Yes / This paper is about civil society participation in two contexts of chronic violence:
Colombia and Guatemala. It explores the extent to which civil society organisations
can build citizenship in such contexts and simultaneously address violence. It argues
that civil society organisations can play a vital role in building citizenship and
confronting violent actors and acts of violence. However, in order to address
chronic, perpetuating violence and interrupt its transmission through time and
space, it is important to clarify the relationship between power and violence.
Conventional forms of dominating power correlate with violence. Loss of such
power or a bid to gain it can lead to violence, particularly where social constructions
of masculinity are affirmed by such behaviour. The paper asks whether the
promotion of non-dominating forms of power are needed if we are to tackle the
damaging effects on human relationships and progress of willingness to inflict
direct physical hurt on the Other. Non-dominating forms of power focus on
enhancing everyone¿s power potential and capacity for action and promoting
communication. If non-violence and non-dominating power gradually become the
social norm, this might enhance citizenship and participation in ways that tackle
other forms of violence, such as structural violence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/3802 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Pearce, Jenny V. |
| Publisher | Institute of Development Studies |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Working Paper, published version paper |
| Rights | © 2007 Institute of Development Studies. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
| Relation | http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/icps/publications/papers/index.php |
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