This groundbreaking volume documents a comprehensive peacebuilding initiative in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reviews the broad theoretical base underlying these efforts. Theory chapters discuss intrinsic peace-related concepts, including the nature of conflict, elements of individual and group identity, the long-term psychological effects of prolonged political hostilities, and the mechanisms of reconciliation and inclusiveness. Central to the coverage is the ambitious Building Peace through Knowledge Project, a four-year multidisciplinary program featuring a diverse palette of professional and community interventions to reduce the occurrence and trauma of political violence. The author reveals powerful insights connecting knowledge to peacebuilding by analyzing: · The relationships between attitudes and ideology in intergroup conflict. · The psychosocial impact of political violence among Israelis and Palestinians. · The literature on people-to-people interventions (P2Ps) in conflict reduction. · The roles of forgiveness, reconciliation, and fairness in conflict resolution. · The methodology and findings of the Building Peace through Knowledge Project. · The potential of knowledge-based interventions in building sustainable peace in other regions. Practitioners, mental health professionals, and scholars with interests in multicultural mental health, cross-cultural psychology, political violence, and peace education will look to Building Peace through Knowledge as an ideabook, a mission statement, and a road map toward a more stable world.

Since the early 1980s John Paul Lederach has traveled worldwide as a mediation trainer and conflict resolution consultant. Currently the director of the International Conciliation Committee, he has worked with governments, justice departments, youth programs, and other groups in Latin America, the Philippines, Cambodia, as well as Asia and Africa. Lederach blends a special training method in mediation with a tradition derived from his work in development. Throughout the book, he uses anecdote and pertinent experiences to demonstrate his resolution techniques. With an emphasis on the exchange involved in negotiation, Lederach conveys the key to successful conflict resolution: understanding how to guide disputants, transform their conflicts, and launch a process that empowers them.

Combining the knowledge and experience of leading international researchers, practitioners and policy consultants, Knowledge for Peace discusses how we identify, claim and contest the knowledge we have in relation to designing and analysing peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes. Exploring how knowledge in the field is produced, and by whom, the book examines the research-policy-practice nexus, both empirically and conceptually, as an important part of the politics of knowledge production.

The field of conflict resolution centers on relationships and ways of approaching methods for problem solving. These relationships and approaches vary deeply depending on the individual, society, and background, proving that cultural perspective is fundamental to any dispute intervention. Re-Centering Culture and Knowledge in Conflict Resolution Practice is a collection of original essays by scholars and practitioners of conflict resolution and others working in marginalized communities. The volume offers a sampling of the cultural voices essential to effective practice yet not commonly heard in the discourse of conflict resolution. The authors explore the role of culture, race, and oppression in resolving disputes. Drawing on firsthand experience and sound research, the authors address such issues as culturally sensitive mediation practices, the diversity of perspectives in conflict resolution literature, and power dynamics. The first anthology of its kind, this book combines personal narratives with formal scholarship. By melding these varied approaches, the authors seek to inspire activism for social justice in today’s multicultural society.

Originally published in hardcover in 2005.

Using empirical qualitative research, this book conceptualises and demonstrates the value of local practical knowledge for peacebuilding in the context of Northern Ireland. There are increasing calls to involve local people to ensure legitimacy, relevance, and sustainability when seeking to build peace and transform violent conflict. However, as peacebuilding becomes increasingly professionalised, this raises fundamental questions about whose knowledge matters for building peace and what kind of knowledge matters. Seeking to address these questions and to learn from applied practice, this book provides a qualitative empirical research study, investigating 40 practitioners active in conflict transformation at a grassroots level in Northern Ireland over 50 years. This research led not only to recapturing lost knowledge from practitioners, but also to a neglected 'virtue' - the Aristotelian concept of practical wisdom, phronesis. This book argues that phronesis has deepened our understanding of why 'local' practical knowledge is vitally important and calls for its global rediscovery as knowledge necessary for building sustainable peace. This book will be of much interest to practioners and students in the fields of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, philosophy, and British and Irish politics.

What is the relationship between leadership and peace? What kind of leadership styles, processes and strategies are required to gain a deeper understanding of local context while at the same time maintaining the trust and cooperation of host authorities and other stakeholders on the ground? As concerns mount about the continued relevance and efficiency of UN peace operations, Youssef Mahmoud – who led several challenging peace missions in Africa – draws on many years of experience to offer insights into how political leadership might be exercised to help restore and nurture peace. Mahmoud makes the case for a paradigm shift in the type of leadership required to bring about strong, global diplomacy for peace. Making extensive use of the authors' unique personal experiences in Burundi, Central African Republic and Chad, the book offers an unparalleled insight into the leadership challenges of complex and often seemingly intractable conflict situations.