The book examines how the Belfast Agreement came about and its effect on unionism, nationalism, the paramilitaries, electoral support for local parties and the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. It also considers the extent to which the Agreement may be regarded as an exercise in political cynicism or the basis for lasting peace.

This edited volume brings together a series of contributions exploring the socio-cultural and psychological representation of peace and conflict. It ventures into areas of the humanities and social sciences not typically foregrounded in peace studies, such as psychology, sociology, media studies, cultural studies, history, and geography.

Roudometof provides an in-depth analysis of inter-ethnic relations in the southern Balkans. He examines the evolution of the Macedonian Question and the production of rival national narratives by Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians. He introduces the concept of a national narrative in order to account for the production and proliferation of different forms of collective memory among the rival nation-states. Roudometof deconstructs the national narratives of the competing sides and shows the limits of these narratives and their biases. He also develops an alternative interpretation of Macedonian national formation.

The contentious issue of Macedonian national minorities in the southern Balkans is examined as well as the issue of the Albanian movements toward self-determination and succession in Kosovo and western Macedonia. Roudometof argues that the Macedonian minority groups are not as numerous in the neighboring states as it is conventionally assumed. With regard to the Albanian national question, he provides a review of the post-1945 relations between Albania and Greece, the Albanians of Kosovo and the Serbs, and the Albanians and Macedonians. He argues that the Albanian nationalist movements have grown out of the interaction between Albanians and their neighboring nations and ethnic groups. An important resource for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with the Balkans and ethnic conflict resolution in general.

Mike Ferner, a peace activist and journalist from Ohio, traveled to Baghdad twice, once just before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 and once again a year later. In this book, he profiles Cliff Kindy of the Christian Peacemaker Teams; Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness; and other peace activists, soldiers, journalists, and ordinary Iraqis he met during his two extended visits to what became known as the Red Zone, the area outside the protected Green Zone enclave. He provides a rare inside look into the daily life of Iraqis before and after the war as well as a collective profile of segments of the contemporary American peace movement that have thus far been hidden from public view. These stories have been gathered on the dusty streets of Baghdad and from tiny farming villages in the Sunni Triangle. They were not collected from the lobby of a five-star hotel, nor from behind the tinted windows of an armored SUV. We meet activists who are unarmed, trained civilians who put their bodies in between rival factions to promote peace, sitting in front of tanks and bulldozers and fasting in the desert on the Iraq-Kuwait border shortly before 130,000 U.S. troops invaded in 2003. We also are given an unvarnished view of everyday people in Iraq—cab drivers, an unemployed engineer, a newspaper editor, farmers in a rural village—all living their lives as normally as possible in the cauldron their country has become. The humanity of the people in these stories will resonate with people of all political persuasions because they go beyond the portrayal of Iraqis we're used to seeing in the news—as casualties, victims, grieving parents, and shell-shocked children. Instead, when Ferner gave presentations upon his return from Iraq, the comment he most often heard was, These people are just like us. They're just like people we know.

In the long history of the monotheistic tradition, violence - often bloody with warfare - have not just been occasional but defining activities. Since 9/11, sociologists, religious historians, philosophers and anthropologists have examined the question of the roots of religious violence in new ways, and with surprising results. In November 2004, the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion brought together leading theorists at Cornell University to explore the question whether religions are viral forms of a general cultural tendency to violent action. Do religions, and especially the Abrahamic tradition, encourage violence in the imagery of their sacred writings, in their theology, and their tendency to see the world as a cosmos divided between powers of good and forces of evil? Is such violence a historical condition affecting all religious movements, or are some religions more prone to violence than others?;The papers collected in this volume represent the independent and considered thinking of internationally known scholars from a variety of disciplines concerning the relationship between religion and violence, with special reference to the theories of 'just war' and 'jihad', technical terms that arise in connection with the theology of early medieval Christianity and early Islam, respectively.

"The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories" provides non-specialist readers with an introduction and historical overview of the issues that have characterized and defined 130 years of the still unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Provides a fresh attempt to break away from polemical approaches that have undermined academic discussion and political debatesFocuses on a series of core arguments that the author considers essentially unwinnableIntroduces readers to the major historiographical debates sparked by the disputeEncourages readers to consider more useful ways of explaining and understanding the conflict, and to go beyond trying to prove who is 'right' and 'wrong'

"This volume suggests a fresh and original interpretation to the history of the Arab Israeli conflict. Caplan juggles skillfully and even-handedly between the two narratives, reflecting the parties' own views without embracing the cause of any party."
-Joseph Nevo, University of Haifa

"An impressive and very valuable work. One could not ask for a better short history of the conflict. Caplan offers readers a study that is extremely well-informed, resolutely fair-minded, and filled with thoughtful insights."
-Mark Tessler, University of Michigan

This 31-volume set contains titles, originally published between 1956 and 1993. The first 15 books came out of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute a think tank established in 1966 to commemorate Sweden's 150 years of unbroken peace and one of the most respected worldwide. The majority of titles are from the 1980s, the period of the cold war where tensions had begun to rise again, and the threat of nuclear war gripped the world. International in scope the volumes look at the arms race, deterrence, nuclear proliferation, global policy and strategy and various other issues within the area of nuclear security.

Why do people turn to personal connections to get things done? Exploring the role of favors in social welfare systems in postwar, postsocialist Bosnia and Herzegovina, this volume provides a new theoretical angle on links between ambiguity and power. It demonstrates that favors were not an instrumental tactic of survival, nor a way to reproduce oneself as a moral person. Instead, favors enabled the insertion of personal compassion into the heart of the organization of welfare. Managing Ambiguity follows how neoliberal insistence on local community, flexibility, and self-responsibility was translated into clientelist modes of relating and back, and how this fostered a specific mode of power.

The first comprehensive analysis of Britain's complex relationship with UN peacekeeping operations during two formative decades. It charts the evolution of British views on an international organization running its own military forces and examines policy-makers' efforts to influence, contain and exploit individual operations: in Palestine, Kashmir, Egypt (following the Suez Crisis), Lebanon, Congo and Cyprus. Benefits included shedding colonial responsibilities, containing conflicts, face-saving, and burden-sharing; perceived risks included interference in remaining colonies and threats to postcolonial interests.

This book is a study of local grassroots activism in two major political areas, the peace and environmental movements, over a period of five years. Interviews with leaders of 166 different groups in five states (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, California, and Oregon), supplemented by personal observation and participation in several of those groups are the foundations of this analysis. The major concerns are the components of group and movement successes, both short-run and long-run, and activist group adaptations to change in the larger social and political world in light of political upheaval in Eastern Europe, the Gulf War, and several environmental crises that occurred during the period in question. Finally, Zisk focuses on the growing convergence (and barriers to convergence) of the movements. After examining short run accomplishments, Zisk concludes that most of the groups in both movements are faring poorly: few of their concrete goals are achieved, media attention is poor, and membership growth is problematic. For both movements, the transformational wings (those that press for basic changes, use consensus decision making, have few paid staff members) are not doing so well as the incremental wings (those seeking limited goals, using traditional decision techniques, employing larger staffs). This book should be of interest to students and teachers of political science and sociology.

As we continue our Sacred Journey in this third book of his Global Healing Trilogy, Vipin discovers and unfolds the Nature and State of Hope and then explores the Seven Treasures hidden within the Core of Fear. These Seven Treasures work together Creating the Resonance of New Vistas of Hope of Dawning the New Age of Dominion

Combining both legal and empirical research, this book explores the statutory aspects and practice of Gacaca Courts (inkiko gacaca), the centrepiece of Rwanda's post-genocide transitional justice system, assessing their contribution to truth, justice and reconciliation. The volume expands the knowledge regarding these courts, assessing not only their performance in terms of formal justice and compliance with human rights standards but also their actual modus operandi. Scholars and practitioners have progressively challenged the idea that genocide should be addressed exclusively through 'westernised' criminal law, arguing that the uniqueness of each genocidal setting requires specific context-sensitive solutions. Rwanda's experience with Gacaca Courts has emerged as a valuable opportunity for testing this approach, offering never previously tried homegrown solutions to the violence experienced in 1994 and beyond. Due to the unprecedented number of individuals brought to trial, the absence of lawyers, the participative nature, and the presence of lay judges directly elected by the Rwandan population, Gacaca Courts have attracted the attention of researchers from different disciplines and triggered dichotomous reactions and appraisals. The tensions existing within the literature are addressed, anchoring the assessment of Gacaca in a comprehensive legal analysis in conjunction with field research. Through the direct observation of Gacaca trials, and by holding interviews and informal talks with survivors, perpetrators, ordinary Rwandans, academics and the staff of NGOs, a purely legalistic perspective is overcome, offering instead an innovative bottom-up approach to meta-legal concepts such as justice, fairness, truth and reconciliation. Outlining their strengths and shortcomings, this book highlights what aspects of Gacaca Courts can be useful in other post-genocide contexts and provides crucial lessons learnt in the realm of transitional justice. The primary audience this book is aimed at consists of researchers working in the areas of international criminal law, transitional justice, genocide, restorative justice, African studies, human rights and criminology, while practitioners, students and others with a professional interest in the topical matters that are addressed may also find the issues raised relevant to their practice or field of study. Pietro Sullo teaches public international law and international diplomatic law at the Brussels School of International Studies of the University of Kent in Brussels. He is particularly interested in international human rights law, transitional justice, international criminal law, constitutional transitions and refugee law. After earning his Ph.D. at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Dr. Sullo worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg as a senior researcher and as a coordinator of the International Doctoral Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment. He was also Director of the European Master's Programme in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA) in Venice from 2013 to 2015 and lastly he has worked for international NGOs and as a legal consultant for the Libya Constitution Drafting Assembly on human rights and transitional justice.

Concepts and policies deriving from political and social movements in support of liberal nationalism are hotly debated today. Civil society has actively engaged in controversies over intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Lebanon. Pugh investigates the role of popular liberal internationalism as a social movement in Britain, addressing the use of force for peace through an examination of the impact of civil society actors in between wars. The interwar social movements had a massive and lasting influence on British approaches to international politics and influenced the UN's approach to peacekeeping, use of force and peace-building.

This book considers social movements for peace and security which probe below the level of state policies. Using Gramscian and Foucauldian ideas of civil society and society, it critically examines the factions and fluidities of a movement that was suffused with values at once humane and superior, tolerant and dogmatic, universalistic and imperial. Pugh explores one of the most powerful social movements for collective security in modern history, a movement which trespassed conventional political boundaries and provided innovative ideas for constructing peace through collective security.

"Conflict, Complexity and Mathematical Social Science" provides a foundational mathematical approach to the modelling of social conflict. The book illustrates how theory and evidence can be mathematically deepened and how investigations grounded in social choice theory can provide the evidence needed to inform social practice. Countering criticism from constructivist viewpoints it shows how discourse is grounded in mathematical logic and mathematical structure. The modelling of social conflict is viewed as an application of mathematical social science and relevant models are drawn from each field of mathematical psychology, mathematical sociology, mathematical political science and mathematical economics. Unique in its multidisciplinary focus the book brings together powerful mathematical conceptualisations of the social world from a wide range of separate areas of inquiry, thereby providing a strong conceptual framework and an integrated account of social situations. It is a vital resource for all researchers in peace science, peace and conflict studies, politics, international relations, mathematical modelling in the social sciences and complexity theory.

Mary Douglas's innovative explanations for styles of human thought and for the dynamics of institutional change have furnished a distinctive and powerful theory of how conflicts are managed, yet her work remains astonishingly poorly appreciated in social science disciplines. This volume introduces Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences. Mary Douglas: Understanding Human Thought and Conflict shows how Douglas laid out the agenda for revitalizing social science by reworking Durkheim's legacy for today, and reviews the growing body of research across the social sciences which has used, tested or developed her approach.

This book explores the role of horizontal inequalities - inequalities that exist between ethnic, religious or racial groups - as a source of violent conflict. This study shows how political, economic and cultural status inequalities have contributed to conflict, drawing on econometric evidence and in-depth studies of West Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It points the way to policies which would reverse inequality and thus reduce the risk of conflict.

This work traces the attempts by the United Nations to bring about the reunification of Cyprus prior to the island's accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004. In addition to charting the course of previous efforts to solve the Cyprus issue, the book recounts the direct discussions between the two sides from January 2002 through to April 2004 and analyses the reasons why the UN plan was rejected in a referendum.

Yakinthou throws light on the challenges of adopting political settlements in frozen conflicts and divided societies by focusing on the conflict in Cyprus, the resolution of which has for years been held up, in large part by elite intransigence. The book offers answers for why elites in Cyprus are so unwilling to adopt a power-sharing solution.

What are the human consequences of conflict and what are the appropriate service responses? This book seeks to provide an answer to these important questions, drawing on over twenty-five years of work by the author in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Focusing on the work undertaken following the Omagh bombing, the book describes how needs were assessed and understood, how evidence-based services were put in place, and the training and education programmes that were developed to assist first those communities affected by the bombing and later the wider population affected by the years of conflict. The author places the mental-health needs of affected communities at the heart of the political and peace processes that follow. This is a practical book and will be of particular interest to those planning for and responding to conflict-related disasters, policy makers, service commissioners and providers, politicians, civil servants and peace makers. -- .

This textbook is dedicated to an analysis of the emergent role of conflict analysis and resolution. What can this interdisciplinary field contribute to our understanding of, solutions to, or transformations of some of the most pressing problems confronting human societies? The authors, a team of international experts with both academic and professional experience of the field, offer a broad range of geographical and disciplinary perspectives. Covering theory, research and practice, they provide a comprehensive typology of the types of conflict, and a through examination of influences - uctural, strategic and cultural - on conflict. They go on to explore the management and resolution of conflict, discussing negotiation, mediation and peacebuilding. This hopes to be a key text for undergraduates and postgraduates taking courses in the field, and also for professionals, both active and in training.

Israelis and Palestinians have been caught in what seems a "forever war" with routine terror in the promised land for more than 100 years. This book is the first to bring together commentary and anguished personal insights from people on both sides of the battle. Readers get a personal look at--and a clearer, more nuanced understanding of--the psychological trauma that is common for men, women and children there. Psychologists in the regions, as well as scholars from across disciplines, tell their personal stories, interwoven with academic reflections on important issues fueling the conflict such as humiliation, revenge, hate, and the need for a homeland and identity. Readers are brought face-to-face with controversial issues, like the psychological impact of Israel's Separation Wall, and unique perspectives, including the stories of eight Palestinian female martyrs, the insights of a young student helping to save blasted bodies after the bombing of a bus, the compassion of a Jewish doctor treating suicide bombers, the thinking of a Jidhadist woman raised to hate Jews but now working for peace with Israelis, and a doctor bringing together Palestinians and Israelis using meditation to find peace.

This ground-breaking political history of the two Irish States provides unique new insights into the 'Troubles' and the peace process. It examines the impact of the fraught dynamics between the competing identities of the Nationalist-Catholic-Irish Community on the one hand and the Unionist-Protestant-British community on the other.

This book is the first to deal with the specific threat of terrorism in Southeast Asia after the Bali blasts of 12 October 2002, and in the wake of the US-led war on Iraq. It offers a comprehensive and critical examination of the ideological nature, sociopolitical motivations, trans-regional linkages, geographic loci and functional characteristics of the terrorist threat in the region. The contributors include leading scholars of political Islam in the region, renowned terrorism and regional security analysts, as well as highly regarded regional journalists and commentators from two of Asia's top think tanks--the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, both based in Singapore. This represents a formidable and hitherto unequalled combination of expertise.