For decades, unresolved conflicts have negatively influenced the general public through increased violence, overwhelming the judicial system. A literature review suggested that between 15% and 20% of conflicts result in an impasse. This study was designed to understand how the implementation and application of the transformative meditation technique (TMT) is used to resolve conflicts. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the interpretation and implementation of TMT. This qualitative case study was grounded in the conceptual framework of interest-based negotiation (IBN) principles. The research questions focused on mediators' perceptions, interpretations, and depth of knowledge, as well as the effectiveness of the transformative mediation technique (TMT) as an improvement over evaluative or facilitative techniques in resolving conflicts and reducing impasses. Twenty face-to-face interviews were conducted with purposefully selected mediators. Data were coded and analyzed to identify recurring themes: interests, needs, responsibility, relationship, empowerment, problem solving, and negotiation. The findings of the data analysis revealed that mediators were familiar with TMT; interpretation and implementation varied with mediator style. Moreover, most mediators were not highly educated in TMT. In addition, it was found that simply having knowledge of TMT did not prepare mediators to apply the technique appropriately. Mediators were more attracted to the hybrid transformative mediation technique (HTMT). This study has the potential to create positive social change by reducing the number of litigations, giving relief to the overburdened justice system, and thus decreasing the use of limited courts resources.

Violence, insurgency, and terrorism have been a recurring problem in Nigeria. Efforts to address these challenges through the use of force have proved ineffective. The purpose of this study was to explore the application of peace education in the educational curriculum with a view to promoting consensual peace building in Kafanchan Town, Jema'a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Although peace education has been applied in some countries, this approach has not been applied to these challenges plaguing Nigeria. This study adopts the survey research method and utilizes the tripodal theoretical framework of ethnic conflict theory, enemy system theory, and the integrative theory of peace. Ethnic conflict theory stipulates that the internecine conflict between ethnic groups results from denial of their biological and psychological needs. Enemy system theory postulates that humans have a predisposition to discriminate. Integrative theory of peace projects peace as the interface between all aspects of human life, psychological, spiritual, ethical, or sociopolitical. A purposeful sampling technique was used to select 25 participants who were interviewed, and their responses analyzed first by synthesizing and isolating main themes and then by using the Nvivo statistical software. The emergent themes resulting from the data include: changing the mindset of individuals; lack of peace education; mainstreaming of peace education; holistic curriculum content; and a dynamic, participatory as well as integrated approach to peace education. Positive social change results from rejection and abhorrence of violence on a permanent basis and embracing a more peaceful approach to resolving contentious issues that may arise in the course of daily human interaction. This change will lead to peaceful coexistence at the individual, family, organizational, and societal level.

The focus of this study is the assumption that the return of refugees is a necessary condition for the establishment of sustainable peace after armed conflict. This assumption is often made in the peacebuilding literature as well as by policy makers, but it has rarely been the object of systematic analysis. The purpose of the study, therefore, is to test this assumption, which I label the “peace-by-repatriation thesis.” I adopt a two-step approach to analyzing the peace-by-repatriation thesis. The first step is to formulate an analytical framework. The second step is to use the framework to test the peace-by-repatriation thesis on a medium number of cases. The formulation of the analytical framework starts with an examination of previous research. I trace the theoretical foundations of the peace-by-repatriation thesis in research on peacebuilding, forced migration, and partition. The analytical framework is further informed by case studies of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nagorno-Karabakh, two cases that represent opposing perceptions of repatriation as a condition for peace. I adopt a set-theoretic approach to test the peace-by-repatriation thesis. I describe in some detail how the key concepts of the analytical framework are operationalized. I select and code forty-three cases—terminated conflicts that caused large-scale displacement—and use fuzzy-set analysis to test the peace-by-repatriation thesis. The analysis shows that repatriation is not a necessary condition for sustainable peace. Instead, ending displacement—irrespective of how this is done—turns out to be an important condition for peace. This result is consistent across tests of different combinations of cases and tests using alternative operationalizations of key concepts. Taken together, the fuzzy-set analysis and the case studies suggest that the relationship between repatriation and peace will vary from case to case and that pre-war interethnic relations is one of the circumstances that affect that relationship.

<p>This dissertation approaches the problem of war in Christian ethics through the lens of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing upon memoirs, letters, sermons, and fieldwork, it shifts the focus of moral inquiry from theoretical positions on war (e.g., just war theory and pacifism) to the domain of everyday life and the ways that local Christians theologically frame and practically reason through conflict. I explore the 1996-1997 Rwandan refugee crisis through the voice of a Catholic survivor, Marie Béatrice Umutesi, and consider how her narrative challenges both just war interpretations of this violence and "bare life" readings of refugee experience. I then examine how the Catholic Church endured rebel occupation in the eastern city of Bukavu from 1998-2000, looking specifically at how Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko's Christological reading of the situation transformed the experience of suffering into a form of agency and galvanized the Church into collective action. I go on to explore how residents of the town of Nyankunde in northeastern Congo are constructing alternatives to the war economy and re-weaving ordinary life out of the ruins of their former lives. In showing how local narratives help us reframe the problem of war in Christian ethics, I argue that description is not a preliminary stage to moral judgment; description is moral judgment.</p> / Dissertation

”Sustainable reconciliation”, a form of international aid relief program, has been developed and constructed to help populations overcome war trauma, using different activities within art, entertainment and sports.  Theorists claim that if conducted properly, activities such as these, should lead to good social capital, causing higher levels of culture tolerance, gender equality and creativity, as well as better health and life satisfaction. This study has examined how the non-governmental organization, the Cross Cultural Project Association’s relief program, the Open Fun Football Schools has affected its participants in Belgrade, Serbia. A quantitative analysis has been conducted through the means of a multi question survey, to see if certain variables are correlated with the projects influence, “OFFS social capital”. According to the results, the activities did have positive effects on education, culture tolerance, gender equality, creativity, heath and life satisfaction. In addition the social capital influenced by the activities was found to be dependent on participants’ level of culture tolerance, and vice versa. The project is found to set the foundation for good social networking possibilities and create good social capital, all great aspects for the purpose of peace building.

Univ. of Ulster, Diss. u.d.T.: Leonie G. Murray: United States-United Nations relations during the first Clinton administration, with special reference to Somalia and Rwanda--Coleraine, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

This thesis studies the peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building efforts undertaken by the United Nations (UN) in the Congo. Part one investigates the UN mission in Congo 1960 to 1964 and the second part looks at the current mission that started in 1999 which is currently ongoing. The final part makes a comparative analysis of the two case studies. Peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building are some of the approaches the UN uses in order to manage and settle conflict. While these concepts are often related to one another, they possess certain characteristics making them distinguishable. I solemnly use these concepts when conducting the two case studies and the comparative analysis. I study the mandates as well as the activities in the field. My main argument is that while the mandates differed between the two peace operations, the actual activities in the field shared many common features. I will show that the first peace operation in the Congo deviated from all others undertaken by the UN thus far. The Congo crisis in the sixties took place at the height of the Cold War. What commenced as a traditional peacekeeping operation eventually turned into a mission of peace enforcement. These enforcement measures were never supported by a Chapter VII mandate. There were also elements of peace-building efforts such as trying to install functioning governmental institutions. As such, it deviated from other peace operations during that time. Although these are considered as pioneering for many current peacebuilding missions, they cannot be considered as broad as today’s efforts. The current peace operation in Congo also started as a peacekeeping operation. As the conflict escalated, a Chapter VII mandate was provided to use force. Similarly to the peace operation during the Cold War, it also went from a peacekeeping operation to one of peace enforcement. However, the ongoing peace operation is provided with much clearer and less arbitrary mandates. The peace-building efforts are also much broader. Central to the mission is to aid in the implementation of a democratic system that will survive once the peace operation has ended. These forms of efforts are quite typical since the end of the Cold War.

This paper examines how ex-combatants of El Salvador’s 1980-1992 civil war view post-war processes of reconciliation. I demonstrate that contrary to dominant understandings of ongoing political polarization in El Salvador, perpetuated by Salvadoran political parties, many former army and guerrilla combatants are coexisting in the same communities and working together in various ways. I show how the Salvadoran Peace Accords and the apparent political polarization has opened a space for the recreation of social networks and the creation of communities in post-war societies. I call this process “grassroots peacemaking,”emphasizing the everyday negotiations of remembering and creating new social relations in a nation torn apart by war and violence. / text

No description available.

This thesis interrogates the Matabeleland disturbances of 1980-1987 by analysing the conflict narratives promulgated by the ZANU-PF and how these narratives directly impacted the socio-political construction of violence that was enacted during that period. Of critical relevance is the interplay between the revolutionary narratives manufactured and imposed by the ZANU-PF regime and the myriad of contrasting, yet subjugated counter-narratives that were formulated as alternative resistances by the recipient communities. Through in-depth interview and document analysis methodologies, this research deconstructs the generative nature of scripted violence through the exploration of five salient themes employed by the ZANU-PF to produce its political meta-narrative: Ethnicity, Nationalism, Loyalty, Legitimacy and Unity. This study explores the power and function of narrative discourse in the formulation of ethnic identities, nation-state ordering, historical exclusion, political discipline, and social uniformity. The premise of this dissertation suggests that durable peace in Zimbabwe will only be realised to the degree that the silenced victims of the Matabeleland massacres are afforded a public voice and a sustained recognition in the historic, collective memory of that nation. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.