Sustainable Peacebuilding

PROMOTION OF PEACE AS THE RESULT OF CULTURAL AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION IN THE AGE OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS.

by Oskar Vallazza

Final paper for the Graduate Certificate in the MA in Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation at the Universität Innsbruck

Survival on Earth has become a general concern for today's generation, and many people are struggling to reach a new... more Survival on Earth has become a general concern for today's generation, and many people are struggling to reach a new understanding of the world. It seems to me that the world has reached a critical point, which does not allow for easy solutions. If we are to survive in peace we have to change those habits and conceptions, which brought us to the present critical stage, and proceed on a path of paradigmatic transformation.

Accordingly, peace is not a static phenomenon but rather a continuous process of developing structures and relationships to meet our needs and strengthen our perception of well-being. To discover peace, we need to move away from a conflict-encouraging system and pursue a culture of both cultural and conflict transformation. 

The emergence and spread of an increasing number of violent, very often intractable conflicts clearly signalize that we have reached an evolutionary turning point that requires our full attention. In an unprecedented show of interdisciplinary solidarity, many scientists, scholars, social activists, aboriginal leaders and others have embarked on a search for a different level of global participation that would bring about a higher degree of consciousness.

In this paper peace will be presented as the result of a process of cultural transformation that would promote a qualitatively more balanced way of life. 

The paper will be structured around the following themes:

• A brief historical overview of the idea of peace according to the energetic/organic tradition;
• An introduction to the mechanistic world view and its effects on Western attitudes and mind;
• Applicable concepts: Noosphere, Omega Point, Bioregionalism, Spaceship Earth, the Gaia Hypothesis, Dialogue, Macroshift.
• A brief overview of General System Theory, Integral Philosophy, Self-organizing Systems.
• David Bohm’s Dialogue and Ervin Laszlo’s Macroshift
I will review issues of cultural and environmental sustainability; cultural and biological diversity; and political responsibility presented within a peaceful, dialogue-based integrated model.

Conflict Society: Understanding the Role of Civil Society In Conflict

by Raffaele Marchetti

2009. Global Change, Peace and Security, 21, 2: 201-17 (with N.Tocci)

PEACE TOURISM AS A COMPONENT OF PEACEBUILDING PROCESS

by Rajib Timalsina

Published in The Gaze, Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, Vol.3, No. 1, Year 2011, pp. 64-76.
Presented in International Peace, Environment and Tourism (PET) conference 2011 organized by Global Peace Alliance and HIMCCA.

This paper examines the importance of tourism for sustainable peace as sustainable peace and development are essential... more This paper examines the importance of tourism for sustainable peace as sustainable peace and development are essential element for peacebuilding process. This paper aims to examine how tourism facilitates to meet basic concerns of peacebuilding. This is emphasized to promote the importance of tourism to become peace-tourism. It elaborates the emergence of the concept of peace-tourism in global scenario. Further, it explores information about the peacebuilding process, its components, aims and roles of conflict transformation process, emergence of multi-track diplomacy and how peace-tourism enhances peacebuilding process in conflict affected society. Tourism plays vital role to foster peace. The tourism literature is not absolutely one-sided when it comes to the question of tourism promoting peace. This paper aims establishing relationship between peace-tourism and peacebuilding process to transform conflict, balancing both the positive and negative sides of tourism.

Is Union-busting a Threat to Sustainable Peace in Guatemala?

by Michael Skinner

This paper is an executive summary of research conducted in Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango Guatemala from 24 July... more This paper is an executive summary of research conducted in Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango Guatemala from 24 July to 3 September 2004. I conclude workers were illegally terminated during the privatisation of the Guatemalan postal service managed by the Canadian state enterprise Canada Post. Furthermore those terminations contributed to poverty, child labour, unrest and violence in Guatemala.

“Diasporas and Peace Building: A Multifaceted Association”, in Ashok Swain, ed., Diasporas, Armed Conflicts and Peacebuilding in their Homelands (Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Report No. 79, 2007), pp. 9- 15, with Jonathan Hall and Roland Kostic.

by Ashok Swain

From Power Struggles to Sustainable Peace: Understanding Political Settlements

by Jörn Grävingholt

Co-authored with Stephen Brown
Prepared on behalf of the International Network on Conflict and Fragility at the OECD Development Assistance Committee
Published in the OECD "Conflict and Fragility" series

Until recently, the term “political settlement” has been used almost interchangeably with “peace agreement”. But it... more Until recently, the term “political settlement” has been used almost interchangeably with “peace agreement”. But it has broader implications: political settlements span the continuum from negotiated peace agreements to long-term historical development -- in the latter sense approaching the concept of a social contract. Generally speaking, every political regime that is not in the midst of an all-out civil war over its basic parameters is based on some kind of settlement. The adoption of a political settlement lens could therefore bridge conceptual differences between the approaches and endeavours of peacebuilding and statebuilding.

Commissioned by INCAF, this publication provides an overview of key definitions, components and concepts of political settlements, based on existing literature. It also examines the potential impact of donor activities on political settlements and highlights possible implications for donor engagement and support.

Keywords: political settlement; statebuilding; peacebuilding; foreign aid

Postconflict Statebuilding: From Negative to Positive Peace?

by David Roberts

Development and Change, 39(4), 2008, pp.537-555

What is the potential for statebuilding interventions to foster domestic legitimacy? This article advocates a shift in... more What is the potential for statebuilding interventions to foster domestic legitimacy? This article advocates a shift in current approaches to statebuilding. Rather than inserting modern institutions that create external legitimacy, statebuilding should focus on closing the gap between civil society and the state. More emphasis should be placed on building domestic legitimacy by fulfilling basic welfare needs. This approach would stimulate local-level state legitimacy while formalising social justice and positive peacebuilding

Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. Violence sits in places? Cultural practice, neoliberal rationalism, and virulent imaginative geographies. Political Geography. 30 (2), 90-98.

Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that... more Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that violence is 'irrational' marks particular cultures as ‘other’. Neoliberalism exploits such imaginative geographies in constructing itself as the sole providence of nonviolence and the lone bearer of reason. Proceeding as a ‘civilizing’ project, neoliberalism positions the market as salvationary to putatively ‘irrational’ and ‘violent’ peoples. This theology of neoliberalism produces a discourse that binds violence in place. But while violence sits in places in terms of the way in which we perceive its manifestation as a localized and embodied experience, this very idea is challenged when place is reconsidered as a relational assemblage. What this re-theorization does is open up the supposed fixity, separation, and immutability of place to instead recognize it as always co-constituted by, mediated through, and integrated within the wider experiences of space. Such a radical rethinking of place fundamentally transforms the way we understand violence. No longer confined to its material expression as an isolated and localized event, violence can more appropriately be understood as an unfolding process, derived from the broader geographical phenomena and temporal patterns of the social world.

Building Peace: Post-Conflict Peacebuilding Through Community Development Projects

by Kristellys Zolondek

In the midst of conflict-ridden situations worldwide, development projects have the potential to promote... more In the midst of conflict-ridden situations worldwide, development projects have the potential to promote reconciliation and build peace. Participatory development projects that involve the input and governance from and implementation by the community maximize that potential. Although there has been a good amount of literature on the subject of development and peacebuilding, the case for community development strategies has to be mainstreamed. This paper demonstrates that community development is essential to the success of peacebuilding through development projects as it captures the necessary aspect of a participatory, community-centered strategy. The conclusion of this study implies that development workers and those in the field of peacebuilding must acquire community development approaches, as it is only through developing communities’ strengths and capacities that sustainable peace can be achieved. Furthermore, this paper argues that community development can be understood as synonymous to peacebuilding.

Introduction - Key Themes in Peacebuilding and Corruption

by Christine Cheng

With D.Zaum, Our special issue of IPK on Peacebuilding and Corruption

Corruption has become a key lens through which peacebuilders observe the political, institutional and social dynamics... more Corruption has become a key lens through which peacebuilders observe the political, institutional and social dynamics in post-conflict societies. This introduction examines the conceptual and political challenges that corruption poses to post-conflict statebuilding. We briefly discuss three key points about this relationship. First, to build a durable foundation for peace, it is important to establish an accepted standard in the domestic context of what constitutes corruption and what responsibilities are implicit in holding public office. Second, buying-out potential peace spoilers may bring an end to the fighting in the short-run, but will likely have substantial negative long-term effects with respect to the economy, the development of political institutions and the rebuilding of interpersonal trust. Finally, anti-corruption strategies undertaken by the international community need to take into account the lack of state capacity and the challenges of implementing these strategies on the ground. Given the massive investments that have been made in post-conflict peacebuilding, we would strongly advocate further systematic study of anti-corruption strategies.

Reconstructing Trust in Sierra Leone

by Kieran Mitton

Engaging disengagement: The political reintegration of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front

by Kieran Mitton

Rearmament, Remobilisation and Disintegration in Sierra Leone

by Kieran Mitton

"Religious and Cultural Dimensions of Peacebuilding"

by Nathan Funk

published in the Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace, 2007

"Localizing Peace: An Agenda for Sustainable Peacebuilding"

by Nathan Funk

published in Peace and Conflict Studies, 2010