Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Challenge Of Terror: A Traveling Essay, John Paul Lederach

Peace and Conflict Studies

So here I am, a week late arriving home, stuck between Colombia, Guatemala and Harrisonburg when our world changed. The images flash even in my sleep. The heart of America ripped. Though natural, the cry for revenge and the call for the unleashing of the first war of this century, prolonged or not, seems more connected to social and psychological processes of finding a way to release deep emotional anguish, a sense of powerlessness, and our collective loss than it does as a plan of action seeking to redress the injustice, promote change and prevent it from ever happening again. …

The Western-Islamic “Clash Of Civilizations”: The Inadvertent Contribution Of The Bush Presidency, Dennis J. D. Sandole

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article argues that policies of the Bush administration since 11 September 2001, have had -- perhaps inadvertently -- the effect of generating "facts on the ground" that have led to the self-fulfilling realization of realities corresponding to Samuel Huntington's contentious concept of the "clash of civilizations" in relations between the Western and Islamic “worlds”.

One of the significant indicators of this phenomenon has been the counterproductive, self-defeating impact of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq on the "war on terror," with all available information, even from the CIA and other U.S. governmental sources, agreeing that the presence of …