Digital Commons Network^™

Cultivating Hope, Weaving Peace: Colombian Educators Building Pathways To Teach About The Armed Conflict, Laura Vesga Villalba

Master's Theses

Communities affected by conflict require additional educational support in order to adequately reflect on their situation and learn peacebuilding skills. Research is needed to examine how peacebuilding education is being approached through an intergenerational lens, to address the trauma that is carried throughout generations and the healing and reconciliation that may be brought about through successful critical peacebuilding education programs. The purpose of this study is to analyze the formal and informal educational approaches to teaching about the armed conflict in Colombia. The research methodology for this study was phenomenological research conducted through semi-structured interviews. Results illustrated that educational approaches …

Does Aid Really Help? The Nexus Between Development Aid And State-Society Resilience In Fragile Situations, Cyrel San Gabriel

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

This study aims to determine how development aid impacts state-society resilience, and how such resilience impacts aid flows in fragile situations. It particularly examines if development aid builds state-society resilience in fragile situations listed in the harmonized list of World Bank, African Development Bank, and Asian Development Bank from 2006 to 2018. Results show that development aid causes a decrease in state-society resilience, while state-society resilience causes an increase in aid flows. Aid for governance and human development weakens resilience. Better governance and peace levels curb aid flows, while higher human development levels boost aid flows. Economic growth is neither …

Beyond Resettlement: The Role Of Ethiopian Refugee Diaspora In Homeland Peacebuilding, Etsegent Endale

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

The number of people forced to flee their homeland across the world is increasing at an alarming rate. As a consequence, refugees have become a growing concern among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. Although much attention has been afforded to refugee studies, the contributions of conflict-induced migrants towards homeland peacebuilding remain underrepresented within the peacebuilding discourse. This study explores the perceptions and understandings of peace and specific peacebuilding activities from the perspective of conflictinduced forced migrants, namely, former refugees from Ethiopia who have resettled in the United States. The objective of the study is to expand the scholarly discussion on …

Interfaith Education And The Quest For Peacebuilding In Northern Nigeria, Ezekiel Abdullahi Babagario

Doctoral Dissertations

INTERFAITH EDUCATION AND THE QUEST FOR PEACEBUILDING IN NORTHERN NIGERIA Over the past thirty years, relationships between ethnic and religious groups in the northern regions of Nigeria have deteriorated. Conflict occurs on an almost daily basis between Christians and Muslims. Most Nigerians consider themselves very religious which often leads followers of the major religions to fight to protect the teachings of their faith. The high level of illiteracy and lack of interreligious understanding between the faith groups contributes to the propensity for violent clashes in the region. The literature review discusses the concept of religious education, interfaith dialogue and interfaith …

Post-Genocide Rwanda Peacebuilding Efforts: The Perspective Of The People, Amerins Tolman, Ben Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2015, there were forty active conflicts worldwide, with approximately 167,000 fatalities. These statistics are representative for the past decade. Many fatalities are associated with the inability to create lasting peace in the developing world, due to a lack of peace-building techniques, assistance from the transnational justice system, and support from local citizens. An example of such a conflict is the Rwandan genocide. Between April and June 1994, the Hutu majority perpetrated a genocide against the Tutsi minority of Rwanda. The estimated death toll was between 800,000 and 1 million, with the overwhelming majority of the victims being Tutsi. A …

Buying Peace Or Building Peace: Rethinking Non-Coercive Approach To The Management Of Non-State Armed Groups Involved In Mass Atrocity, Owonikoko B. Saheed, Nathaniel D. Danjibo

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) are increasingly responsible for mas atrocities in contemporary armed conflicts. As agents with a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, the state has the responsibility to engage NSAGs for peace and security. How to sustainably engage them remains the subject of intense debate among policymakers and academics. While some advocate for the use of a coercive approach, others favor a non-coercive approach or a combination of both. Contemporary reality has shown states often opt for the adoption of a non-coercive approach to end mass atrocities and extreme violence because a coercive approach has proven to …

The Caged Bird Still Sings: The Poetics Of Peace, Sofia Diane Skavdahl

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although poetry has been used as a method of peacemaking since Homer’s Iliad, little research, theory, or analysis has been done evaluating precisely what role poetry holds in the realms of peacemaking and conflict resolution. Poetry, along with other arts-based practices of peacemaking, is beneficial because of its ability to encourage personal autonomy and emotional communication, while offering an open and creative space to heal from violent conflict. In terms of the arts, poetry is especially unique because it holds the ability to transform relationships between adversaries and the relationship with the self. This paper seeks to analyze both the …

The Ineffectiveness Of Peacekeeping And The Absence Of Crucial Peacebuilding Initiatives In The Kashmiri And Northern Irish Conflicts, Alexandra Stephanie Brennan

Senior Theses

The presence of peacekeepers, whether they are mandated by the international community or used internally by a sovereign nation, has a limited effect on the ability to achieve a lasting peace and may even function as an obstacle, as seen through a comparative study of the conflicts in Kashmir and Northern Ireland. Because of this, they are of limited utility as the final step towards a society that has reconciled with its past conflict due to the fact that the peacekeepers (efforts work towards short-term peace) do not act as peacebuilders (efforts work towards long-term peace). The regions of Kashmir …

Music And Peacebuilding: A Survey Of Two Israeli Ensembles Using Music And Dialogue To Build Understanding, Empathy, And Conflict Transformation, Benjamin Philip Bergey

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the work of two Israeli ensembles that bring diverse musicians together through music and dialogue. Dialogue is a key tool for transforming conflict and building peace that hinges on critical, empathetic listening.[1] Music ensembles, with their opportunities for participants to practice listening, are contexts in which participants and instructors can learn how to communicate and engage in dialogue to improve interpersonal relationships in pursuit of peace.

The Polyphony Foundation and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus bring Arab and Jewish youth together in Israel to make music and practice dialogue. This thesis examines …

Transition From Civil War To Peace: The Role Of The United Nations And International Community In Mozambique, Ayokunu Adedokun

Peace and Conflict Studies

With the heavy involvement of the United Nations (UN) and the international community, the Rome General Peace Agreement of 1992 ended more than 16 years of civil war in Mozambique. The peace agreement and post-conflict initiatives by the international community was successful in transforming the Mozambique National Resistance
(Renamo) from a rebel group into a viable political party. Key components of the United Nations and the broader international community success in negotiating peace and creating conditions for political stability and democracy in Mozambique were (a) the provision of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) before democratisation, (b) decentralization of humanitarian and …

The Creative Path To Peace: An Exploration Of Creative Arts-Based Peacebuilding Projects, Mary L. Clark

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT OF PROJECT

The Creative Path to Peace:

An Exploration of Creative Arts-based Peacebuilding Projects

There is a strong connection between creative arts and building capacity for peaceful transformation of entrenched conflict. While governments, warlords, militias and bureaucrats may control or dominate the overt peacebuilding process, artists of all disciplines work behind the scenes, in communities, cultural centers, refugee camps and war zones, building resiliency and peace from the personal level. This project explores how the creative arts stimulate and support peacebuilding: the nature and definition of peace itself, and the aspects of creative arts that render them powerful in …

Un Peacebuilding Efforts In Post-Conflict Situations, Zag Legrand Kimpolo-Nkaya

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis analyzes the work of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, Fund, and UN Family organizations in ensuring stability and development in underdeveloped and developing countries during post-conflict situations. This work defines and examines peacebuilding and development using data from the PBC, PBF, Polity IV, the Human Development Index Report, and other sources, including UN documents. Three case studies where chosen to evaluate the effectiveness of peacebuilding missions in accordance with the PBC priorities: Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Central African Republic. The UN work has contributed to development in these cases; however, improvements were needed in some areas as …

The Interfaith Council For Social Cohesion In The Western Balkans, Ylli H. Doci

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

With the demise of the communist governments in the Balkan region in the early 1990s, we have entered a phase in which serious religiously related issues challenging the social cohesion of our societies need serious analysis and action at different levels. Interfaith councils as a way of engaging the different religious communities in one society are not new and not the same. Nor are they unquestionably accepted or easily dismissed as ineffective in addressing challenges of peacebuilding and social cohesion in a religiously pluralistic society. There are political, cultural, ethnic and national considerations beside religious and educational ones which figure …