Studies on the inclusion of non-warring parties in peace agreements have risen significantly in the research community. Focus has mostly been on civil society and women’s inclusion while youth inclusion has rarely been studied. At the same time, in 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2250 on youth, peace, and security arguing that youth can contribute to lasting peace. However, this statement has not been substantiated with evidence of this relationship. This paper will therefore study the relationship between meaningful youth inclusion in peace agreements and vertical legitimacy, the people’s belief in the government’s right to rule. Using a comparative case study, the suggested hypothesis, that meaningful youth inclusion will lead to higher vertical legitimacy is tested in Colombia and Guatemala. The results do not find support for the theory. Meaningful youth inclusion in the Colombian peace agreement did not lead to a higher vertical legitimacy later. Of note is that there was limited information available for Guatemala which is a big problem for the study as I cannot estimate the change in vertical legitimacy and thus not draw any certain conclusions from the study. More research should therefore look further into this theory using field research.

Conflict parties demand respect from their opponents and suggest it benefits conflict transformation. This raises questions about the role of respect in conflict and why conflict parties care more about respect than about positive evaluations such as liking. I began by exploring the concept and a general definition: Respect has positive valence, involves positive value judgments, bestows influence, and has a moral quality. The definition maps onto Janoff-Bulman and Werther’s distinction between basic, generally-assumed, morality-based categorical respect, which grants targets basic rights, and exclusive, mainly competence-based contingent respect, which imparts further influence including decision power. In Study 1 a content analysis of respect and disrespect episodes described by 75 undergraduate students provided support for the definition and the distinction. Next, respect was theoretically and empirically distinguished from liking. In Study 2, 45 undergraduates were asked about individuals they respected, liked, respected but did not like, and liked but did not respect (within-subject design). As predicted, Ps judged respected targets as more competent and moral, but liked targets as somewhat warmer. To test respect benefits in conflict both for targets and “respecters,” Study 3 led 82 female students to believe they would have a dialogue about a moral topic (gay marriage), for which they had indicated firm convictions in a prescreening. Ps first received a description of their ostensible dialogue partner’s views, which were manipulated to oppose Ps’ opinions respectfully, oppose them disrespectfully, oppose them without mentioning respect, or match them. Although strongest effects were found for matching (vs. opposing) views, respect (vs. disrespect) was also beneficial, especially when controlling for Ps’ perceptions of similarity with the “respecters.” Benefits included more positive emotions; improved judgments of the “respecter” regarding morality, competence, warmth, and openness in dialogue; and increased reciprocated respect. Regression analyses additionally showed that perceived respect increased a partner-considerate conflict style and tended to increase the time Ps offered for the dialogue. Comparisons to the respect-neutral condition showed that the disrespect (vs. respect) condition primarily drove the effects. Controlling for liking left (dis)respect effects largely unaffected, suggesting both concepts are indeed distinct.

No abstract was provided / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.

No / The practices and conceptions of peace and war have been highly gendered throughout world history. Indeed, the defining of genders has often itself been rooted in ideas and experiences of war and violence, with men as warriors, and women as the embodiment of peace. It is certainly the case that throughout human history the majority of war combatants have been men. By contrast many women have used their gendered identities, as mothers and guardians of life, in their activism in global peace movements, and in peacemaking at very local levels all over the globe. These gendered experiences of women and men have resonance everywhere in the world, but are also stereotypes. As well as being warriors and the bearers of violence, men have also resisted dominant social pressures to fight, and been active in movements to build peace. Women have also cajoled men, and socialised boys, to fight, and shamed those who did not. Thus, whereas a focus on the stereotypes suggests that the differences between women and men are due to their violent or peaceful natures, paying attention to the full range of behaviour of women and men makes it self-evident that these differences cannot be explained by biological differences alone, because they are so varied. Nonetheless, the roles played by women and men that go beyond the simple stereotypes are persistently regarded as transgressive or insignificant in many cultures, making it difficult to keep the broader picture in mind. That is not to say that gender differences are not significant however; gender remains one of the most important lenses through which to understand war and peace.

This thesis attempts to understand how American hegemony is reproduced. Despite heavily criticizing American military expansion, the foreign policy elite still abet the expansion of the American military apparatus. I argue that international liberalism is used to capture the hearts and minds of the professional-managerial class. Specifically, the framings of the democratic peace theory, multilateralism, and international law soften the violent and deleterious interventionist decisions made by the foreign policy elite. Furthermore, these framings are used to academically bolster liberalism and add to their cultural legitimacy and saliency in civil society. By interrogating a podcast made by foreign policy elites, I show how podcasts function as a key site of hegemonic reproduction. / Master of Arts / It is not uncommon for foreign policy diplomats, strategists, and advisors to become media pundits after they finish their careers in foreign policy. As foreign policy careerists filter into the media apparatus, they also transfer their ideological beliefs through the media outlets that they operate. First, this thesis investigates the international actions and ideological assumptions of foreign policy careerists. Subsequently, this thesis argues that foreign policy careerists spread their ideological positions through podcasts to make their preferred policy decisions seem commonsensical and benevolent. They have the power to do this, in part, because they have successfully associated themselves with the authority of intellectual thought.

Yes

The purpose of this study is to make a survey of the efforts that have been made to secure world peace and to present some basic elements necessary in any workable world peace organization. Stress will be placed not on military power or economic difficulties but on the fundamental human relationships of mankind.

Yes / History and overview of Commonweal Collection and developments up until late 2006.

Peace education offers potential for transforming violent conflict into peace between groups in conflict. The research literature on conflict transformation theory and peace education has identified key assumptions for building long-term peace following violent conflict. The extent to which peace education programs have incorporated these theoretical notions, however, is not well known. This thesis explored the extent to which key theoretical insights from the literature on conflict transformation theory and peace education are incorporated in a prominent peace education program, Seeds of Peace. Data collection consisted of interviews with ten program staff members and written documentation produced by Seeds of Peace. Employing the analytical framework developed from a review of the literature, a comparison between theoretical notions and Seeds of Peace programming was done. Findings of this study highlight the extent to which there are gaps between theory and practice, and a case is made for the establishment of a more explicit connection between theory and practice. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the importance of further studies to address the research gap.