Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Report Surveys Colorado River Basin Leaders: Collaborative Approaches To Dwindling Supplies Are Highlighted, Sarah Bates, University Of Montana Missoula. Center For Natural Resources And Environmental Policy

Navigating the Future of the Colorado River (Martz Summer Conference, June 8-10)

4 pages.

Press release "April 14, 2011"

"Executive Summary April 2011" of report, Thinking Like a River Basin: Leaders' Perspectives on Options and Opportunities in Colorado River Management

Full report available at:

http://www.carpediemwest.org/wp-content/uploads/Thinking_Like_A_River_Basin_8-20-13.pdf

A Centrist Solution To Central American Violence And Inequality, Devin Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has experienced horrific violence, poverty, and a vicious cycle of human rights violations for decades. Repeated natural disasters and the re-routing of the drug trade through Central America are not helping the situation. On the other hand, nearby Costa Rica has achieved a much higher standard of human rights, public safety, and political stability. Why? Costa Rica has put in place four pillars of development and stability lacking in most other countries in the region: a stronger state, an educated population, inter-racial cooperation, and a more inclusive democracy. For …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol 36-E, No. 6, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

Some Briefs

Justicia de la Libertad Condicional

Voices From Inside, In Solidarity

Some Tax Breaks for the Wealthy

Update - June 2011, Loma Linda University Center For Christian Bioethics

Update

In this issue:

[ Clinical Bioethics and Religion: Robert Orr's Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor ]
-- Forging a Path for Christian Ethics (Review)
-- A Passionate, Faith-Inspired Physician - Ethicist (Review)
-- Excepts from Robert Orr's Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor

-- 2012 Jack W. Provonsha lecture opens the Alumni Postgraduate Convention
-- Editorial

[ Claritás - Clarity in Ethics Essay Contest - White Coats: Purple Pens ]
-- First-place 2010 essay winner, Gregory A, Lammert, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University

-- Dental Ethics at Loma Linda University
-- Non-violent Revolution: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
-- …

Civil Resistance And The Corruption-Violence Nexus, Shaazka Beyerle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There are multiple ways in which corruption is linked to violent conflict, some direct and some indirect. For ordinary citizens, the experience of this nexus is the denial of basic freedoms and rights. In spite of such bleak circumstances, people can move from being victims and bystanders to becoming a force for transforming their societies. Citizens are engaging in civil resistance to curb corruption and win accountability and justice. This article: explores the linkages between corruption and violence; identifies the conceptual and practical limitations of top-down, technical approaches to combating corruption; articulates a bottom-up approach in which the civic realm …

Peace And War In The Qur'an And Juridical Literature: A Comparative Perspective, Liyakat Takim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Qur'anic period of Islamic history took place in a social context of significant diversity. A number of important verses in the Qur'an reflect this diversity and encourage Islamic believers to seek peaceful coexistence with those of other faiths, especially those designated as "people of the Book," specifically Christians, Jews and Sabeans. In the later classical period of Islamic history, the exegesis of Islamic jurists markedly de-emphasized peaceful coexistence in favor of interpretations encouraging conquest and religious uniformity. Although the classical jurists have exercised enormous interpretive authority in subsequent Islamic history, their authority was never understood to be absolute or …

Understanding Mine Clearance In The Context Of The Ap Mine Ban Convention, Apmbc

Global CWD Repository

The Convention's parties, with the support of a wide range of organisations, have made great progress in the pursuit of their aim of clearing all mined areas. There is an ongoing need, however, to ensure that all actors involved in the implementation of the Convention are clear regarding what “Article 5” obliges States to do and what it does not, what the understandings of the States Parties are concerning the implementation of Article 5, and what the mechanisms put in place related to fulfilment of Article 5 are. To assist in meeting this need, the ISU, with project funding provided …

Assisting Landmine And Other Erw Survivors In The Context Of Disarmament, Disability And Development, Apmbc

Global CWD Repository

A decade of deliberations on the problems caused by conventional weapons has resulted in various international legal instruments. Based on the precedents established through more than a decade of efforts to implement the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, there is consistency amongst these instruments. Different legal instruments, but with a uniform approach as concerns assisting victims and survivors of landmines and other explosive remnants of war, present certain opportunities. These opportunities concern ensuring coherence, closer cooperation and efficiency, ultimately with a view to achieving the greatest impact on the ground in affected communities. Taking advantage of these opportunities means enhancing the …

Humanitarian Aid And The Struggle For Peace And Justice: Organizational Innovation After A Blind Date, Joseph G. Bock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Humanitarian organizations working in developing countries have gone through a transformation since the thaw of the Cold War. Their increased programming to promote justice and peace has resulted in disparate partnership configurations. Illustrative examples of these configurations show how organizational deficiencies and challenges have spawned innovation. These innovations provide insight about how similar organizations might usefully be engaged in the struggle to promote greater justice and peace in areas of the world suffering from violent conflict.

Contesting Buddhisms On Conflicted Land: Sarvodaya Shramadana And Buddhist Peacemaking, Masumi Hayashi-Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Buddhism in its various incarnations has both aided and hindered the peace processes in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya Shramadana, a Buddhist development organization, stands out in the way it uses religion to promote peace through a more humanist interpretation of Buddhist teachings. While Sarvodaya's alternative approach toward the religion provides an optimistic space for promoting peace, its connections to and dependence on populism can also complicate its politics. This article argues that the most effective means of peace work can be found through the same channel of collective mobilization that hindered it, Buddhism.

Thinking About Peace Today, Michael Allen Fox

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Discussing peace-and how to get to and maintain situations, practices, and socio-political structures that build peace-is of the greatest urgency. But the first step, both psychologically and epistemologically, is overcoming preoccupation with war and resistance to thinking about peace. This article takes on these problems and lays essential groundwork for substantive discussion of peace. Attractions of war and myths of war are deconstructed, and negative views of humans' capacity for peaceful behavior are examined and rejected. Wide-ranging costs of war and war-preparedness are also exposed. The value of peace is then discussed. A concluding section offers a list of "home …

"Just Say No": Organizing Against Militarism In Public Schools, Scott Harding, Seth Kershner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In an effort to counteract the growing militarization of schools, military counter-recruitment (CR) has emerged as an effective grassroots movement across the United States. Led by a small number of local activists, CR utilizes community organizing methods to confront the structures supporting military enlistment as a viable career option. Despite operating with limited resources, counter-recruitment has secured key legal and policy victories that challenge the dominant social narrative about military service. Three examples of counterrecruitment are profiled to illustrate the different tactics and strategies used for successful organizing within a culture of militarism.

Students For Peace: Contextual And Framing Motivations Of Antiwar Activism, Eric Swank, Breanne Fahs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article traces the development of peace activism among undergraduate social work students. In doing so, it explores how social statuses, political contexts, and collective action frames affect the likelihood of joining the movement against the Afghanistan war (2001 to current). After analyzing data from a multicampus sample of Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) students (n = 159), results show that peace activism was predicted by level of education as well as perceptions of proper foreign policy, the relative efficacy of social movement tactics, and identification with specific activist ideals. Finally, being situated in activist networks fostered greater peace activism …

Possibilities For Peace: Germany's Transformation Of A Culture Of War, S. Elizabeth Snyder

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In reaction to its militarist past, Germany has created a strong culture of peace, including solid educational and institutional supports for maintaining popular attitudes critical of war and military operations. Germany has been recognized for these efforts by a number of international organizations, including the United Nations. At the same time, Germany has sought to maintain a policy of active membership in NATO and active cooperation and participation in NATO operations. As the United States applies increased pressure on its NATO allies in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, many of the inherent social and political tensions in German policy …

World Peace: A First Step Commentary For The Special Issue On Peace, Conflict And War, Michael D. Knox

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The first step in achieving peace on earth must be the elimination of war and threats of war. Citizens of the United States are in a better position than others to make this happen. We spend significant portions of our tax dollars, and borrow money from foreign countries, to wage wars. We sell weapons and destabilize governments. We prioritize funding for war over spending on education, medical research, alternative energy sources, healthcare, housing and food for the needy, a balanced budget and almost everything else that can have a positive impact on this planet's quality of life.

June Roundtable: Human Rights In Central America, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Tormented Isthmus ”. The Economist. April 14 2011.

The Hearts And Minds Of The Citizens, Brooke Ackerly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

If the US contributes increased military support to Guatemala under the premise of curtailing the drug trade, it could inadvertently further destabilize this already politically unstable country. It certainly will not contribute to developing a sense of political alliance in the hearts and minds of its citizens. Concerns about destabilization in Guatemala (and Central America more generally) and the role of this destabilization in facilitating the drug trade have led the Economist to suggest that the solution is to increase military foreign aid to Guatemala.

Generic Wish-Lists For State-Centric Policies, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Central America depicted in the article under review resembles a region visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—colonial Conquest, civil War, Famine and other natural disasters, and poverty, disease and Death. Added to this list of woes are the recent drug-fueled conflict, democratic instability, weak state capacity, and the socio-economic fallout of the economic recession in the United States. While the first half of the article records these problems, the author shifts gears in the second half and provides an array of responses to these challenges, with a forceful recommendation that states in the region focus their efforts …

Conflict Resolution Agenda: Approaching Its Expiration Date, Jonas Claes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Conflict resolution scholars and policy-makers have traditionally prioritized research and policy measures dealing with political violence, treating criminal violence as a contextual factor in their analysis or as a subordinate policy concern. One may wonder why the value of a casualty differs depending on whether the fatal blow was caused by a tank, a gang knife, or even a typhoon. The prioritization of political violence over criminal violence seems morally unjustified considering that the killing rates in Guatemala and El Salvador are higher now than during the civil wars that ended in the 1990s. Despite similarities in the causes, manifestations, …

Front Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.