Foster Peace Research Articles

Micro, Small, and Medium Sized Enterprises’ (MSMEs) Participation in Peacebuilding: Motivators and Barriers

The academic literature has provided substantial amount of suggestions on broad concepts of business fostering peace in the community just by doing its operations properly. However, many could contend if these businesses could be urged to perform larger roles as agents for peace. Consequently, the desire to have businesses, particularly the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), to act as key players in peacebuilding largely depends on the understanding of what could motivate them in acting such key role and what could possibly hinder them in doing the same. Thus, this study is an exploration of the motivators and challenges of MSMEs in acting as main agents for peacebuilding. The study utilized a descriptive research design involving thirty conveniently sampled MSMEs in Butuan City, Philippines. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as data gathering tool. A multivariate analysis was done to analyse the effect of participation and perceived risk in the identified motivators and barriers. The results of the study revealed thatinternal motivators are the greatest motivators in acting for peace. In addition, financial and political reasons are strong barriers for MSMEs to participate in peacebuilding. Finally, the study found that Level of Perceived Risk and Participation significantly affects the type of motivators and barriers MSMEs face in peacebuilding movements.

UNESCO’s project to ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’: Iraqi and Syrian opinion on heritage reconstruction after the Islamic State

ABSTRACTFollowing the devastation of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by the Islamic State (IS), UNESCO launched a project to ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’. This article critically reflects on this UNESCO-led project, drawing on 47 interviews with Syrians and Iraqis, as well as documenting the implications of UNESCO’s efforts in earlier (post-)conflict heritage reconstruction projects in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Mali. Specifically, this article focuses on two sites in Mosul, both deliberately destroyed by the IS and both nominated by UNESCO for reconstruction. The data analysed reveal that heritage reconstruction projects, especially in complex (post-)conflict environments such as Iraq, requires ongoing, nuanced and careful engagement with local populations to succeed. Failure to do so leaves both local people and their heritage sites vulnerable to renewed attacks and therefore ultimately undermines UNESCO’s broader mission to foster peace.

VICA, a visual counseling agent for emotional distress

We present VICA, a Visual Counseling Agent designed to create an engaging multimedia face-to-face interaction. VICA is a human-friendly agent equipped with high-performance voice conversation designed to help psychologically stressed users, to offload their emotional burden. Such users specifically include non-computer-savvy elderly persons or clients. Our agent builds replies exploiting interlocutor’s utterances expressing such as wishes, obstacles, emotions, etc. Statements asking for confirmation, details, emotional summary, or relations among such expressions are added to the utterances. We claim that VICA is suitable for positive counseling scenarios where multimedia specifically high-performance voice communication is instrumental for even the old or digital divided users to continue dialogue towards their self-awareness. To prove this claim, VICA’s effect is evaluated with respect to a previous text-based counseling agent CRECA and ELIZA including its successors. An experiment involving 14 subjects shows VICA effects as follows: (i) the dialogue continuation (CPS: Conversation-turns Per Session) of VICA for the older half (age > 40) substantially improved 53% to CRECA and 71% to ELIZA. (ii) VICA’s capability to foster peace of mind and other positive feelings was assessed with a very high score of 5 or 6 mostly, out of 7 stages of the Likert scale, again by the older. Compared on average, such capability of VICA for the older is 5.14 while CRECA (all subjects are young students, age 25) is 4.41.

National versus ethnic identification in countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

This study investigated relationships between national and ethnic identities in eleven countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Ethnic versus national identification, experiences of unfair treatment of ethnic groups, and like versus dislike of out-group neighbours were investigated. Round 6 Afrobarometer surveys data from Botswana (n = 1 200), Lesotho (n = 1 200), Madagascar (n = 1 200); Malawi (n = 2 400), Mauritius (n = 1 200), Mozambique (n = 2 400), Namibia (n = 1 200), South Africa (n = 2 400), Tanzania (n = 2 400), Zambia (n = 1 200), and Zimbabwe (n = 2 400) were utilised for the analysis. Majorities of respondents in most countries, especially in those with a dominant majority group, identified equally as much with the nation and ethnic group, or more with the nation. However, ethnic identities remain relevant despite nation-building strategies, even in relatively ethno-culturally homogeneous countries. Ethnic identity salience was enhanced by unfair treatment. Findings suggest recognition and accommodation of diversity to be a prospective strategy to foster stability and peace.

80th Anniversary of Picasso’s Guernica: A Date with Peace at the University of Navarra Museum

ABSTRACTAs in the case of the 80th anniversary of Picasso’s Guernica, painted in 1937, museums can incorporate significant dates and anniversaries into their educational programming. The University of Navarra Museum has taken advantage of the opportunity presented by this anniversary to present an educational project entitled “Guernica,” whose primary objective was to foster peace through art. This anniversary project was a collaborative one in which 946 individuals (primarily students) between the ages of 3 and 103 participated, using their creativity to seek a significant experience. In the course of the project, contextual synergies were established with artworks from the museum: Mousquetaire, Tête (Picasso, 1967) and Tombstone to the peaceful town that was Guernica (Oteiza, 1957).

Mevlana Rumi: A 13<sup>th</sup> Century Scholar’s Teachings to Foster Tolerance, Peace and Harmony

Mevlana Jalal-uddin Rumi, (1207-1273) a mystic, sufi, scholar and a poet, borned around eight centuries ago, contributed magnificently to promote humanity, love, peace, tolerance, compassion, respect to each other through education (sufisium, mysticism) and dialogue. Rumi strictly followed the Islamic teachings for building up peace in society as well as globally, as prophet PBUH says “You are all from Adam and Adam is created from earth. O servants of GOD be brothers and sisters“. To foster love, tolerance, peace and harmony, Rumi stressed for provoking education and interfaith dialogue b/w the peoples of different religions, as education is the only weapon which we can use to transform the world (Nelson Mandela) and the dialogue provides ultimate framework of mutual acceptance to each other’s identity along with existing rich diversity of culture and values. Therefore his message of interfaith universality is ruling without any religious discrimination and bias he says Rumi belongs to each one of them. His poetry and prose writings consist of spiritual content which is the universal language of the human soul. His magnum opus, masterpiece the Masnawi (collection of 25,668 couplets) captures the heart of spiritual lovers and seekers because of its truth, purity, divines and the concept of “oneness of GOD”. Rumi inculcates in his Masnawi,“All my couplets are a climate of wisdom, all these stories teach a lesson” he narrated “our Masnawi is a shop of divine oneness whatever you see there, other than one is a false idol” Rumi was completely lost in the love of GOD as a result ultimately blessed with the most noblest form of divine wisdom through reflection and intuition, he says “I have become a lover and most people realized it but they didn’t understand who is the one I Love”.

First Peace, then Democracy? Evaluating Strategies of International Support at Critical Junctures after Civil War

ABSTRACTExisting research suggests that democratization can run counter to building peace in post-conflict contexts. This article analyses the effect of two competing strategies that external actors use to address the conflict of objective between democracy and peace: prioritization and gradualism. The prioritization approach advises sequencing, which means postponing support for democratization and concentrating first on peace in terms of the absence of violent conflict. The gradualist approach promotes peace and democracy simultaneously. This article offers a systematic analysis of these two prominent donor strategies. To this end, it focuses on two critical junctures in two similar post-conflict settings (Burundi and Nepal). Drawing upon extensive field research, the analysis shows that a gradualist approach is not more risk-prone than a prioritization strategy. To the contrary, the analysis suggests that even in most fragile contexts, gradualism can help to foster peace. Prioritization, in turn, may also contribute to the instability it aimed to prevent. Two factors condition the effect of the selected strategy on peace: which dimensions of democracy are affected and to what degree, and whether the institutional context reinforces or counteracts this trend.

Establishing Good Samaritan programs in healthcare institutions: a method for enhancing patient experiences and increasing loyalty

BackgroundHealthcare institutions deliver essential services that practically everyone needs at least periodically over the course of their lives. Hospital admissions, in particular, place patients in circumstances very foreign to them, with uncertain outcomes often being the case, causing stress for care recipients and their loved ones. Health and medical establishments must be very mindful of this and work toward supplying environments that are as comforting as possible for those in their care.DiscussionOne avenue for relieving patients and their loved ones of hardships that complicate already difficult situations involves the development and implementation of Good Samaritan programs. Termed in reference to the biblical Good Samaritan who attended to the physical and emotional needs of his neighbor, these programs supply aid and comfort over and above that which traditionally has been delivered to patients in healthcare delivery settings, fostering satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth communications, and loyalty. Willis-Knighton Health System operates a Good Samaritan program, notably including a patient concierge team, complimentary lodging, and free transportation, with the offering greatly improving the patient experience. This article profiles Willis-Knighton Health System’s Good Samaritan program and supplies a blueprint for establishing similar offerings in virtually any healthcare entity.ConclusionsGood Samaritan programs provide significant support and assistance to care recipients and their loved ones at particularly difficult times. Willis-Knighton Health System has observed firsthand the many benefits afforded by its Good Samaritan program, relieving those served by the establishment of many burdens and endearing them to the institution for its associated investments which foster peace of mind.

The role of pedagogy in peace building: A case from Sri Lanka’s non-formal secondary education sector

Sri Lanka is a country in transition. The civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009, with total defeat of the LTTE and many thousands of civilian casualties. The country is now engaged in a peace-building process through education. Key elements of the secondary school non-formal curriculum–truth-seeking, social cohesion and active citizenship–may contribute to this. Six state secondary schools serving different ethnic and religious groups were selected for qualitative research into how far this is the case. Data was collected on the application of knowledge, skills and values in lessons, extra-curricular programmers and whole school culture. The analysis suggests that truth-seeking is weak, with no teaching about the historical roots of the conflict or contemporary issues. There are efforts to build leadership skills and impart democratic values, but the critical thinking and discussion skills necessary for social cohesion and active citizenship are largely absent. However, there was encouraging evidence of non-formal pedagogical programs such as the school exchange and student parliament along with sport and arts programs providing a foundation to help foster peace.

THE ROLE OF MALAY LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AS A MEDIA FOR PEACE IN PATANI THAILAND AND THE ARCHIPELAGO

The existence of Malay language and literature has a very strategic meaning in the region of Southeast Asia, not only in the aspect of communication and interaction among the Malays, but also the relations between Malays and non-Malays, between minorities and the majority. This paper attempts to explain that in fact the Malay language has become a means of communication and interaction that is able to foster peace in various countries in the Nusantara or Southeast Asia region. While in Southern Thailand, the Patani community is not easy to live peacefully because Malay is less understood by government officials working in Southern Thailand. It also explains that one of the keys to fostering peace in the region is to make Malay language grow naturally, it is not complicated to use it and is also used by some government apparatus working in the provinces with the majority of Malays.

Can power-sharing foster peace? Evidence from Northern Ireland*

AbstractIn the absence of power-sharing, minority groups in opposition have powerful incentives to substitute the ballot with the bullet. In contrast, when power is shared among all major groups in society, the relative gains of sticking to electoral politics are larger for minority groups. After making the theoretical argument, we provide in the current paper an empirical analysis of the impact of power-sharing at the local level, making use of fine-grained data from Northern Ireland’s 26 local district councils over the 1973–2001 period. We find that power-sharing has a sizable and robust conflict-reducing impact.

A narrative on Islamic insurance in Bangladesh: problems and prospects

PurposeThis study aims to find out the problems of family Takaful (Islamic Life Insurance) operations in Bangladesh and proposes strategies to overcome the problems.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data were collected through interviews with 32 respondents from two family Takaful operators in Dhaka, Bangladesh.FindingsThe study finds a number of problems of family Takaful which relate to the government, Takaful company and the Shariah board. Lack of governing guidelines for Takaful companies in Bangladesh is causing numerous operational problems of family Takaful. To overcome these obstacles, the government should propose separate Act for Takaful. This requires support from the stakeholders along with Islamic scholars in the country.Practical implicationsIt is anticipated that the findings and suggestions of the study will assist the policymakers in improving the situation of family Takaful companies particularly in Bangladesh.Social implicationsIf the proposed suggestions are implemented in Takaful companies, the problems facing Takaful will likely be solved and more people will take part in Takaful. This would contribute to developing the country economically, raise Islamic values and foster peace and harmony in the society.Originality/valueMainly, this study is based on the primary research that has been conducted in family Takaful companies in Bangladesh.

LEGAL DILEMMAS IN RELEASING INDONESIA’S POLITICAL PRISONERS

In May 2015, in an effort to foster peace in the restive Papua and West Papua Provinces, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo granted clemency to five political prisoners, releasing them from sentences ranging from 20 years to life. The president also stated that there would be ‘a follow-up granting clemency or amnesty to other [political prisoners] in other regions’ (Jakarta Post, 10 May 2015). However, with up to 50 political prisoners still incarcerated in prisons around Indonesia (mostly Papuan and Moluccan separatists), Jokowi’s selective release policy faces several legal and political obstacles. This article outlines the various options open to Jokowi in facilitating future political prisoner releases (including amnesty, clemency, remissions and conditional release), the advantages and disadvantages of each, before suggesting an acceptable way forward for all parties.

Toward Sustainable Peace: A New Research Agenda for Post-Conflict Natural Resource Management

This forum reflects upon the current state of research on post-conflict natural resource management. It identifies two dominant perspectives on environmental peacebuilding in the literature: one focused on environmental cooperation, the other on resource risk. Both perspectives share a concern for the sustainable management of natural resources in post-conflict settings and prescribe environmental cooperation at large as a means to foster peace and stability. Yet both perspectives also feature notable differences: The cooperation perspective is driven by a faith in the potential of environmental cooperation to contribute to long-term peace through spillover effects. The resource risk perspective, however, recognizes that resource-induced instability may arise after intrastate conflict; stressing the need to mitigate instability by implementing environmental cooperation initiatives. Despite the significant contributions of both perspectives, neither has provided any cohesive theoretical understanding of environmental peacebuilding. This article suggests a timely revision of the research agenda to address this gap.

Soft power analysis in alienated borderline tourism

ABSTRACTThis study uses a combined content-semiotic analysis technique to identify visual representations of an alienated frontier between India and Pakistan. Additionally, narratives of tourism marketers, articles from leading newspapers, and online visitor reviews are analyzed to gain an insight into the manner the ‘closing of border gates’ ceremony is orchestrated and experienced. It is found that most tourism marketers offer distorted images of the border to some extent as most travel reviews flag aggressive orchestrations of war heritage at the border. A soft power analysis of content suggests that the tourism organizations can help foster peace relations between the two countries by actively working with the government agencies to tone down war/conflict memories and aggressive display of hard power.

FAITH BASED GROUPS ROLE IN CONFLICT SOLUTION IN NAIROBI SLUMS

Purpose: The general objective of the study was to determine faith based group’s role in conflict solution in Nairobi slums.Methodology: The study adopted a desktop descriptive research design.Results: Based on the findings the study concluded that form and causes of conflicts that faith based groups in Nairobi slums faced; social and economic effect of role faith based group’s role in conflict solution and major challenges encountered by faith based groups had a significant effect on conflict resolution in Nairobi slums. Study recommended that future studies can explore the role of individual roles in conflict solution in Nairobi slums.Policy Recommendation: This study provides implications for both policy and practice. Based on the study findings the study recommends that the government and FBOS should increase cooperation’s in their quest to foster peace in the society.

Envisioning a Post-Conflict Tripoli: The Inclusive Urban Strategy and Action Plan for Bab Al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen

The Inclusive Urban Strategy and Action Plan is a study conducted by a multi-disciplinary international team focused on the post-conflict area of Tripoli, the second largest city of Lebanon. The project includes the neighbourhoods of Bab Al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen and the conflict zone in between where hostilities ended thanks to the implementation of a security plan in 2014. The aim of the proposal is to initiate and foster peace and reconciliation between the conflicting communities, while addressing spatial, social and economic segregations by a holistic and tactical urban approach. The strategy results from a deep study and understanding of the actual fragile conditions in Tripoli, and derives its guidelines from the fractures and the intrinsic resources of the place. It is structured in three main layers (urban armature, functional injections and placemaking) and envisions the possibility to establish new relations and synergies inside the hugely fragmented environment. Instead of proposing concrete solutions, the strategy aims at initially generating the necessary conditions to trigger processes of recovery and therefore development, encountering positive outcomes and opportunities as well as possible threats. Adaptability and retrofitting thus became keywords in developing a realistic strategy that can take into consideration the difficulty of programming and making decisions in the context of post-conflict reconstruction.

Libya and Syria: Inserting the European Neighbourhood Policy in the European Union’s Crisis Response Cycle

Fostering peace and stability has been a key aim of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), but its effective impact on conflicts has been marginal. This article analyses the ENP’s security dimension through the conceptual prism of coherence. As a policy cutting across functional domains and governance levels the ENP faces horizontal and vertical coherence challenges. The empirical analysis focuses on two cases lying at the intersection of the ENP and comprehensive European Union (EU) crisis management: the EU’s responses to the Syrian and Libyan conflicts between 2011 and 2016. The analysis shows that the EU has gradually redirected ENP funds to short-term security- and migration-related goals. However, the EU has failed to ensure vertical coherence in the field of high politics. The externalities of the Libyan and Syrian conflicts might foster national preference convergence and thereby increase vertical coherence. While this should strengthen the ENP’s security dimension, the risk is that the policy’s distinct character as a tool for structural conflict prevention is diluted within an ever broadening comprehensive approach that focuses on conflict symptoms rather than root causes.

How Uncertainty about War Outcomes Affects War Onset

In canonical accounts of war, conflict outcomes are inherently uncertain. Contesting literatures posit that this uncertainty, arising from stochastic elements of the war-fighting process, may induce conflict due to greater risks of miscalculation or foster peace by breeding caution. We theorize that states, on average, exhibit prudence when confronting greater uncertainty. Despite its conceptual importance, extant proxies for uncertainty at various levels of analysis—such as polarity, balance of power, system concentration, and dyadic relative capabilities—are imprecise and theoretically inappropriate indicators. To overcome this shortcoming, we theorize the conditions that elevate the magnitude of uncertainty over conflict outcomes and introduce a novel measure that captures this uncertainty within any k-state system. Through extensive empirical analysis, we confirm uncertainty’s pacifying effect and show how this effect operates at different levels of analysis.

Introduction: Peace by Means of Culture

It is often argued that a shared culture, or at least shared cultural references or practices, can help to foster peace and prevent war. This essay examines in detail and criticizes one such argument, made by Patrick Leigh Fermor, in the context of his discussing an incident during World War II, when he and a captured German general found a form of agreement, a ground for peace between them, in their both knowing Horace's ode I.9 by heart in Latin. By way of introducing the sixth and final installment of the Common Knowledge symposium “Peace by Other Means,” this essay proposes that Leigh Fermor's narrative be understood in terms of commerce, rather than consensus. It concludes by examining Ezra Pound's use of the word commerce in his poem “A Pact” (“Let there be commerce between us”) to define his relationship with his “detested” and “pig-headed” poetic “father,” Walt Whitman.