Blended families are fast becoming the pattern for marriage in a century where divorce is prevalent. This study focussed on the fact that couples are not being adequately prepared through premarital counselling for the problem areas found within the blended family. The basis theoretical perspective revealed that problems that are typical today within the blended family were shown to be present from the moment that man deviated from God's plan for the ideal marriage, and that many examples of this are found in the Bible. The meta theoretical perspective showed that there are very specific problems associated with couples who consider marriage for a second time. The research indicated that the conflict manifested itself w i t h four major areas: Parental conflict; discipline of children; maternal negativity; and the crisis of identity found within stepchildren. The empirical section of this study revealed that the premarital counselling used by couples facing a blended marriage did not adequately prepare them and that of all the couples surveyed, whether they had done premarital counselling or not, all had struggled within the same areas in their marriages. It was found that there were large gaps within the premarital counselling given and that these gaps correlated with the four main conflict issues mentioned earlier. Furthermore, the study showed that the church is not regarded as being the institution that can help blended families in their conflict issues. Remarital counselling guidelines have been proposed in the form of an acronym 'WISER FAMILIES'. These guidelines address particularly the conflict areas that the research identified, which were not addressed by conventional premarital counselling. Guidelines were also proposed for churches, to assist them in dealing with the problems experienced by blended families, and suggests practical ways to meet their needs, using the implementation of support and focus groups. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is bedevilled with various conflicts which have been exacerbated by the multiplicity and diversity which characterize the nation. The country is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multiregional and multi-religious society. And while such arrays of features are not peculiar to Nigeria, managing them has greatly propped up various conflicts, with religious conflict emerging as one of the most devastating of all. It would appear as though, more than any other single issue, religious conflict has become a threat to national cohesion, stability and development. It has led to fears, suspicions, unrest; mass displacement of people, destruction of lives and property; consequently leading to major set-backs for nation building. The three main religions of Nigeria are the Indigenous Religions, Islam and Christianity, with Islam and Christianity having almost equal strength of adherence. While the indigenous religions have generally been tolerant and accommodating of the two “guest” religions, contestations and incessant violent clashes have characterized the relationship between Muslims and Christians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, and this has been on the increase in frequency, intensity and sophistication. This situation has led to the emergence and deployment of numerous approaches towards transforming conflicts in order to ensure peaceful co-existence of all the people. The task of this thesis is to contribute practical, theological reflections to the ongoing search for how Nigeria will end the undesired religious conflict between Muslims and Christians and build a peaceful and harmonious society. To do this, John Paul Lederach’s conceptual framework for conflict transformation was adopted and explained in chapter one; and two religious conflicts which took place in the Northern Nigerian cities of Jos and Maduguri were empirically investigated through intensive fieldwork. A review of relevant literature was carried out in chapter two and an elaborate explanation of the socio-scientific and theological methodologies adopted for the research was presented in the third chapter. In order to establish the causes, manifestations and consequences of the conflicts, chapter four and five explored their remote and root causes. Because this research is grounded on the assumption that religion is not just a source of conflict, but a resource for peace, and on the contribution of faiths to contemporary public debates, it provides a new approach which challenges the religious institutions, particularly the Church, through its pastoral ministry, to become actively involved in the transformation of conflict in the nation. The research holds that the greatest contribution of religion to the quest to transform religious conflict in Nigeria is through a practical theology which should be demonstrated in both spirituality and strategy. As such, and based on empirical findings from the zones of conflict, a theology of hospitality is suggested in chapter six, as a gradual but effective method of transforming relationships between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. While the approach does not preclude other approaches, it offers the enormous resources, possibilities and opportunities, ingrained within the religious domain for conflict transformation in contemporary Nigerian society. The strategies for achieving the desired transformation of the situation of conflict on short and long-term basis through the theology of hospitality are suggested in the seventh chapter.

This research explores the deep meaning land holds for Anishinabeg culture through the presentation of an Indigenous methodology described as research by and for Indigenous Peoples using techniques and methods drawn from the traditions and knowledge of those people. The research attempts to apply an Indigenous worldview, known as holism, in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies by critically considering research as a process of violence towards Aboriginal peoples. This assertion is based on the placement of higher level education within an institution designed to perpetuate norms in the broad interest of settler society founded on European views of the world. The resulting ontological violence or cognitive imperialism propagates cultural violence towards resident Indigenous populations. If we assume research and peace building are synonymous in Aboriginal contexts, then the solution to addressing the violence lies in designing research with the groups we are attempting to assist. This requires a paradigm shift from the traditional methods of research design to one that is more nuanced and flexible in its approach. This approach must consider two fundamental truths of an Aboriginal worldview: First, that change is constant and therefore, it is the rate and direction of change that is critical to consider; and two, one cannot begin to move towards peaceful relations without first moving towards peace within. The questions considered in this work are essential for any academic discipline or organization and speaks to the purpose of higher level education and the ways in which we acquire, contest, and negotiate knowledge development. Violence, as with peace, are cultural constructs and each academic discipline has its own culture similar to ethnic or organizational culture. The process of learning ─ the ways in which we acquire knowledge, is also a process of acculturation. Thus, when we learn to conduct research, we are being acculturated into the culture of the academy and our specific academic discipline. In traditional cultures that are founded on land based life ways, the symbols for knowledge transfer and processes for learning are found within narratives about the land because the natural world holds the symbols of knowledge transfer. / February 2017

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / This thesis analyzes Pakistan's Kashmir policy and strategy since 1947. Pakistan has sought to obtain the accession of Kashmir for over fifty years. This policy has its origins in Pakistan's struggle for a separate state for South Asia's Muslims, its belief that India never accepted Pakistan's existence, and Pakistan's domestic cleavages and institutional weaknesses. Because these beliefs and characteristics remain today, Pakistan is unlikely to drop its claim to Kashmir. Pakistan's strategy to achieve its objectives has included diplomacy, war, and proxy war. This thesis explores how internal and external variables have impacted Pakistan's methods and what this means for the current effort to end the proxy war in Kashmir. Although Pakistan is unlikely to abandon its claims to Kashmir, an analysis of Pakistan's shift from diplomacy to war in 1965 and from diplomacy to proxy war in 1990 demonstrates that Pakistan's strategy responds to external constraints and opportunities. The United States may not be able to end the dispute over Kashmir by pressuring Pakistan to drop its claims, but Washington retains sufficient influence to persuade Pakistan to use a peaceful strategy to pursue its claims to Kashmir. / Captain, United States Air Force

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis examines causes and contexts of conflict in the Papua province of Indonesia. The Papua conflict is categorized as an ethno-political conflict as groups of Papuan ethnics raise some incompatible issues about the government of Indonesia. They are expressing their political ideas with various actions from rebellion to non-violent political campaigns. The Indonesian government, at the same time, has chosen various policies from counter-insurgency to accommodation. The counter-insurgency policies, however, have escalated the conflict and regenerated more grievances to the Papuans that increase international concerns. Thus, this thesis argues for a peaceful resolution over the Papua conflict through negotiation and accommodation. The thesis also expects the active engagement of the civil society at the local, national, and international levels. / Civilian, Ministry of Education of Indonesia

The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying factors of the conflict between Christians and Muslims in the Central African Republic (CAR) that started in 2013. It is argued that political factors played an important role in the coup d'état that ousted President Francois Bozize - the event that marked the start of the civil war. Social factors were mainly responsible for how the civil war turned into sectarian violence. Furthermore, it is argued that a number of economic factors did not directly cause the sectarian violence, but instead contributed to the length of the conflict. The way broader factors contributed to the conflict (the CAR's weakened state and lawlessness for instance) are also discussed.

Countries emerging out of armed conflicts face immense challenges in their efforts to build electoral democracies. Contrary to our intuition that elections can transform violent competition to peaceful political contests, past research suggests that holding post-conflict elections only increases the chance of renewed violence. Why are elections unable to build sustainable democracies as expected? In this dissertation, I examine the question by focusing on two levels of analysis. First, I study the effects of violence on political behavior of mass publics at the individual level using the World Values survey Dataset. I argue that citizens are more inclined to support undemocratic leaders, when they are faced with threats from armed violence. Empirically, I find that presence of pre-election violence in post-conflict elections leads voters to prefer parties that are stronger in terms of their violence-wielding capacities over more moderate and peaceful parties. Second, I investigate how such an outcome might influence the risk of renewed conflicts in a country emerging out of armed conflict. The hypothesized mechanism can only be described as tragic. At individual level, fearful voters support violent parties mainly to maintain the status quo, fearing that parties with a violent reputation are likely to renew conflict if they lose the election. Tragically, however, placing undemocratic and violent parties in power only increases the likelihood of renewed conflicts. I test this expectation using an event history model to analyze all post-conflict countries from 1950 to 2010 and find that the presence of pre-election violence in a country increases its risk of renewed armed conflicts. The study has important implication for policymakers and election monitoring bodies. Rather than the current practice of observing only a single event Election Day, this study emphasizes the importance of creating a secure environment during the pre-election phase, about six months prior to the first election, in order to achieve a sustainable peace in post-conflict countries.

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the relationship between various indices of marital role conflict and measures of marital adjustment.

The current study investigated the association of interparental conflict, parent-child attachment, and children's behavior problems in middle childhood. Although the effects of interparental conflict have been studied extensively, there has been little research done in the developmental period of middle childhood. This study examined the potential mediating role of the attachment relationship between parents and children in a community sample consisting of 86 two-parent families with at least one child between the ages of 8-11. Path modeling procedures indicated that attachment security serves as a mediator between interparental conflict and child behavior problems based on child reports. In particular, child-reported attachment security to the mother significantly mediated the association between children's perceptions of threat from interparental conflict and child-reported internalizing and inattentive/hyperactive symptoms. Child-reported attachment security to the father was not a significant mediator and mediation was not supported in parent-report models. The current findings have implications for families experiencing conflict and speak to the importance of attachment in the parent-child relationship when explaining the association between instances of interparental conflict and child behavioral outcomes. In particular, parents who engage in conflict can prevent the damaging effects of that conflict by making the conflict less overt, explaining to children the reasons for the conflict, and providing children with some assurance that a secure parent-child and interparental relationship is still present, despite the conflict.

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