This volume calls for an empirical extension of the “local turn” within peace research. Building on insights from conflict transformation, gender studies, critical International Relations and Anthropology, the contributions critique existing peace research methods as affirming unequal power, marginalizing local communities, and stripping the peace kept of substantive agency and voice. By incorporating scholars from these various fields the volume pushes for more locally grounded, ethnographic and potentially participatory approaches. While recognizing that any Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) agenda must incorporate a variety of methodologies, the volume nonetheless paves a clear path for the much needed empirical turn within the local turn literature.

Examines the economic, social, cultural, as well as purely political threats to democracy in the light of current knowledge.

Long considered a subfield of international relations and political science, Peace Studies has solidified its place as an interdisciplinary field in its own right with a canon, degree programs, journals, conferences, and courses taught on the subject. Internationally renowned centers offering programs on Peace and Conflict Studies can be found on every continent. Almost all of the scholars working in the field, however, are united by an aspiration: attaining Peace, whether “positive” or “negative.” The telos of peace, however, itself remains undefined and elusive, notwithstanding the violence committed in its name. This edited volume critically interrogates the field of peace studies, considering its assumptions, teleologies, canons, influence, enmeshments with power structures, biases, and normative ends. We highlight four interrelated tendencies in peace studies: hypostasis (strong essentializing tendencies), teleology (its imagined “end”), normativity (the set of often utopian and Eurocentric discourses that guide it), and enterprise (the attempt to undertake large projects, often ones of social engineering to attain this end). The chapters in this volume reveal these tendencies while offering new paths to escape them. Visit http://www.rethinkingpeacestudies.com/ for further details on the Rethinking Peace Studies project.

Despite the ubiquity of conflict, gaps remain in our knowledge of what influences its escalation and resolution. How collective identity formation impacts social conflicts is taken up in this text, ranging from church and community disputes, to international trade disputes and wars.

Peacekeeping has been the technique most frequently used by, and associated with, the United Nations to end conflicts and to preserve peace. In addition, international and regional organizations have also performed peacekeeping functions. Since the establishment of the first UN peacekeeping mission, UNEF I, in 1956, international lawyers have raised questions about the legal aspects of these operations. Traditionally, they analyzed the constitutional basis for peacekeeping and tried to allocate the authority under the UN Charter for peacekeeping among the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary General. They discussed the use of force by peacekeepers, the applicability of international humanitarian law, as well as the responsibilities and liabilities of peacekeepers. Since the end of the cold war, peacekeeping operations have become more complex. In the first forty years, peacekeepers functioned mainly as buffer zones between warring parties and monitored cease-fires. Nowadays, they are increasingly engaged in internal rather than international conflicts and perform a multitude of tasks. Among others, they act as civilian administrators, oversee elections and monitor human rights. These changes have raised new legal problems. Which human rights obligations exist for peacekeepers? Do peacekeepers have to intervene if they witness war crimes and acts of genocide? How are they protected under international law? What is the legal framework of UN administrations like in Kosovo and East Timor? In order to enhance a better understanding of these legal issues arising from peacekeeping operations, a collection of articles written by the leading experts in the field have been compiled in the volume, International Peacekeeping.

The ABA Journal serves the legal profession. Qualified recipients are lawyers and judges, law students, law librarians and associate members of the American Bar Association.

This volume looks at research methods through the lens of peace studies and peace values. Apart from reviewing established methods from peace psychology, it presents some innovative ideas for conducting research in the area of peace psychology. Many of these methods are drawn from the field, from activities used by active peace practitioners. A critical component of this volume is its core argument that peace research should be conducted by peaceful means, and should model peaceful processes. Organized thematically, the volume begins with a review of the established best practices in peace psychology research methodology, including methods for qualitative research, for quantitative research, and participative action networks. In doing so, it also points to some of the limitations of working for peace within the tradition of a single discipline and to the need to expand psychology methodology, to methodologies. Therefore, the second half of the volume proceeds to explore the realm of innovative, relatively unorthodox research methods, such as participatory and workshop methods, the creative arts, and sports for research purposes. The use of new advances in information technology to conduct peaceful research are also discussed. The concluding chapters synthesize key issues from the previous chapters, and links peace psychology with ideas and implementation of research designs and practices. Finally, it discusses the nature of academic knowledge, and more specifically, academic knowledge in peace psychology, and where that fits into the mission to build a more peaceful world. Overall this book aims to provide peace psychologists with an array of possibilities and best practices for approaching their research. Many researchers find the experience of doing research a somewhat lonely, if not isolating, experience. Methodologies in Peace Psychology: Peace Research by Peaceful Means aims to alleviate this feeling as the use of these more innovative methods leads to a closer engagement with the community and a much more social experience of research. This volume is a useful tool for both new and experienced researchers because it provides leads for idealistic young researchers who want their work to make a difference, in addition to encouraging more reflection and analysis for experienced peace psychologists.