This collection of peace education efforts in conflict and post-conflict societies brings together an international group of scholars to offer the very latest theoretical and pedagogical developments. Rather than focus on ad hoc peace education efforts this book investigates the need for long term, systemic approaches and innovative pedagogies.

This book explores how, and if, formal education affects peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. As schooling is often negatively implicated in violent conflict, the author highlights the widely expressed need to ‘build back better’ and ‘transform’ schooling by changing both its structures and processes, and its curriculum. Drawing upon research from a wide range of post-conflict developing societies including Cambodia, Colombia and Kenya, the author examines whether there is any empirical support for the idea that schooling can be transformed so it can contribute to more peaceful and democratic societies. In doing so, the author reveals how the ‘myth’ of building back better is perpetuated by academics and international organisations, and explains why formal education in post-conflict developing societies is so impervious to radical change. This important volume will appeal to students and scholars of education in post-conflict societies.

'Honorable Mention' 2017 PROSE Award - Education Practice Bringing together the voices of scholars and practitioners on challenges and possibilities of implementing peace education in diverse global sites, this book addresses key questions for students seeking to deepen their understanding of the field. The book not only highlights ground-breaking and rich qualitative studies from around the globe, but also analyses the limits and possibilities of peace education in diverse contexts of conflict and post-conflict societies. Contributing authors address how educators and learners can make meaning of international peace education efforts, how various forms of peace and violence interact in and around schools, and how the field of peace education has evolved and grown over the past four decades.

This book analyses the role of history education in conflict and post-conflict societies, describing common history textbook projects in Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Far East and the Middle East. Ever since the emergence of the modern school system and the implementation of compulsory education, textbooks have been seen as privileged media. The knowledge they convey is relatively persistent and moreover highly selective: every textbook author must choose and omit, condense, structure, reduce, and generalize information. Within this context, history textbooks are often at the centre of interest. There are unquestionably significant differences regarding homogeneity or plurality of interpretations when concepts of history education are compared internationally. This volume conducts a comparative analysis of common history projects in different countries and provides conceptual frameworks and methodological tools for enhancing the roles of these projects in the processes of conflict prevention and resolution. This book is timely, as issues of history education in conflict and post-conflict societies are becoming more popular with the increased realisation that unresolved disagreements about historical narratives can, and often do, lead to renewed conflict or even violence. This book will be of interest to students of peace studies and conflict resolution, political science, history, sociology, anthropology, social psychology, and international relations in general.

In Youth and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change, Stephanie Schwartz goes beyond these highly publicized cases and examines the roles of the broader youth population in post-conflict scenarios, taking on the complex task of distinguishing between the legal and societal labels of "child," "youth," and "adult."

Africa today suffers from too much political unrest and violent conflict. The contributors to this edited collection recognize a missing link in efforts to foster democracy, and with it political stability and peace, in Africa's developing countries: Democracy can be sustained only where effective means for resolving citizens' disputes exist both within and outside the formal legal system. The writers whose articles appear here--scholars, practitioners, and peace advocates--present their varied knowledge of conflict and war in Africa and strategies for introducing and implementing mediation, from Sierra Leone to South Africa. This volume is a model exchange of insights and ideas in the important field of conflict resolution as applied to Africa.

Peace Education: * presents views on the nature of peace education, its history, and relationships to neighboring fields; * examines relevant psychological and pedagogical principles, such as the contact experience, conciliation through personal story telling, reckoning with traumatic memories, body-work, and the socio-emotional aspects of reconciliation; and * introduces an array of international examples from countries, such as Croatia, Northern Ireland, Israel, South Africa, Rwanda, and the United States in order to generalize lessons learned. A "must have" for all those thinking, planning, conducting, and studying peace education programs, it is intended for scholars, students, and researchers interested in peace and conflict resolution in higher education and volunteer and public organizations. Its cross disciplinary approach will appeal to those in social and political psychology, communication, education, religion, political science, sociology, and philosophy.