Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

Salutogenesis And The Prevention Of Social Death: Cross-Cultural Lessons From Genocide-Impacted Rwandans And Indigenous Youth In Canada, Jobb D. Arnold

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Combining trans-disciplinary theories with cross-cultural ethnographic research, this paper explores community-based approaches to genocide prevention among Canadian-Indigenous groups as well as with Rwandan student genocide survivors. A Salutogenic framework is used to examine community responses to the micro-foundations of genocide (Antonovsky 1987). These processes are explored using first-hand accounts from “New Family” networks of student genocide survivors in Rwanda and members of a Canadian urban-Indigenous “Village.” These perspectives shed light on how locally adaptive, socially networked practices can help promote emergent forms of genocide prevention (Williams 1977). This paper focuses on three areas of local practice that have helped build …

The Cycle Of Insecurity: Reassessing The Security Dilemma As A Conflict Analysis Tool, David Mitchell

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article critically reassesses one of the classic ideas in International Relations, the security dilemma. It argues that the key insight of security dilemma theory has been obscured – by reductionist debates on single causes of conflict, inconclusive applications, and definitional disputes – and that the security dilemma’s enduring utility is as a model of the relational dynamic inherent in all conflict, the cycle of insecurity. Through a reappraisal of the literature, the article elucidates three essential dimensions of the cycle: an environment of structural uncertainty; interdependent collective identities; and an escalating and self-perpetuating dynamic. The power and validity of …

Navigating “Red Lines” And Transcending The Binary: Tensions In The Pedagogical And Political Goals Of Peace Education Work, Karen Ross

Peace and Conflict Studies

In this article I explore the tensions that arise in the context of educational initiatives implemented by organizations that have both pedagogical and political aspirations. I draw on the work of Sadaka Reut, a veteran Jewish-Palestinian peace education organization, to highlight how the ideological commitments held by an organization working for structural equality can limit possibilities for openness to multiple perspectives and can thus serve as a barrier towards successfully achieving pedagogical aspirations, in particular Sadaka Reut’s goal of educating towards a binational community of Jewish and Palestinian activists working in partnership. I also highlight the tension inherent in working …

Can Mystical Peace Contribute To Global Peace?, Peter Gan

Peace and Conflict Studies

Testimonial reports of mystics highlight an experience of peace in the midst of their mystical encounters, despite claiming that these encounters resist description. What I intend to do is to explore ways in which mystical peace, in combination with several principal features of the mystical life, is able to afford some special means in the initiation and building of peace in the world. These special or unique means rest on the distinctive traits of what mysticism harbors; traits such as infinity, all-encompassingness, ultimacy, and paradox.

Learning Together To Heal: Toward An Integrated Practice Of Transpersonal Psychology, Experiential Learning, And Neuroscience For Collective Healing, Tatsushi Arai, Jean Bosco Niyonzima

Peace and Conflict Studies

This essay brings together complementary insights from transpersonal psychology, experiential learning, and neuroscience to develop an integrated framework of psychosocial healing in societies affected by conflict and trauma. While transpersonal psychology examines the spiritual and transcendental aspects of psychosocial wellbeing, research on experiential learning examines how people learn from direct experience. Recognizing that both are useful for psychosocial healing, the first part of the essay explores how the two sets of activities can complement each other. Of particular interest is the role of transpersonal exercises such as yoga and meditation, as well as the purposeful use of experiential learning techniques …

Australia's Lessons, Rhys Crawley

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article analyzes Australia’s contribution to the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2014. It recommends policymakers and practitioners consider applying a whole-of-government approach, embedding personnel in coalition headquarters, and limiting reliance on Special Forces soldiers in future interventions.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Denmark's Lessons, Sten Rynning

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues despite opportunities to learn valuable strategic lessons from Denmark’s effort in the Afghanistan War (2001–14), Danish civil authorities implemented a comprehensive approach policy that failed to establish a bridge to lessons learned by the military. Denmark’s experience in the Afghanistan War demonstrates promises and perils of lessons learned processes.

Norway's Lessons, Harald Hoiback

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues Norway’s minor role in the Afghanistan War (2001–14) included opportunities to learn about the evolution of military deployments over the course of a prolonged counterinsurgency-focused conflict, the civilian and military dynamics, and the political challenges of contributing to such a conflict.

Educating Strategic Lieutenants At West Point, Scott A. Silverstone

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues West Point responded to the changing strategic environment from the end of the Cold War through the post-9/11 period by innovating its curriculum. Over the past several decades, however, the academy’s educational model has remained remarkably stable, rooted in an enduring commitment to a rigorous liberal education as the best preparation for officers confronting the inherent uncertainties of future wars.

Educating Strategic Lieutenants At Sandhurst, An Jacobs

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines how well military education at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst delivers lieutenants capable of coping with the complexities of their operational environment and the strategic implications of their decisions.

Article Index, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Doing Participatory Action Research As A Doctoral Student In The Peace And Conflict Studies Field, Phill Gittins

Peace and Conflict Studies

There is still little written about doing participatory action research (PAR) as a doctoral student. This paper provides a missing first-person account of doing a PAR Ph.D. in the Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) field. Based on the author’s own experience of using PAR as part of his PACS doctoral degree this paper reflects on why he decided to use PAR in his doctorate project and how he went about doing it. It further highlights some of the benefits (academic and non-academic) of doing a PAR Ph.D., as well as challenges faced and responses to them. Four key lessons learned …

Asymmetric Decentralization In Aceh: Institutionalization Of Conflict Of Interest By Elites Of Gam, Bayu Satria Utama

Jurnal Politik

This article explains an institutionalization of conflicts in the implementation of special autonomy in Aceh Province. In general, one of the objectives of implementing the asymmetric decentralization policy is to resolve the problem of national integration between Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Government of Indonesia. However, the implementation of asymmetric decentralization in Aceh Province presents a different phenomenon. Although there is conflict resolution between GAM and the Government of Indonesia, the conflict dynamics change into a conflict of interest between GAM elites at the local level as part of the dynamics of electoral politics. This article is based on …

Review Of Infected Kin: Orphan Care And Aids In Lesotho, Cassandra L. Workman

The Journal of Social Encounters

In the opening vignette, “A Story about Joala,” we readers are brought to the highlands of Lesotho to share homebrewed beer with brewers, research participants, and the authors. This experience of sharing a drink asks us to consider what it means to share in Lesotho, what the ties are that hold people together. Like the communal sharing of food, sharing joala is a defining social activity and as we learn throughout the ethnography, one that is important in the creation of kin. Indeed, this book is presented though a kinship-first perspective.

Using this framework and ground-up analytical methodology, Block and …

Review Of Cahuilla Nation Activism And The Tribal Casino Movement, Terri Castaneda

The Journal of Social Encounters

In this highly accessible book, anthropologist Theodor Gordon tackles settler society’s deep deficit of knowledge about the tribal casino industry’s legal and historical underpinnings. At the core of his analysis are the Cahuilla nations and homelands situated in present day Southern California, the “epicenter of the tribal gaming movement” (p. 19). The fourth title in University of Nevada’s “The Gambling Series,” this study contributes new texture to the embryonic field of tribal gaming studies and is an especially welcome addition to the meager corpus of California-based tribal gaming ethnographies. Yet this hardly describes the breadth of its scholarly relevance. As …

Review Of This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping The Twenty-First Century, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

This book is must reading for peace educators, scholars, social activists and citizen groups. It belongs in public libraries and in nonviolent training programs. And it belongs in the hands of local, national and global policy makers. Normally, such a recommendation would be placed at the end of a review as part of a summation and conclusion. But for this book, this reviewer is placing the recommendation first for emphasis. Despite some questions about omissions, and suggestions for improvement, this work deserves much praise.

Review Of Essential Catholic Social Thought, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

Bernard V. Brady titles his textbook Essential Catholic Social Thought to indicate that his focus extends beyond documents of the Church’s magisterium, usually designated “Catholic social teaching” (CST), but his emphasis is on those documents nonetheless. I will comment on this book from my perspective as a teacher for twenty years of a course called “Catholic Social Teaching.” My course is addressed to upper-level undergraduates in a Catholic university and specifically to those majoring in international studies (though it is open to others), but I hope these comments will be helpful to anyone who is considering Brady’s book for teaching …

Review Of The Practice Of Islam In America: An Introduction, Aisha Ghani

The Journal of Social Encounters

The demand, indeed urgency, within the American Academy for courses on Islam has perhaps never been greater than at current. Yet, the very conditions that create this urgency also produce anxieties for those fulfilling this pedagogical role. The challenge confronting many of us - knowing that our students will enter the classroom with ideas/questions about Islam stemming, in large part, from what they’ve encountered through popular media and the news – is how to carry out this work in a way that both acknowledges this abiding, even if delimiting, contemporary context without allowing our teaching to be subsumed by it. …

Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Disobedience And The Duty To Obey The Law: Where Do We Go From Here?, Walter J. Kendall

The Journal of Social Encounters

Not so long ago, several friends joined approximately 40,000 others in DC demanding action on climate change and opposing the Keystone pipeline. They left Illinois committed to breaking the law and getting arrested in front of the White House, as they put it, in the spirit of Dr. King. The law they broke when they got there was an anti-trespass type ordinance. They sat and waited to be ordered to move. They refused. They were arrested, fined and released the same day.

Being a lawyer, the son of a New York City police officer, and sometimes an activist I couldn't …

Africa Faith And Justice Network And The Damages Of Land Grabbing: The Case Of The Brewaniase Community, Ghana, Sr. Eucharia Madueke

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay discusses the procurement of farmland around the town of Brewaniase in the Volta Region of Ghana by the New York based agribusiness Herakles Farm (HF). The essay highlights some of the repercussions of land grabbing by foreign corporations that seek only profit and do not fulfill promises made to locals who lease their land for a better life. It provides information on the efforts of Africa Faith & Justice Network (AFJN), a faith-based Washington DC non-governmental organization, to enable the local communities to avert land grabs and its damages. The essay aims to help African communities and individuals …

Interfaith Dialogue And Comparative Theology: A Theoretical Approach To A Practical Dilemma, Michael Atkinson

The Journal of Social Encounters

Interfaith dialogue is based on the premise that there is more that unites than divides us. Epistemological humility, acceptance of religious plurality or the need for unity itself have all been presented as unifying pathways across disparate religious traditions. Despite such approaches, conceptual understandings of interfaith dialogue have not kept pace with practice. This theoretical paper argues that interfaith dialogical theory profits from a deep understanding of moral psychology and social learning theory. The former posits that a sense of ‘fairness’ and ‘universal care’ are aligned with religious acceptance. On the other hand, values of sanctity, loyalty and authority promote …

Cultivating Inclusive And Peaceful Communities: Multi-Faith Sources Of Inspiration, Mary Dana Hinton

The Journal of Social Encounters

Leaders, educators, clergy and laypeople engaged in the work of peacemaking must acknowledge the powerful role religion can play in the peacebuilding effort. However, we cannot limit our peacebuilding conversation to religious communities. Educational institutions also have a uniquely compelling role to play in the work of peacebuilding. This essay reviews why and how educational institutions must engage in this work; explores emerging best practices in this area; and concludes with a call to action.

Importantly, the essay highlights the importance, power and capacity of interfaith dialogue and education to support peacebuilding. Interfaith education and dialogue is not a call …

Education For Peace-Building And Preventing Extremism, Paul Haidostian

The Journal of Social Encounters

In this essay, I reflect on my life story as an Armenian-Lebanese, and analyze my experiences with war and peace in terms of the Armenian Genocide, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Lebanon’s civil war. In light of these experiences, I concluded that the message and example of peace, which I had learned at home, church, and school, were in severe contrast with each other, and difficult to reconcile. During the earlier periods in my life, I knew that providentially my disappointment was with human nature, and that the frame of peace had to be larger, and its reach had to be …

“The People Of Aram Shall Go Into Exile”: Practical And Theological Dilemmas Of Middle Eastern Churches Since The Beginning Of The Syrian War, Wilbert Van Saane

The Journal of Social Encounters

This paper discusses the way in which Christian churches in the Middle East have responded to the Syrian War. It signals some practical and theological dilemmas that these churches have faced since the conflict in Syria broke out. The description of these dilemmas is primarily based on interviews with a representative sample of church leaders. Analysis of these dilemmas sheds light on the way the churches of the Middle East have contributed to peaceful resolutions of the Syrian conflict, or failed to do so. Before going into the practical and theological dilemmas of the churches, the article provides a short …

The Conflicts That Pave The Way For Peace: Lebanese Poet And Philosopher Mikhail Naimy, Suha Naimy

The Journal of Social Encounters

Mikhail Naimy is a twentieth century Lebanese author and philosopher whose writings verge towards the mystical and the metaphysical. Naimy’s philosophy is a synthesis of his own life conflicts and his built premises and drawn conclusions that trivialize materialism, following the steps of Christ. Among Naimy’s first conflicts was leaving of his hometown Baskinta and its highland Shakhroub for Nazareth to continue his education, and the estrangement he felt that was alleviated by a touch of God. Some of the other conflicts in Naimy’s life were the love affairs that yielded to the understanding that true love should be beyond …

Foundations For Muslim-Christian Dialogue And Peacemaking: Ideas About God, Faith, And Prayer, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

In this essay, I discuss God, faith, and sacred texts (including the Bible, Quran, and Hadith), and some ways that they constitute foundations for peacemaking between Christians and Muslims. The essay presents my personal, ethnic, and religious background in order to contextualize the ideas which the essay analyzes, and then describes three Christian theological approaches to non-Christian religions. Those approaches are particularist (or exclusivist), inclusivist, and pluralist. The essay discusses the historical background and significance of Vatican II, which took place between 1962 and 1965, and Nostra Aetate, published in 1965. The essay then analyzes three theological principles which undergird …

Introduction To Essays From The Conference On Religion, Politics, And Peacemaking, Jon Armajani, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

The following essays by Jon Armajani, Suha Naimy, Wilbert van Saane, Paul Haidostian, and Mary Dana Hinton were presented at the conference “Religion, Politics, and Peacemaking” that took place on the campus of Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota in October 2018. The conference’s co-sponsors were the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John’s University, the Department of Peace Studies of the College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University, and Haigazian University, with funding provided by the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota.

The essays approach religion, politics, and peacemaking from several disciplinary perspectives including …

Foreword, John Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.