Cultures of violence are characteristic of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and attempts to move towards cultures of peace have often proved difficult and ineffectual. And yet, the wide variations in levels of violence within and between countries show that it is not inevitable; rather, it is the result of choices made at individual, community and societal levels. This book examines the potential of peace infrastructures as vehicles to strengthen and spread progress towards cultures of peace. Peace infrastructures vary hugely in sophistication and level. The examples examined in this book range from tiny structures which help resolve conflicts between individuals and within community organisations, peace committees which serve local communities, peace education and peace club programmes in schools, mediation mechanisms to prevent election violence and to ministries of peace to coordinate government and non-government efforts in peacemaking and peacebuilding. The overall finding is that the development of peace infrastructures at all levels has great potential to build cultures of peace. 1. It is the only book available which documents the experience and potential of nonviolence in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa. 2. It makes a persuasive case for the development of various peace infrastructures in order to make peace sustainable. 3. It explains how strategic planning can be utilised, both to bring about change and to institutionalise it.

Contents:
Glossary Contributors Preface 1. Armed Conflict in Developing Countries: Extent, Nature and Causes Geoff Harris 2. The Costs of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries Geoff Harris 3. Structural Violence, Positive Peace and Peacebuilding Geoff Harris and Neryl Lewis 4. Reconstruction, Recovery and Development: the Main Tasks Geoff Harris 5. Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Geoff Harris and Neryl Lewis 6. The Tasks of Political Recovery Neryl Lewis, Geoff Harris and Ellsa dos Santos 7. Social Recovery from Armed Conflict Neryl Lewis 8. Financing Recovery and Reconstruction, with particular reference to foreign assistance Geoff Harris and Neryl Lewis 9. The Demobilisation and the Reintegration of Ex-combatants Geoff Harris and Neryl Lewis 10. Women and Children in the Recovery Process Neryl Lewis 12. Refugees and the Internally Displaced Neryl Lewis 12. The Centrality of Community-led Recovery Rebecca Spence 13. Reconstructing Afghanistan: Opportunities and Challenges William Maley 14. Angola: Can Structural Readjustment Lead to Peace Khablele Matlosa^n 15. Cambodia: The Complex Case of Legitimacy Peter Bartu 16. South Africa Gavin Cawthra 17. The Problems of Post-conflict Recovery and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka Sumanasiri Liyanage

Cultures of violence are characteristic of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and attempts to move towards cultures of peace have often proved difficult and ineffectual. And yet, the wide variations in levels of violence within and between countries show that it is not inevitable; rather, it is the result of choices made at individual, community and societal levels. This book examines the potential of peace infrastructures as vehicles to strengthen and spread progress towards cultures of peace. Peace infrastructures vary hugely in sophistication and level. The examples examined in this book range from tiny structures which help resolve conflicts between individuals and within community organisations, peace committees which serve local communities, peace education and peace club programmes in schools, mediation mechanisms to prevent election violence and to ministries of peace to coordinate government and non-government efforts in peacemaking and peacebuilding. The overall finding is that the development of peace infrastructures at all levels has great potential to build cultures of peace. 1. It is the only book available which documents the experience and potential of nonviolence in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa. 2. It makes a persuasive case for the development of various peace infrastructures in order to make peace sustainable. 3. It explains how strategic planning can be utilised, both to bring about change and to institutionalise it.