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United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are regularly evaluated and critiqued by both scholars and policy-makers, however this scrutiny is commonly restricted to program- and project-level effects. This neglects the unique impacts that emerge from the individuals who populate interventions and those they encounter in conflict-affected communities. The objective of this research is to place these individuals, and their actions and relationships, at the centre of analysis and investigate their impacts independent of, or distinct from, program-level effects. Through the case study of south Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), this dissertation explores the social and physical spaces that connect peacekeepers and Lebanese individuals in the course of their everyday lives and actions. Through the theoretical lenses of cultural peacebuilding and hybridity, I conceptualize the meaning of these relationships to the individuals involved, to the UNIFIL mission, and to peace at a broader level. This political ethnography undertakes a complex, relational approach to understanding intervention impacts and effectiveness, thereby 'peopling' a UN peacekeeping operation. Based on original empirical data consisting of 82 ethno-biographical interviews with Lebanese individuals and UNIFIL veterans, alongside 14 months of participant and field observation, I argue that Lebanese people agentially transform superficial, formal encounters with peacekeepers into substantial, impactful relationships through the Lebanese culture of hospitality. In informal, private and local spaces and contexts, 'thick' identities are enacted and cultural exchange occurs, which transforms and hybridizes the knowledges and identities of both peacekeepers and Lebanese people. Through this process of hybridization, interlocutors emerge who facilitate the connections of others in their social networks and function as bridges across the international-local divide. This hybridization augments UNIFIL's access to local knowledge, which improves local support and operational effectiveness. Further, the relationships and connections between peacekeepers and Lebanese people contribute to the restoration or amelioration of Lebanese human identity needs, which are threatened by the conflict with Israel and the ways in which it intersects with intrastate tensions. This constitutes incremental change productive to complex pathways toward peace in south Lebanon.

This thesis aims to explore the conceptualization, practice, and motivations behind nonviolent resistance among Palestinian activists and organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Addressing a notable gap in the literature, this study examines how these actors navigate between pragmatic and principled strategies of nonviolence, utilizing Burrowes’ framework on the pragmatic-principled dimension. Through in-depth interviews with key activists and organizations, the research provides valuable insights into their experiences and beliefs. The findings of the study reveal a prevalence of principled approaches, challenging existing research and theory on Palestinian resistance. Thereby, this thesis contributes to a better understanding of nonviolent resistance in the Palestinian context, and by emphasizing the nonviolent aspect of Palestinian resistance, the research introduces a perspective that challenges traditional narratives of conflict.

Research studies and commentaries have analyzed the formal mechanisms associated with special education conflict such as the use of mediation and impartial hearings to resolve disputes. However, specific information regarding the management of special education conflict at the school level is in shorter supply. This study addresses special education conflicts between school personnel and parents of children with disabilities to understand better how these conflicts might be managed more successfully. The purpose of this study was to develop recommendations and implications for managing special education conflicts at the school building level. Multi-vocal synthesis methods were used to collect and to analyze data in an iterative process incorporating results from a content analysis of previous research with analysis of interviews with stakeholders having a vested interest in managing special education conflict at the school level (Gersten & Baker, 2000; Ogawa & Malen, 1992). Findings suggest that providing parents with evidence that their child’s needs are being met would pave the way for successful school-based special education conflict management. In conclusion, the participants indicated that conflicts could be avoided or managed successfully if school personnel could provide parents with clear evidence (a) that their child’s IEP was being followed in the classroom; (b) that accommodations were provided; (c) that staff were knowledgeable about providing services in an inclusive environment; (d) that administrators were knowledgeable about special education compliance issues; and (e) that staff would be held accountable for providing an appropriate education and for demonstrating trustworthy behavior. / Ed. D.

Yes / This paper focuses on the dispute over river Cauvery in Southern India. Among the causes of river water disputes are contested property rights, difficulty in enforcing such rights, conflict of uses and a lack of willingness to compromise. A co-operative outcome in such cases depends on several factors: asymmetry of power in a triadic relationship between a federal government and two riparian states (one upstream and one downstream). Other factors influencing co-operation are the extent to which the claims of river waters can be elevated from those of immediate riparian peoples to those of an entire state; the dominance of a masculine paradigm towards 'taming' river waters using 'hard' investments rather than 'soft' and decentralised alternatives. On the basis of district level data, the importance of river Cauvery to the hydrology, economy and polity of the two contesting states is examined. This analysis helps us to appreciate why the two riparian state governments have limited room to manouvre. Drawing from two brief case studies of Murray Darling Basin and recent litigation in the USA, and other international experiences of river water treaties, the paper identifies various implications for the resolution of Cauvery and other river water disputes.

Yes / This chapter focuses on important dimension of peace education, the effort to foster qualities and skills for engaging constructively with conflict. Peace education and environmental education have many affinities. It concerns transforming violent or unpeaceful relationships into peaceful ones. The chapter examines several strategies for supporting these aspects of education in elementary schools. It introduces three areas of practice within Conflict Resolution Education cooperative learning, peer mediation, and restorative justice before offering a brief comment on some wider issues that educators might consider in this area of work. The chapter discuses the connection between peace education and environmental education via a shared concern with violent, unpeaceful relationships including our relationship with the natural world and the necessary effort to establish more peaceful, nurturing relationships. It also addresses the environmental problems that are the concern of this book climate change, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, there is a need to critically re-examine our relationship with nature.

[pt] A presente dissertação faz uso do instrumental teórico da Resolução de Conflitos a fim de analisar o gerenciamento do conflito que opõe os grupos nacionalista católico e unionista protestante na Irlanda do Norte. Tal processo culminou com a assinatura do Acordo de Sexta Feira Santa em 10 de abril de 1998. A estratégia aplicada nas negociações previa a atuação simultânea em duas frentes: na elaboração de um acordo que estabelecia o compartilhamento de instituições políticas e na construção da confiança entre as partes concentrada na questão da deposição de armas pelos grupos paramilitares. Essa dissertação busca problematizar a mediação como um processo de resolução de conflitos de natureza elitista que encara o conflito como um problema essencialmente de barganha. Compreende-se que a mediação não encoraja a reconciliação entre as comunidades antagônicas e a geração de uma cultura de cooperação política, falhando em promover a confiança entre as partes e ocasionando impasses na implementação do acordo de paz. Embora a mediação tenha sido fundamental para oferecer uma alternativa política para as partes beligerantes, o conflito na região permaneceu latente com a escalada da violência em momentos cruciais de progresso das negociações. Este estudo conclui que a concretização do acordo deveu-se muito ao esgotamento da sociedade civil e ao reconhecimento das partes da impossibilidade de vencer o conflito pela via armada. Essa conclusão aponta a necessidade de se complementar a abordagem elitista com iniciativas de resolução de conflitos constituídas no seio da sociedade civil para explicar a evolução do processo de paz na Irlanda do Norte rumo à transformação do conflito e à construção de uma paz positiva. / [en] This dissertation analyzes from a Conflict Resolution perspective the process of conflict management between catholic nationalists and protestant unionists in Northern Ireland. This process ended with the signature of the Good Friday Agreement in April of 1998. The strategy employed in the negotiations presupposed a twin track approach: the elaboration of a power sharing political arrangement and the implementation of confidence building measures for the decommissioning of arms by paramilitary groups. This dissertation aims to problematize mediation as an elitist conflict resolution process that considers conflict essentially in terms of a bargaining problem. Mediation is understood as a process that does not encourage the reconciliation of antagonist communities and the generation of a culture of cooperation, failing to promote confidence between the parties and imposing setbacks in the implementation of the peace agreement. Although mediation was able to offer to the belligerents parties a political alternative, the conflict in the region remained latent, with the escalation of violence during crucial moments when the negotiations were moving forward. This study concludes that the peace agreement was achieved much due to the disengagement of civil society in the conflict and the recognition of the parties that they would not win the conflict by forceful means. This conclusion points to the necessity of complementing the elitist approach with civil society conflict resolution initiatives in order to explain the evolution of the peace process in Northern Ireland towards conflict transformation and positive peace.

Discussions of the armed conflict in Colombia have gained international awareness over the past years. Current events neglect to note the complexities of the civil war conflict that has afflicted Colombia for many decades. The armed soldiers still have a presence in the country, though there have been vast improvements under the current Uribe administration. Since there are only a few existing written accounts of the revolutionary groups this study attempts to contribute to the scholarly discourse. The bulk of this research is dedicated to providing a history of the three dominant illegally armed groups in Colombia, The FARC, the ELN, and the AUC. This study will attempt to provide an accurate analysis of the conflict by describing the groups in their historical context. Conclusions to the Colombian crisis include points of view from all areas. Guerilla and paramilitary ideas include a national convention, government trust in leadership and increasing societal participation. Government actors seek progress in the peace process through the demobilization of the revolutionary groups. As well as defining the conflict, this study sheds light on various possibilities for conflict resolution.