Understanding Peace Research


Book Description

This textbook provides a comprehensive overview of different methods and sources of information-gathering for peace and conflict students and researchers, as well as the challenges presented by such work. Research on conflict-ridden societies carries special challenges for the collection and evaluation of information about the conflict and its actors. First, due to the nature of information emerging, incentives to misrepresent and propaganda is common. News coverage is sometimes poor and reporting is often incomplete, selective and biased. Second, the sensitivity of the topic and the questions posed in peace and conflict research means that access to and the security of informants can be a problem. Peace and conflict research as a discipline encompasses a number of different approaches for obtaining empirical information which serve as a basis for analyzing various research topics. This book provides a comprehensive overview of different methods and sources of information-gathering for students and researchers, as well as the challenges presented by such work. It offers: tools for evaluating sources and information suggestions on where different types of information can be found advice on using different types of sources, including news reports and written narratives practical guidelines for constructing large-scale datasets insights and guidelines for comparative fieldwork, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys reflection and discussion on important ethical concerns in peace research This book will be of much interest for students and researchers of peace and conflict studies, conflict resolution, war and conflict studies, development studies, security studies and IR, as well as for NGO workers/researchers. Kristine Höglund is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. She has a PhD in Peace and Conflict Research from Uppsala University Sweden (2004). She is author of Peacemaking in the Shadow of Violence. Magnus Öberg is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Peace Research (since 2006). He has a PhD in Peace and Conflict Research from Uppsala University (2003) and is co-editor of Resources, Governance, and Civil Conflict (Routledge, 2008).




Contemporary Peacemaking


Book Description

Contemporary Peacemaking draws on recent experience to identify and explore the essential components of peace processes. The book is organized around five key themes in peacemaking: planning for peace; negotiations; violence on peace processes; peace accords; and peace accord implementation and post-war reconstruction.




Peace as Governance


Book Description

A critical study of incentives commonly used to induce non-state armed groups to engage in peace negotiations. Offers a closer analysis of these incentives, which offer such groups a place or a stake in governance, suggesting that not only are they frequently ineffective, but that they can have unintended and dangerous side effects.




Contemporary Peacemaking


Book Description

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.




Preparing For Peace


Book Description

Since the early 1980s John Paul Lederach has traveled worldwide as a mediation trainer and conflict resolution consultant. Currently the director of the International Conciliation Committee, he has worked with governments, justice departments, youth programs, and other groups in Latin America, the Philippines, Cambodia, as well as Asia and Africa. Lederach blends a special training method in mediation with a tradition derived from his work in development. Throughout the book, he uses anecdote and pertinent experiences to demonstrate his resolution techniques. With an emphasis on the exchange involved in negotiation, Lederach conveys the key to successful conflict resolution: understanding how to guide disputants, transform their conflicts, and launch a process that empowers them.




Peace by Peaceful Means


Book Description

Johan Galtung, one of the founders of modern peace studies, provides a wide-ranging panorama of the ideas, theories and assumptions on which the study of peace is based. The book is organized in four parts, each examining the one of the four major theoretical approaches to peace. The first part covers peace theory, exploring the epistemological assumptions of peace. In Part Two conflict theory is examined with an exploration of nonviolent and creative handling of conflict. Developmental theory is discussed in Part Three, exploring structural violence, particularly in the economic field, together with a consideration of the ways of overcoming that violence. The fourth part is devoted to civilization theory. This involves an




Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory


Book Description

This volume brings together perspectives on social identity and peace psychology to explore the role that categorization plays in both conflict and peace-building. To do so, it draws leading scholars from across the world in a comprehensive exploration of social identity theory and its application to some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as intrastate conflict, uprising in the middle east, the refugee crisis, global warming, racism and peace building. A crucial theme of the volume is that social identity theory affects all of us, no matter whether we are currently in a state of conflict or one further along in the peace process. The volume is organized into two sections. Section 1 focuses on the development of social identity theory. Grounded in the pioneering work of Dr. Henri Tajfel, section 1 provides the reader with a historical background of the theory, as well as its current developments. Then, section 2 brings together a series of country case studies focusing on issues of identity across five continents. This section enables cross-cultural comparisons in terms of methodology and findings, and encourages the reader to identify general applications of identity to the understanding of peace as well as applications that may be more relevant in specific contexts. Taken together, these two sections provide a contemporary and diverse account of the state of social identity research in conflict situations and peace psychology today. It is evident that any account of peace requires an intricate understanding of identity both as a cause and consequence of conflict, as well as a potential resource to be harnessed in the promotion and maintenance of peace. Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory: Contemporary Global Perspectives aims to help achieve such an understanding and as such is a valuable resource to those studying peace and conflict, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, public policy makers, and all those interested in the ways in which social identity impacts our world.




Conflict, Peace, Security and Development


Book Description

Whilst classical approaches linked development with peace, security has become central to understandings of both war and peacetime. This book uniquely reflects on how to deal with the convergence of war and peace in the context of global economic and geo-political development. It addresses methodological challenges in contemporary approaches to conflict, violence, security peace and development. Two dominant contemporary approaches are selected for debate on methodologies and ethical choices: rational choice and identity-based theorizing. The chapters are arranged as dialogues around contending approaches, to better understand how the inter-locking fields of violent conflict, peace, development and security can be researched and understood. The book considers how theoretical and methodological approaches relate to different ethical and political choices, including around engagement and intervention in the four interwoven fields. Theoretical, methodological and ethical issues emerge from the critical reviews of academic discourses and case-study based chapters from across the world, including Sri Lanka, Ghana, Colombia and Rwanda. This book is an invaluable resource for postgraduate students and researchers in Development Studies, Conflict Studies, Peace Studies and Security Studies.




The Contemporary US Peace Movement


Book Description

As peace activists have faced increased government repression and accusations of being unpatriotic since 9/11, Toussaint examines how current attempts to control dissent impact the peace movement. This study offers an analysis of self-identified peace activists in terms of their demographic characteristics, motivation for activism, political opportunities, and views of the peace movement. It also discusses the processes involved in successfully mobilizing an increasingly diverse constituency and how broad-based support can be sustained beyond reacting to crises.




Feminist Interventions in Critical Peace and Conflict Studies


Book Description

This book provides a feminist intervention in Peace & Conflict Studies. It demonstrates why feminist approaches matter to theories and practices of resolving conflict and building peace. Understanding power inequalities in contexts of armed conflict and peace processes is crucial for identifying the root causes of conflict and opportunities for peaceful transformation. Feminist scholarship offers vital theoretical insights and innovative methods, which can deepen our understanding of power relations in peacebuilding. Yet, all too often feminist research receives token acknowledgement rather than sustained engagement and analysis. This collection highlights the value of feminist analysis to contemporary Peace and Conflict Studies. Drawing on case studies from around the world - including Croatia, Myanmar, Iceland, Nepal, India, Afghanistan, and Timor-Leste – it demonstrates why paying serious attention to feminist scholarship prompts useful insights for peacebuilding policy, practice, and scholarship. Feminist theory, epistemology, and methodology provide a rich resource for critically analysing peacebuilding practices. In particular, the chapters highlight the value of feminist reflexivity, the contributions of a feminist corporeal analysis, and the significance of a feminist reading of core concepts in Peace and Conflict Studies – including hybridity, the local, and the everyday. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Peacebuilding.