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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Peace studies > General
For the first time, this book explores the role of foreign languages in military alliances, in occupation and in peace building, through detailed case studies from Ireland, Britain, France, Finland, Slovenia, Korea, Bosnia and Cyprus, ranging from the eighteenth century until today. It adopts a multidisciplinary perspective, bringing together academic researchers and practitioners - from the military, and from the museum and interpreting worlds. The book raises key issues about communication, identity and representation in war, and argues that the complex linguistic dimensions of conflict and peace operations are of major relevance to military planners, civilian agencies, museums and the media.
The volume brings together an outstanding group of international scholars from the field of peace/co-existence education and education for social cohesion to build understanding of the impact of sustained educational efforts towards peace, co-existence and reconciliation in countries emerging from protracted conflict. It explores the impact of innovative long term methods of pursuing peace and reconciliation such as the creation of integrated schools and/or policy whose central aim is the celebration of diversity and rejection of prejudice in countries where prolonged interracial or interethnic conflict has scarred society.
This book applies cutting-edge methods from cognitive and evolutionary theories to develop models of conflict between hierarchically-structured cognitive entities under circumstances of imprecision, uncertainty and stress. Characterized as friction and the fog-of-war by the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, such conditions impair institutional cognition in real-time conflict and pose a real and continuing threat to organizations, such as the US military. In a linked collection of formal essays and a mathematical appendix, the book explores different aspects of cognitive and evolutionary process as conducted under the direction of doctrine that acts as a kind of genome for retention of what is learned through Lamarckian evolutionary selection pressures: armies and corporate entities learn from conflict, and incorporate that learning into their ongoing procedures. The book proposes models and policy solutions for strategic competence. A central feature of the book is a formal description of the famous OODA loop of the US military theorist John Boyd in terms of the Data Rate Theorem that links control and information theories. That description is expanded to cover more fully the impact of stochastic fog-of-war effects on tactical and operational scales of conflict. Subsequent chapters examine in more detail the role of doctrine, and the particular effect of embedding culture on cognitive and Lamarckian evolutionary processes associated with conflict on tactical, operational, and strategic scales and levels of organization. A scientifically sophisticated exercise in applied mathematics, history, evolutionary theory, and ecosystem theory, this book will be appropriate for researchers and students interested in defense, security, and international relations, as well as non-academic career professionals in government and industry.
This book suggests that the assumption that human life is based on conflicts of interest, wars, and the opposition of people to each other and to nature exists as a paradigm that supplies meaning and orientation to the world. An alternative paradigm sees cooperation, caring, nurturing, and loving as equally viable ways of organizing relationships of humans to each other and to nature. Fellman sees this shifting emphasis from adversarialism to mutuality as essential to the survival of our species and nature itself.
In this new work of political theory, John Randolph LeBlanc examines the political oeuvre of critic and activist Edward Said and concludes that Said preferred "reconciliation" to segregation in Palestine/Israel. LeBlanc argues that, for Said, the path to reconciliation requires recognizing the complex, intertwined positions of self and other in the region. Said's criticism speaks to the importance of negotiating the troubling, proximate, and unsettling presence of our most perplexing others; it suggests that peace will come not from rearranging geographies but from working through the aftereffects of exile and learning to share the deeply contested space. Forbearance and recognition, not separation, make reconciliation possible between two 'communities of suffering."
This book, first published in 1983, examines the role that arms control has to play, alongside defence and deterrence, in stabilising East-West relations and reducing tensions during the Cold War. Arms control agreements were designed in the attempt to achieve parity between the nuclear forces of the superpowers, without making war more likely. A danger of confrontation between the USSR and the USA came from their involvement in Third World conflicts, and this arena is also discussed. The diplomatic approaches of the Soviet Union, the Third World and the West, and their aims in arms control, are also analysed.
The Kurds, one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Middle East, are reasserting their identity-politically and through violence. Divided mainly among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Kurds have posed increasingly sharp challenges to all of these states in their quest for greater autonomy if not outright independence. Turkey's essentially democratic structure and civil society_ideal tools for coping with and incorporating minority challenge_have so far been suspended on this issue, which the government is treating almost exclusively as a security problem to be dealt with by force. For the West the situation in Turkey is particularly significant because of the country's importance in the region and because of the economic, political, and diplomatic damage that the conflict has caused. If Turkey fails to find a peaceful solution within its current borders, then the outlook is grim for ethnic and separatist challenges elsewhere in the region. This study explores the roots, dimensions, character, and evolution of the problem, offers a range of approaches to a resolution of the conflict, and draws broader parallels between the Kurdish question and other separatist movements worldwide.
The "illuminating" (Los Angeles Times) answer to why Israel and Palestine's attempts at negotiation have failed and a practical, "admirably measured" (The New York Times) roadmap for bringing peace to the Middle East--by an impartial American diplomat experienced in solving international conflicts.George Mitchell knows how to bring peace to troubled regions. He was the primary architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. But when he served as US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace from 2009 to 2011--working to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--diplomacy did not prevail. Now, for the first time, Mitchell offers his insider account of how the Israelis and the Palestinians have progressed (and regressed) in their negotiations through the years and outlines the specific concessions each side must make to finally achieve lasting peace.
This volume provides a critical assessment of the mainstream western childhood constructions and their impact to the developing world. Using African feminist and indigenous epistemological frameworks, the volume decolonizes the understanding of childhood, children, and youth. Specifically, the volume presents Global South contestations to mainstream western constructions by exploring alternative notions to standardized universal understanding of childhood. The author further deliberates childhood as a human right, exploring how armed violence hinders realization of such rights assessing humanitarian assistance during armed violence. Besides childhood, the volume explores the complex intersectional nature of youthhood and its cultural relevance to formerly displaced communities and how this manifests in access to and use of humanitarian assistance.
This book explores how the construction and contestation of victims in societies emerging from conflict impact processes of peacebuilding. It locates its inquiry in Northern Ireland where highly politicized, unresolved narratives of violence and a so-called 'hierarchy of victims' illuminate inherent paradoxes of victimhood in intergroup conflict. The author critiques how mechanisms designed to address the legacy of conflict often reify exclusive 'victim' and 'perpetrator' identities and obscure complex harm. Adopting an interdisciplinary lens, the book examines how the image of the ideal victim interacts with intergroup processes in a polarizing and intractable victim-perpetrator paradigm. The analysis of these issues in Northern Ireland suggests that exclusive policies and mechanisms reinforce rather than repair societal divisions, and that inclusive, complex approaches to victimhood are necessary to build sustainable peace. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of peace studies, transitional justice and criminology.
This book makes the case for a standing UN Emergency Peace Service. With this one development - effectively a UN first responder for complex emergencies - the organization would finally have a rapid, reliable capacity to help fulfill its tougher assigned tasks. To date, the UNEPS initiative has encountered an unreceptive political, fiscal, and security environment. Yet overlapping crises are now inevitable as are profound shifts. This book presents an insightful review of the worrisome security challenges ahead and analysis of two recent high-level UN reports. It addresses the primary roles, core principles, and requirements of a UNEPS, as well as the arguments for and against such a dedicated UN service. Further, it reveals that the primary impediments and lessons learned also help demonstrate what may work and, equally important, what won't. With modest support, the book shows, the next steps are feasible, although it's important to recall that ideas, even good ideas, don't work unless we do.
Drawing on the concept of hermeneutics the book argues that the successes and setbacks of conflict transformation in Teso can be understood through analyzing the impact of memory, identity, closure and power on social change and calls for a comprehensive effort of dealing with the past in war-torn societies.
Do international institutions actually contribute to building a lasting peace? Counter-examples and criticisms abound: failures and submissiveness to the interests of the most powerful states. As diplomats, practitioners with these institutions, and experts in their fields, the contributors to this volume underline the strengths and weaknesses that these international actors have created and will not abandon. Their research and investigations reveal that despite the fact that it is possible to wage a war against the will of international institutions, it has become almost impossible to make peace without them. The issues examined--collective security, disarmament, mediation, peace building, human security, reduction of poverty and inequalities, international criminal justice, and multilateralism--make this edited volume a key reference work on international organizations.
This book explores the traces of the passage of time on the protracted and intractable conflict of Western Sahara. The authors offer a multilevel analysis of recent developments from the global to the local scenes, including the collapse of the architecture of the UN-led conflict resolution process, the advent of the War on Terror to the the Sahara-Sahel area and the impact of the 'Arab Spring' and growing regional security instability. Special attention is devoted to changes in the Western Sahara territory annexed by Morocco and the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. Morocco has adapted its governance and public policies to profound socio-demographic transformations in the territory under its control and has attempted to obtain international recognition for this annexation by proposing an Autonomy Plan. The Polisario Front and Sahrawi nationalists have shifted their strategy and pushed the centre of gravity of the conflict back inwards by focusing on pro-independence activism inside the disputed territory.
Performance Affects explores performance projects in disaster and war zones to argue that joy, beauty and celebration should be the inspiration for the politics of community-based or participatory performance practice, seeking to realign the field of Applied Theatre away from effects towards an affective role, connected to sensations of pleasure.
This book analyses the institutional development that the Peruvian state has undergone in recent years within a context of rapid extractive industry expansion. It addresses the most important institutional state transformations produced directly by natural resources growth. This includes the construction of a redistributive law with the mining canon; the creation of a research canon for public universities; the development of new institutions for environmental regulation; the legitimation of state involvement in the function of prevention and management of conflicts; and the institutionalization and dissemination of practices of participation and local consultation.
This book analyzes energy security through the lens of oil and natural gas and explains how geopolitics and security challenges affect India's quest for energy security. It also offers insights into India's international trade and investment in the overseas oil and natural gas markets and discusses shale energy, adopting region-specific (Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and LAC), country-specific (Russia and the US), maritime-specific (Arctic and South China Sea), and pipeline-specific (TAPI, MBI, IPI, and RCI) approaches to analyze India's oil and natural gas trade and investment abroad. The introductory chapter examines energy perspectives in international relations and conceptualizes energy geopolitics and energy security from both international and Indian standpoints. The book also highlights the similarities and differences in the issues involved in the global oil and natural gas market, and India's approach to these, offering a roadmap for holistic and integrated energy security through oil and natural gas. Since India's energy trade and investment in the international oil and natural gas market are not free from the effects of political instability, corruption, environment crisis, militancy, terrorism, war, and geopolitical involvement and interference, the book investigates the nature and extent of the security threats and competition India faces in the oil and natural gas-producing countries while pursuing its trade and investments there. As major sources of energy, oil and natural gas are strategic assets, and energy security is one of the core areas of India's foreign policy pursuits. As such, the chapters critically assess India's energy policy and resource diplomacy, providing analyses of the issues raised, identifying the central arguments and presenting existing cooperations - with past examples where necessary. The book appeals to scholars and policymakers active in the fields of energy, political science, international relations, economics, foreign policy, peace and conflict, security and geopolitics, as well as non-experts interested in this topic.
The fruit of relentless peace activism and many years of philanthropic work in the Middle East Peace Network, In Search of Israeli-Palestinian Peace is Shai Har-El's unique, non-utopian, proactive approach to Middle East peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Recognizing the magnitude, complexity, and gravity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the evidenced limitations of traditional diplomacy, the author offers ideas how to enhance the Middle East peace process by adding a non-governmental peacebuilding component to the peace efforts. Such citizen diplomacy efforts, he argues, should be launched at a preliminary conflict transformation phase leading up to the final conflict resolution phase. The ultimate objective of this preliminary phase is to create-through alternative avenues, such as private diplomacy initiatives, transnational mechanisms, and backchannels-a win-win environment that is conducive to settling the conflict. This book details the concepts, measures, and techniques involved in the process with the understanding that the keystone for peace is the defiant power of the human spirit in both societies that are hungry for peace.
Conflict, Cultural Heritage, and Peace offers a series of conceptual and applied frameworks to help understand the role cultural heritage plays within conflict and the potential it has to contribute to positive peacebuilding and sustainable development in post-conflict societies. Designed as a resource guide, this general volume introduces the multiple roles cultural heritage plays through the conflict cycle from its onset, subsequent escalation and through to resolution and recovery. In its broadest sense it questions what role cultural heritage plays within conflict, how cultural heritage is used in the construction and justification of conflict narratives and how are these narratives framed and often manipulated to support particular perspectives, and how we can develop better understandings of cultural heritage and work towards the better protection of cultural heritage resources during conflict. It moves beyond the protection paradigm and recognises that cultural heritage can contribute to building peace and reconciliation in post-conflict environments. The study offers a conceptual and operational framework to understand the roles cultural heritage plays within conflict cycles, how it can be targeted during war, and the potential cultural heritage has in positive peacebuilding across the conflict lifecycle. Conflict, Cultural Heritage, and Peace offers an invaluable introduction to cultural heritage at all stages in conflict scenarios which will benefit students, researchers and practitioners in the field of heritage, environment, peace and conflict studies.
Sooner or later, if the world keeps following its current course, there will be a nuclear war. Roger Hilsman, who played a significant role during the Cuban Missile Crisis, is convinced that the only way to prevent an eventual nuclear conflict is to abolish war itself. This study examines and critiques all of the various proposals to date for incorporating nuclear weapons into strategic doctrine and concludes that these efforts have failed. Plans for abolishing only nuclear weapons are, according to Hilsman, good-intentioned but ill-advised attempts to rehabilitate war. Instead, he proposes a gradual transition to world government, which will perform the traditional social and political functions that were in the past served only by war. War will not disappear immediately. The world must still be prepared to deal with three types of war: wars that have the potential for escalating to a nuclear World War III; wars that are self-confining; and civil wars that cry out for peacekeeping intervention on humanitarian grounds. While the United States will have to be responsible for dealing with potentially nuclear wars, an entirely new force structure will be necessary. Self-confining wars, such as Bosnia, pose a particular problem as far as world public opinion for intervention is concerned; this study proposes solutions to such dilemmas. Finally, because national forces are ill-suited to peacekeeping missions in countries ravaged by civil war, the UN must recruit and maintain an international force along the lines of the French Foreign Legion.
In 1991 the politicians of Northern Ireland sat down at the formal negotiating table for the first time in seventeen years. This book tells the fascinating story of the Initiative's three years of painstaking political deals in an enlightening and entertaining narrative, using the words of many of the participants. It shows how the Initiative laid the necessary groundwork for the subsequent Irish peace process and how its failures also illuminate current events.
Examining American foreign policy towards the Horn of Africa between 1945 and 1991, this book uses Ethiopia and Somalia as case studies to offer an evaluation of the decision-making process during the Cold War, and consider the impact that these decisions had upon subsequent developments both within the Horn of Africa and in the wider international context. The decision-making process is studied, including the role of the president, the input of his advisers and lower level officials within agencies such as the State Department and National Security Council, and the parts played by Congress, bureaucracies, public opinion, and other actors within the international environment, especially the Soviet Union, Ethiopia and Somalia. Jackson examines the extent to which influences exerted by forces other than the president affected foreign policy, and provides the first comprehensive analysis of American foreign policy towards Ethiopia and Somalia throughout the Cold War. This book offers a fresh perspective on issues such as globalism, regionalism, proxy wars, American aid programmes, anti-communism and human rights. It will be of great interest to students and academics in various fields, including American foreign policy, American Studies and Politics, the history of the Cold War, and the history of the Horn of Africa during the modern era.
This book explains the history and development of the military design movement, featuring case studies from key modern militaries. Written by a practitioner, the work shows how modern militaries think and arrange actions in time and space for security affairs, and why designers are disrupting, challenging, and reconceptualizing everything previously upheld as sacred on the battlefield. It is the first book to thoroughly explain what military design is, where it came from, and how it works at deep, philosophically grounded levels, and why it is potentially the most controversial development in generations of war fighters. The work explains the tangled origins of commercial design and that of designing modern warfare, the rise of various design movements, and how today's military forces largely hold to a Newtonian stylization built upon mimicry of natural science infused with earlier medieval and religious inspirations. Why does our species conceptualize war as such, and how do military institutions erect barriers that become so powerful that efforts to design further innovation require entirely novel constructs outside the orthodoxy? The book explains design stories from the Israel Defense Force, the US Army, the US Marine Corps, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Australian Defence Force for the first time, and includes the theory, doctrine, organizational culture, and key actors involved. Ultimately, this book is about how small communities of practice are challenging the foundations of modern defence thinking. This book will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, defence studies, and security studies, as well as design educators and military professionals.
Great-power conflict and great-power war are still the most dangerous risks the international community is facing today. This edited volume investigates the feasibility of a modern day concert of powers as a way for managing the risk of great power conflicts in the 21st century. The volume takes its inspiration from history. The 19th century European Concert was not only able to ensure a period of exceptional peacefulness among the European great powers, it also limited the scope and duration of the few wars that did break out. The chapter authors discuss the achievements and limits of the historical concert, define the requirements that a new concert would have to meet, critically evaluate obstacles and risks of the approach and indicate how a 21st century concert of powers could complement, and fit into, the present legal and institutional setting of global politics. This volume offers a systematic examination of the norms and tools of the historical template and scrutinizes these tools for their utility in our time. It will be of great interest to a wide range of scholars and students in areas such as International Relations, History and International Law. |
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