Peace and Justice


Book Description

In recent years there has been a tendency to intervene in the military, political and economic affairs of failed and failing states and those emerging from violent conflict. In many cases this has been accompanied by some form of international judicial intervention to address serious and widespread abuses of international humanitarian law and human rights in recognition of an explicit link between peace and justice. A range of judicial and non-judicial approaches has been adopted in recognition of the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all model through which to seek accountability. This book considers the merits and drawbacks of these different responses and sets out an original framework for analysing transitional societies and transitional justice mechanisms. Taking as its starting point the post-Second World War tribunals at Nuremburg and Tokyo, the book goes on to discuss the creation of ad hoc international tribunals in the 1990s, hybrid/mixed courts, the International Criminal Court, domestic trials, truth commissions and traditional justice mechanisms. With examples drawn from across the world, including the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the DRC, it presents a compelling and comprehensive study of the key responses to war crimes. Peace and Justice is a timely contribution in a world where an ever-increasing number of post-conflict societies are grappling with the complex issues of transitional justice. It will be a valuable resource for students, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers seeking to understand past violations of human rights and the most effective ways of addressing them.




Peace with Justice?


Book Description

In this work, two former State Department lawyers provide an account of how and why justice was misapplied and mishandled throughout the peace-builders' efforts to settle the Yugoslav conflict. The text is based on their personal experience, research and interviews with key players in the process.




Building a Future on Peace and Justice


Book Description

Results of the 2007 Nuremberg Conference on Peace and Justice: Tensions between peace and justice have long been debated by scholars, practitioners and agencies including the United Nations, and both theory and policy must be refined for very practical application in situations emerging from violent conflict or political repression. Specific contexts demand concrete decisions and approaches aimed at redress of grievance and creation of conditions of social justice for a non-violent future. There has been definitive progress in a world in which blanket amnesties were granted at times with little hesitation. There is a growing understanding that accountability has pragmatic as well as principled arguments in its favour. Practical arguments as much as shifts in the norms have created a situation in which the choice is increasingly seen as "which forms of accountability" rather than a stark choice between peace and justice. It is socio-political transformation, not just an end to violence, that is needed to build sustainable peace. This book addresses these dilemmas through a thorough overview of the current state of legal obligations; discussion of the need for a holistic approach including development; analysis of the implications of the coming into force of the ICC; and a series of "hard" case studies on internationalized and local approaches devised to navigate the tensions between peace and justice.




Working for Peace and Justice


Book Description

A longtime agitator against war and social injustice, Lawrence Wittner has been tear-gassed, threatened by police with drawn guns, charged by soldiers with fixed bayonets, spied upon by the U.S. government, arrested, and purged from his job for political -reasons. To say that this teacher-historian-activist has led an interesting life is a considerable understatement. In this absorbing memoir, Wittner traces the dramatic course of a life and career that took him from a Brooklyn boyhood in the 1940s and ’50s to an education at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin to the front lines of peace activism, the fight for racial equality, and the struggles of the labor movement. He details his family background, which included the bloody anti-Semitic pogroms of late-nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, and chronicles his long teaching career, which comprised positions at a small black college in Virginia, an elite women’s liberal arts college north of New York City, and finally a permanent home at the Albany campus of the State University of New York. Throughout, he packs the narrative with colorful vignettes describing such activities as fighting racism in Louisiana and Mississippi during the early 1960s, collaborating with peace-oriented intellectuals in Gorbachev’s Soviet Union, and leading thousands of antinuclear demonstrators through the streets of Hiroshima. As the book also reveals, Wittner’s work as an activist was matched by scholarly achievements that made him one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history of the peace and nuclear disarmament movements—a research specialty that led to revealing encounters with such diverse figures as Norman Thomas, the Unabomber, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Caspar Weinberger, and David Horowitz. A tenured professor and renowned author who has nevertheless lived in tension with the broader currents of his society, Lawrence Wittner tells an engaging personal story that includes some of the most turbulent and significant events of recent history. Lawrence S. Wittner, emeritus professor of history at the University at Albany, SUNY, is the author of numerous scholarly works, including the award-winning three-volume Struggle Against the Bomb. Among other awards and honors, he has received major grants or fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Aspen Institute, the United States Institute of Peace, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.




Knowledge for Peace


Book Description

Combining the knowledge and experience of leading international researchers, practitioners and policy consultants, Knowledge for Peace discusses how we identify, claim and contest the knowledge we have in relation to designing and analysing peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes. Exploring how knowledge in the field is produced, and by whom, the book examines the research-policy-practice nexus, both empirically and conceptually, as an important part of the politics of knowledge production.




The Road to Peace


Book Description

Throughout his life Henri Nouwen stressed the connection between intimacy with Christ and solidarity with a wounded world. From his early support for the civil rights movement, through his engagement in the cause of peace, to his life with the handicapped members of the L'Arche community, Nouwen was always immersed with the social as well as the spiritual dimensions of the gospel. In gathering together Nouwen's many writings on peace and social justice, editor John Dear amplifies this crucial element of Nouwen's message about the call of Christian discipleship. At the same time, Nouwen calls on activists to be peacemakers in the fullest sense: to root their witness in prayer, joy, and a spirit of love. For all those who have read and treasured the life and work of Henri Nouwen, The Road to Peace is an inspiration, and a challenge to live our Christian lives with both love and action. Book jacket.




Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions


Book Description

The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. The Encyclopedia encompasses 17 volumes, each one devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. This volume addresses SDG 16, namely "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allows a better understanding and fosters knowledge. Concretely, the defined targets are: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all Significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decisionmaking at all levels Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance Provide legal identity for all, including birth registration Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development Editorial Board Alexandra Aragão, Julinda Beqiraj, Dênis Antônio da Cunha, Renata Welinski da Silva Seabra, Golda A. Edwin, Thomas Kaydor, Tehmina Khan, Amanda Lange Salvia, Paula Lopes, Petra Schneider, Pinar Gökçin Özuyar




Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding


Book Description

So we'd all like a more peaceful world—no wars, no poverty, no more racism, no community disputes, no office tensions, no marital skirmishes. Lisa Schirch sets forth paths to such realities. In fact, she points a way to more than the absence of conflict. She foresees justpeace—a sustainable state of affairs because it is a peace which insists on justice. Schirch singles out four critical actions that must be undertaken if peace is to take root at any level) — 1.) waging conflict nonviolently; 2.) reducing direct violence; 3.) transforming relationships; and 4.) building capacity. From Schirch's 15 years of experience as a peacebuilding consultant in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.




Peace Versus Justice


Book Description

This book examines the costs and benefits of ending the fighting in a range of conflicts, and probes the reasons why negotiators provide, or fail to provide, resolutions that go beyond just 'stopping the shooting.' A wide range of case studies is marshaled to explore relevant peacemaking situations, from the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars, to more recent settlements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries--including large scale conflicts like the end of WWII and smaller scale, sometimes internal conflicts like those in Cyprus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Mozambique. Cases on Bosnia and the Middle East add extra interest.




Nonviolence, Peace, and Justice


Book Description

This book takes a philosophical approach to questions concerning violence, war, and justice in human affairs. It offers the reader a broad introduction to underlying assumptions, values, concepts, theories, and the historical contexts informing much of the current discussion worldwide regarding these morally crucial topics. It provides brief summaries and analyses of a wide range of relevant belief systems, philosophical positions, and policy problems. While not first and foremost a book of advocacy, it is clearly oriented throughout by the ethical preference for nonviolent strategies in the achievement of human ends and a belief in the viability of a socially just—and thus peaceful—human future. It also maintains a consistently skeptical stance towards the all-too-easily accepted apologies, past and present, for violence, war, and the continuation of injustice.