Troublemakers Or Peacemakers

Many contemporary armed conflicts are fueled by young people, who, after peace accords are signed, remain both potential threats to peace and significant peace building resources. Troublemakers or Peacemakers? explores the contributions of youth and their multidimensional roles as political activists, soldiers, criminals, economic actors, peace activists, and community-builders. This volume breaks new ground in the importance it assigns to the political agency of children and youth in war zones. Contributors support their arguments and conclusions with original research based on intensive fieldwork in places such as Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Guatemala, Colombia, Angola, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and Israel-Palestine. The leading scholars who have contributed to this volume contend that the puzzle of why peace accords succeed and fail can be better understood with the use of a multidimensional youth lens. Troublemakers or Peacemakers? is a vital resource for anyone interested in conflict resolution and the peace building process.

Many contemporary armed conflicts are fueled by young people, who, after peace accords are signed, remain both potential threats to peace and significant peace building resources. Troublemakers or Peacemakers? explores the contributions of youth and their multidimensional roles as political activists, soldiers, criminals, economic actors, peace activists, and community-builders. This volume breaks new ground in the importance it assigns to the political agency of children and youth in war zones. Contributors support their arguments and conclusions with original research based on intensive fieldwork in places such as Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Guatemala, Colombia, Angola, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and Israel-Palestine. The leading scholars who have contributed to this volume contend that the puzzle of why peace accords succeed and fail can be better understood with the use of a multidimensional youth lens. Troublemakers or Peacemakers? is a vital resource for anyone interested in conflict resolution and the peace building process.

* Authors with wide-ranging experience with children in war zones across the globe * Looks at the psychology of children’s experiences in conflict in the context of their families and communities A World Turned Upside Down looks at the experiences of children in war from a psychological and social ecological perspective, offering thoughtful observations and dispelling myths about what results when children grow up in conflict situations. In contrast to individualized approaches, the volume offers a deeper conceptualization that shows the socially mediated impacts of war. Children exposed to the same traumatic experiences may have different reactions and needs for psychosocial support. Further, psychosocial assistance to war-affected children often occurs not through the provision of therapy by outsiders but via support from insiders. Each contributor has worked extensively with children in war zones in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. They refrain from common perceptions of children as victims of war-induced trauma to provide a holistic understanding of children’s experiences. Each helps pinpoint ways to reduce further violence, foster well-being and nurture the kinds of social connections that can liberate children from the pathologies of war so that they can mature into healthy and well-adjusted adults. Other contributors: Alastair Ager, Cairo Arafat, Catherine Chen, Amy E. Hepburn, Kathleen Kostelny, Siobhán McEvoy-Levy, Susan McKay, Dahab Musleh and Carl Triplehorn

Millions of children around the world are affected by conflict, and the enduring aftermath of war in post-conflict societies. This book reflects on the implications of children’s insecurity for governments and the international humanitarian community by drawing on original field research in post-conflict Cambodia and in Burma’s eastern conflict zones. The book examines the way that politics and discourses of security and child protection have further marginalised rather than enhanced the protection of children. In Cambodia, threats from trafficking, exploitative labour, and high levels of domestic and social violence challenge the government and the international humanitarian community to respond to the new human security terrain that is the legacy of three decades of political violence. Burma has endured over 60 years of insurgency and civil conflict in ethnic minority states, significantly affecting children who are recruited into armies, killed, maimed or tortured, and displaced. Analysing the theoretical and practical challenges faced in addressing children’s security in global politics, the book offers a novel framework for responding to the politics of protection that is at the heart of this crucial issue. It is a useful contribution to studies on Asian Politics and International Relations and Security.

This fully updated third-edition of Contemporary Peacemaking is a state of the art overview of peacemaking in relation to contemporary civil wars. It examines best (and worst) practice in relation to peace processes and peace accords. The contributing authors are a mix of leading academics and practitioners with expert knowledge of a wide arrays of cases and techniques. The book provides a mix of theory and concept-building along with insights into ongoing cases of peace processes and post-accord peacebuilding. The chapters make clear that peacemaking is a dynamic field, with new practices in peacemaking techniques, changes to the international peace support architecture, and greater awareness of key issues such as gender and development after peace accords. The book is mindful of the intersection between top-down and bottom-up approaches to peace and how formal and institutionalized peace accords need to be lived and enacted by communities on the ground.

Your attitude makes or breaks you in life. We all have attitudes that are toxic and damaging to our lives, and we all have healthy attitudes that help us to experience life in full. Have you ever wondered what the worst, most toxic attitudes are? Have you ever wondered what the best, most life-enhancing attitudes are? Wonder no more. This book will help you better understand the good and the bad when it comes to the attitude you carry into each day. Far too often, we focus on changing our circumstances as the best way to improve our lives. While that's all well and good, changing your attitude for the better is far more important than changing your circumstance in life. We don't need an attitude adjustment, we need an attitude overhaul. Read this book--it will help you do just that.

Critical Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies: Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy, edited by Thomas Matyók, Jessica Senehi, and Sean Byrne, discusses critical issues in the emerging field of Peace and Conflict Studies, and suggests a framework for the future development of the fie...

They are familiar scenes: sports fans turning on each other in acts of violence, and mobs of sports fans flooding onto the field or out into the streets. Is there something inherent in the competitive sport setting that produces this frequently dangerous behavior? Written in an engaging style, this volume addresses the question by exploring the wide range of influences at work, from a social psychological perspective. Topics range from a focus on the personality traits that predispose individuals to act aggressively, to a wider concern with who riots, why they riot, and situations that favor the occurrence of sports riots. Research on the equally disturbing phenomenon of crowd panics explores the underlying causes and peculiar behavior of people caught in the panics. Aggression is influenced and exacerbated by multiple factors: troublemakers who incite others to aggress, influence by the media, differing cultural backgrounds, blind obedience, and attempts by individuals to emulate unworthy personal heroes. Less obvious factors such as temperature, noise, and color also exert important effects on interpersonal aggression, and drugs such as alcohol and steroids further inflame the possibilities for violence. Russell examines all these factors in his international and interdisciplinary presentation of the best and most recent findings in the study of sports aggression, and provides a series of proposals intended to prevent or minimize the severity of riots and panics. Additionally, he explores the relationship between aggression and what is probably the most revered concept in sports: competition. Scholars, students, and sports savvy fans will find this book of interest.