourage violence stack up in ways to create distinct and different types of post-war environments. Critical factors that shape the post-war environment in this respect lie in the war-to-peace transition itself, above all the outcome of the war in terms of military and political power and its relationship to social hierarchies of power, normative understandings of the post-war order, and the international context. This book will of much interest to students of war and conflict studies, peacebuilding and IR/Security Studies in general.

This Element tries to answer three questions about Kant's guarantee thesis by examining the 'first addendum' of his Philosophical Sketch; how the guarantor powers interrelate, how there can be a guarantee without undermining freedom, why there is a guarantee in the first place. Kant's conception of an interplay of human and divine rational agency encompassing nature is crucial: on moral grounds, we are warranted to believe the 'world author' knew that if he brought about the world, the 'supreme' good would come about too. Perpetual peace is the condition enabling the supreme good to be realized in history.

Peace Journalism explains how most coverage of conflict unwittingly fuels further violence, and proposes workable options to give peace a chance.

This volume explores how we theorize, politicize, and practice peace and conflict discourses in the social sciences. As concepts, peace and conflict are intricately interwoven into a web of complementary discourses where states and other actors are able to negotiate, deliberate and arbitrate their differences short of the overt and covert use of physical violence. The essays in this volume reflect this eclecticism: they reflect on concerns of contemporary conflicts in world politics; the dissection of the ideas of peace and power; the way peace studies join with global agencies; peace and conflict in connection to geopolitics and identity; the domestic basis of conflict in India and the South Asian theatre including class, social cleavages and gender. Further they also process elements like globalization, media, communication and films that help us engage with the popular tropes and discursive construction of the reality that play critical roles in how peace and violence are articulated and acted upon by the elites and the masses in societies. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of political science, international relations theory, peace and conflict studies, public policy and area studies. It will also be a key resource for bureaucrats, policy makers, think tanks and practitioners working in the field of international relations.

From violence and abuse within family units, to communities and regions torn apart by inter-group conflict and wars among nations, the human condition is rife with turmoil. The consequences of this seemingly perpetual strife weigh heavily on humanity, often creating feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness that only serve to breed more conflict and violence. In the face of these monumental challenges, initiatives for peace struggle to take root. Seeking effective ways to encourage these efforts, the United Nations adopted three declarations on the eve of the 21st century, including the “Declaration on a Culture of Peace” that broadly defines what the vision looks like and the actions necessary to build cultures of peace. Taking up this central challenge of our time, this volume of collected essays presents multiple perspectives on the critical issues of peace and conflict resolution that pervade the globe, addressing the UN’s charge to develop “values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life conducive to the promotion of peace among individuals, groups, and nations.” Bringing together scholars and practitioners from fields including education, sociology, criminology, political science, and peace studies, this work constructively engages the task of creating peace and fostering hope in a conflict-ridden world.

Inspired by the Grotian tradition in international law of the 'idea of peace', 'Promoting Peace through International Law' aims to explain how peace may be achieved by utilising the existing international and national normative and institutional legal frameworks. It explores how negative and positive dimensions of peace are interrelated.