This open access book introduces Adaptive Peacebuilding through evidence-based research from eight case studies across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. It also considers how China and Japan view and practice peacebuilding. The book focuses on how peacebuilders design, implement and evaluate programs to sustain peace, how interactions between external and local actors have facilitated or hindered peacemaking, and how adaptation to complexity and uncertainty occurred in each case study.

This book addresses the limitations of dominant ways of thinking about and doing politics in Northern Ireland. Arguing for the foregrounding of anti-sectarianism as a way of displacing the divisive dynamics of religion and nationalism, it provides a new lens for studying Northern Ireland. Drawing upon a close reading of the political philosophy of Jacques Rancière, the book aligns anti-sectarianism to the ways that people refuse affiliation with the traditional ethnic values and practices. It describes this refusal as dis-identification, and reveals how dissensus acts as an alternative to the displacing of equality. Returning equality and equality claims-making to a clear position of visibility, the book provides a radical rethinking of Northern Ireland a quarter century beyond the 1998 peace accord.

This book explores the theoretical contribution of peace ecology to the understanding and practice of environmental and conventional peacebuilding. It integrates environmental questions and factors that drive socio-political violence and climate change-induced violence in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene. It demonstrates how international peace and global security are no longer solely grounded in conventional peacebuilding that has evolved from liberal to democratic peace theories, but rather in the complex, critical and synergic relations between peace studies and environmental studies. It provides a pluridisciplinary body of knowledge that emphasises the need for food security, social climate, social good, social capital and sustainable development at the age of climate change and climate wars.It underscores the potential of peace ecology to reduce the Earth systems' vulnerability, to mitigate anthropogenic global warming's consequences on humanity, the ecosystem and biodiversity.

This book examines religious, political, and economic conflicts in the Middle East. Written by experts and scholars from various fields, it provides a better understanding of the interwoven impact among religious, political, and economic conflicts in the Middle East. The contributions cover the most important and controversial issues in world affairs, including confrontations between Christianity and Islam and between Sunnis and Shiites; the disputes between Israel and Palestine, the Russian-Ukrainian War, ISIS, competition for oil resources, the Muslim Brotherhood, refugee entrepreneurs, human trafficking, and women's empowerment, etc.  

This book explores the complexity, multiplicity, intersectionality, and dynamism of cultures in connection with critical and emancipatory peacebuilding. It includes diverse voices to emphasize local and everyday peacebuilding within a narrative that links the personal to the political. It is a valuable resource for students, educators, and practitioners in peace and conflict studies, cultural studies, sociology, and related disciplines.

This book investigates why peace and reform processes across the world have recently been stagnating or have become blocked. They have failed to maintain security, rights, development, and justice in the liberal international order. The book identifies the related rise of counter-peace processes at the heart of failed peacemaking efforts, and explores the implications for an emerging multi-polar order where local and international tools for peace and reform appear to be ineffective. Across a range of recent cases, from Cambodia, the Balkans, the Sahel region, DRC, Colombia, Afghanistan, and many others, such dynamics are becoming clearer. In particular, small-scale blocking tactics across different peace processes have been evolving into larger political strategies which are then disseminated within revisionist and revanchist international networks. Ultimately, this phenomenon has undermined liberal international order.

This book provides new insights into the development of integrated approaches to peace and sustainability in the era of global change. Since the late 1980s, and in order to regulate the increasingly detrimental impacts of humans on the environment, the transition towards sustainability has been high on the agenda of researchers and policymakers alike. Meanwhile, peace considerations have expanded in recent decades to include the varied types and sources of conflict, from inter-state to intra-state conflicts due to various social, political, economic, and environmental factors. Through providing theoretical and empirical insights, this book demonstrates that sustainability and peace as intrinsically interrelated. The book elaborates on the multi-dimensional and constantly evolving concepts of sustainability and peace.

This book charts John W. Burton's transition from practitioner in diplomacy to pioneer in the theory of peace research, thinking on world society and conflict resolution. Born in 1915, given his father's name, it was assumed that he would follow his father and become a Christian missionary. He did not: he joined the Australian Public Service. From a junior position he rose rapidly. He was forthright and some found him irritating, or worse. He progressed to the highest levels of policy-making. Amidst some controversy, he resigned abruptly in 1951. He then worked on his farm outside Canberra, writing avidly. He did not intend to become an academic, but in 1963 he was offered a position in International Relations at University College in London and he accepted. He was key to the foundation of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) in 1964 and of the Conflict Research Society in the UK, because he thought that words and ideas were not enough: there needed to be instrumentsof change.

This book is about the making of justice. Despite the growing scholarship on transitional and transformative justice, contested struggles for justice in times of political change fail to get the nuanced attention we think they deserve. It seeks to understand how the making of justice is a craft and how this process of craft making is itself a source of political change. The authors introduce a new and novel conceptual framework of justicecraft which sheds light upon political change by unpacking five key elements--the skills, knowledge, labor, affect, and materiality--involved in contested struggles for justice. Justicecraft illuminates the stories and struggles for justice, enabling a greater understanding of accompanying social, political, and cultural shifts in society which unfold during times of conflict. By framing justice as craft, the authors offer a more fluid understanding of how people are producing justice on the ground--and identify the means, the instruments, the language, and claims involved in the process. Each chapter applies the framework of justicecraft to diverse global case illustrations of struggles against past, present, and future injustices and wrongdoings and draws out the key elements embedded in these processes.

This volume examines land and resource contestations in the East African Albertine region, where Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania intersect. It is one of the most biodiverse regions on the continent, and became highly contested when Uganda discovered oil there in 2006. The resource contestation in this region has resulted in ongoing conflict, and has defined and re-defined identity and citizenship. Contributors of this volume succinctly bring out the major forces that have been responsible for resource contestations and conflicts together with an emphasis on the existing mechanisms for peaceful co-existence, particularly in relation to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms within indigenous knowledge systems.  

This encyclopaedia provides an overview of major theories and approaches to the study of peace and conflict across different humanities and social sciences disciplines. Peace and conflict studies is one of the major sub-disciplines of international studies (including political science and international relations), and has emerged from a need to understand war, related systems and concepts and how to respond to it afterward.

This book represents an exploration of the positive peace platform. It permits an appreciation of the breadth of positive peace that engages with nonviolence, environmental sustainability, social justice and positive relationships scholarship.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the intricate dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, particularly within the context of sustainable development in Africa. The book explores the multifaceted consequences of the war, drawing attention to its socioeconomic, environmental, and political implications. It also emphasizes the significance of sustainable development on a global scale, positioning itself at the intersection of conflict studies and sustainable development literature. Chapters discuss the international response to the conflict, including sanctions on Russia and disruptions in global supply chains, which has had significant implications for countries in Africa that rely on Russia and Ukraine for essential commodities. The history and root causes of the conflict are analyzed, highlighting the contrasting narratives - the pro-Russian perspective and the pro-Western viewpoint. Underscoring the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on global peace, sustainable development, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students focusing on development, food systems, peace and conflict, security studies, international relations, and the SDGs.

This book sheds light on the complexities of the European Union's (EU) influence in a world dominated by global power politics. Written by an EU diplomat, it explores the dynamic landscape of soft power, with a focus on key regions such as the Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership, Southern Neighborhood, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Presenting the economic, diplomatic, and cultural dimensions, the book critically evaluates the EU's effectiveness in shaping behavior amid intensifying global power competition. With a unique perspective gained from on-the-ground experience in Kosovo, Ukraine, and Rwanda, the author navigates the EU's responses to challenges, including Russia's hard power approach. A must-read for policymakers and diplomats, this book blends academic analysis with practical insights, offering valuable lessons and recommendations for mastering the language of power in today's global politics.

This book sheds light on a particularly complex aspect of post-conflict security reform: the transformation of the Kosovo Liberation Army into the Kosovo Security Force, a unique political and legal process. The authors demonstrate how different international and domestic actors played a role in this process and navigated a complex web of international law, political interests and the requirements to maintain peace and security in Kosovo and the region. It makes a special contribution to ongoing discussions on state development and peacebuilding, while acting as a case study for upcoming post-conflict scenarios.

This book delves into the complex dynamics of legitimizing power in fragile states. With five comprehensive chapters, it analyzes the geopolitical, domestic, and international dimensions of fragile states. The unique contribution lies in unraveling specific forms of legitimization linked to various types of state fragility, providing a nuanced understanding. The book distinguishes between temporary crises and chronic fragility, crucial for shaping effective international support strategies. It addresses the challenges and consequences of weak legitimacy on global security, highlighting its impact on aid interventions and systemic stability. The author's analysis emphasizes the diverse nature of political regimes in fragile states, incorporating considerations of hybrid regimes. Additionally, it explores the dynamics of authoritarian enclaves at the sub-state level, revealing their potential national influence. By scrutinizing the decline of trust in democratic systems, the book addresses contemporary challenges, making it a vital resource for understanding and navigating the complexities of fragile states' political landscapes.