Referendums have become an undeniably important, and perhaps inescapable, peacemaking tool in contemporary peace processes. As such, understanding the ways in which referendum outcomes are shaped by peace negotiations is vital. Drawing upon two case studies, Amaral presents an empirically rich comparative analysis of the Annan Plan in Cyprus and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. She examines the negotiations, offering new interview material with key political and civil figures involved in the peace negotiations and referendum campaigns in both cases. Amaral argues that referendums are unsuitable for traditional secretive and exclusionist peace negotiations that fail to engage and educate the public. They rather require inclusive negotiations that involve a broad spectrum of political stakeholders and civil society at the early stages of the process. This collaborative approach can allow referendums to positively shape societies in conflict and be a crucial step toward lasting peace.

Navajo peacemaking is one of the most renowned restorative justice programs in the world. Neither mediation nor alternative dispute resolution, it has been called a "horizontal system of justice" because all participants are treated as equals with the purpose of preserving ongoing relationships and restoring harmony among involved parties. In peacemaking there is no coercion, and there are no "sides." No one is labeled the offender or the victim, the plaintiff or the defendant. This is a book about peacemaking as it exists in the Navajo Nation today, describing its origins, history, context, and contributions with an eye toward sharing knowledge between Navajo and European-based criminal justice systems. It provides practitioners with information about important aspects of peacemaking--such as structure, procedures, and outcomes--that will be useful for them as they work with the Navajo courts and the peacemakers. It also offers outsiders the first one-volume overview of this traditional form of justice. The collection comprises insights of individuals who have served within the Navajo Judicial Branch, voices that authoritatively reflect peacemaking from an insider's point of view. It also features an article by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and includes contributions from other scholars who, with the cooperation of the Navajo Nation, have worked to bring a comparative perspective to peacemaking research. In addition, some chapters describe the personal journey through which peacemaking takes the parties in a dispute, demonstrating that its purpose is not to fulfill some abstract notion of Justice but to restore harmony so that the participants are returned to good relations. "Navajo Nation Peacemaking" seeks to promote both peacemaking and Navajo common law development. By establishing the foundations of the Navajo way of natural justice and offering a vision for its future, it shows that there are many lessons offered by Navajo peacemaking for those who want to approach old problems in sensible new ways.

Wolfgang Huber, der am 12. August 2022 seinen achtzigsten Geburtstag feiert, hat den Protestantismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in unterschiedlichen Funktionen geprägt. Als Professor für Systematische Theologie in Marburg und Heidelberg von 1980 bis 1994 trieb er die Etablierung der Ethik als einer eigenständig profilierten theologischen Disziplin insbesondere angesichts der zeitgenössischen friedensethischen und bioethischen Herausforderungen mit voran. Als Präsident des Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentages von 1983 bis 1985 engagierte er sich mit Nachdruck dafür, den politischen Charakter des Kirchentages als Konsequenz aus dessen religiöser Verankerung deutlich zu machen. Als Bischof der Evangelischen Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz von 1993 bis 2009 moderierte er das Zusammenwachsen westlicher und östlicher Teile der Evangelischen Kirche an zentraler Stelle. Als Vorsitzender des Rates der EKD von 2003 bis 2009 nutzte er die ihm damit zur Verfügung stehenden Möglichkeiten, auf der politischen Ebene praktisch einzustehen für seine theologischen Überzeugungen. Und als theologischer Schriftsteller hat er nicht nur die fachwissenschaftlichen Debatten vorangetrieben, sondern mit vielen Veröffentlichungen auch dafür gesorgt, dass Einstellungen und Einsichten des evangelischen Christentums einem breiteren interessierten Publikum verständlich und vertraut werden konnten. In diesem Gesprächsband lässt Wolfgang Huber im Dialog mit den Münchener Theologen Christian Albrecht und Reiner Anselm sowie dem Göttinger Staatsrechtslehrer Hans Michael Heinig wissenschaftsbiographische und kirchenpolitische Etappen Revue passieren.

Uwe Kischel's comprehensive treatise on comparative law offers a critical introduction to the central tenets of comparative legal scholarship. The first part of the book is dedicated to general aspects of comparative law. The controversial question of methods, in particular, is addressed by explaining and discussing different approaches, and by developing a contextual approach that seeks to engage with real-world issues and takes a practical perspective on contemporary comparative legal scholarship. The second part of the book offers a detailed treatment of the major legal contexts across the globe, including common law, civil law systems (based on Germany and France, and extended to Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Latin America, among others), the African context (with an emphasis on customary law), different contexts in Asia, Islamic law and law in Islamic countries (plus a brief treatment of Jewish law and canon law), and transnational contexts (public international law, European Union law, and lex mercatoria). The book offers a coherent treatment of global legal systems that aims not only to describe their varying norms and legal institutions but to propose a better way of seeking to understand how the overall context of legal systems influences legal thinking and legal practice.

Building on earlier work in the anthropology of law and taking a critical stance toward it, June Starr and Jane F. Collier ask, "Should social anthropologists continue to isolate the 'legal' as a separate field of study?" To answer this question, they confront critics of legal anthropology who suggest that the subfield is dying and advocate a reintegration of legal anthropology into a renewed general anthropology. Chapters by anthropologists, sociologists, and law professors, using anthropological rather than legal methodologies, provide original analyses of particular legal developments. Some contributors adopt an interpretative approach, focusing on law as a system of meaning; others adopt a materialistic approach, analyzing the economic and political forces that historically shaped relations between social groups. Contributors include Said Armir Arjomand, Anton Blok, Bernard Cohn, George Collier, Carol Greenhouse, Sally Falk Moore, Laura Nader, June Nash, Lawrence Rosen, June Starr, and Joan Vincent.

Can there be universal moral principles in a culturally and religiously diverse world? Are such principles provided by a theory of natural law? Jacques response to both questions is "yes".

These essays, selected from the writings of one of the most influential philosophers of the past hundred years, provide a clear statement of Maritain's theory of natural law and natural rights. Maritain's ethics and political philosophy occupies a middle ground between the extremes of individualism and collectivism. Written during a period when cultural diversity and pluralism were beginning to have an impact on ethics and politics, these essays provide a defense of natural law and natural right that continues to be timely.

The first essay introduces Maritain's theory of connatural knowledge -- knowledge by inclination -- that lies at the basis of his distinctive views on moral philosophy, aesthetics, and mystical belief. The second essay gives Maritain's principal metaphysical arguments for natural law as well as his account of how that law can be naturally known and universally held.

The third essay in this collection explains the roots of the natural law and shows how it provides a rational foundation for other kinds of law and for human rights. In the fourth essay, reflecting his personalism and integral humanism, Maritain indicates how he extends his understanding of human rights to include the rights of the civic and of the social or working person.