Peace Prevails Research Articles

UNESCO role in countering extremism and achieving peace in Iraq

Human societies suffer from the spread of the phenomenon of extremism and hatred, especially in countries immersed in wars, fighting and conflicts that always lead to a state of divisions among members of society and thus destroy peace, where the concept of peace and renunciation of extremism, which is means (a set of beliefs and ideas that go beyond what is agreed upon politically, socially and religiously, and extremism is linked to what is primarily intellectual), is closely related to the policies and trends taken by governments and international organizations, especially UNESCO, which is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations which is concerned with education and culture. In Iraq, there are many reasons behind the increase of the phenomenon of extremism, some of which are political, social, and economic, and these reasons must be addressed in order for violence to be combated and peace prevails, which we need it so much at this time so that we can live like the rest of the developed countries.

Međusobni odnos između kulture, prava i mira - veze i sukobi

The text explores the connections and tensions between culture, law, and peace. It contemplates culture's relationship with law, ranging from 'high culture' as art to broader definitions of culture as all things made by humans. The author defines culture as extra-legal norms. While many cultural norms don't clash with law, conflicts emerge where they coincide but differ. The text examines instances of conflicts between legal and cultural norms and their resolutions, focusing on German legal and cultural developments. The author offers examples that demonstrate how conflicts between law and culture can be resolved through legislative changes, external influences, and gradual shifts in societal attitudes. The author concludes that peace prevails where legal and cultural rules align.

The Role, Expectations and Challenges of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) longs for stability and development as it continues to be held back by the dysfunctional political system, weak institutions, rampant corruption and ethnonationalist rhetoric. It is caught in a vicious cycle of crises generated by some of its political elite that has hampered BiH’s social, political and economic progress. The international community, including the Office of High Representative (OHR), has taken on the responsibility of safeguarding the rights of three Constituent people and Others, ensuring peace prevails in BiH (OHR 2022). In particular, the OHR was established to drive reforms and institution-building in BiH but has often been hobbled by inadequate and reluctant political support. Considering the uniqueness of the High Representative’s position in BiH, further research is needed on its role, evolution, impact and acceptance. The research applies the role theory to examine the HR role (i.e., conception, performance and recognition). The OHR continues to play an essential role in BiH and cannot be closed until BiH makes significant progress toward state-building, which includes establishing strong institutions and addressing the democratic deficit, promoting a common national identity and the interethnic trust.

Civil war recurrence and postwar violence: Toward an integrated research agenda.

Violence after civil war is a challenge to sustainable peace. Many armed conflicts today are recurrences of previous wars and much of the literature on violence after war explains why armed groups return to the battlefield. But even if peace prevails, many other types of violence take place in postwar environments. This postwar violence is likewise subject to a growing multidisciplinary literature. Using citation network analysis, we show that research on war recurrence and postwar violence has developed in relative isolation from each other—although these phenomena are interrelated. This compartmentalization leads us to overlook important similarities and differences in the drivers of different forms of violence after war. We demonstrate this by reviewing the literature in both of these closely related fields. While war recurrence and postwar violence share a set of common risk factors, some factors can have opposite effects on the two outcomes. Because these insights only emerge when systematically comparing the two strands of literature, we propose a novel framework for the study of violence after wars that aims at overcoming the compartmentalization of research within these two fields. The framework serves both as a conceptual lens and an analytical tool to categorize and compare different forms of violence after war. We then outline how the framework aids scholars in pursuing an integrated research agenda, with concrete suggestions for research questions that should be studied to expand our understanding of violence after wars.

SCHOOL CLIMATE AND THE PREVENTION OF PEER CONFLICTS

School climate and students’ interpersonal relations are mutually conditioned and linked. By preventing peer conflicts in school, climate in which culture of peace prevails and students are taught to be socially responsible is created. Peer mediation and student activism are a means of preventive work of school with the aim of developing positive interpersonal relations. With theoretical analysis of research and authors’ views, we take into consideration the significance of these methods of preventing peer conflicts with which social and emotional competences develop, that is, we take into consideration the significance of preventive work of school with the aim of developing positive interpersonal relations. The role of school is to encourage students’ cooperation and compromise, that is, peer mediation and activism.

Extending the theory and practice of education for cosmopolitan citizenship

In 2003, citizenship education had recently been introduced to the national curriculum for England, and the model adopted was proving to be influential in a variety of settings worldwide. We sought to challenge a nationalist version of citizenship education by proposing “education for cosmopolitan citizenship” arguing for citizenship learning founded in human rights, that recognises and builds upon cosmopolitan values at all scales. Building upon David Held’s theories of cosmopolitan democracy we examined research data from young people living in communities characterised by diversity. We characterised them as emergent cosmopolitan citizens, who were negotiating daily their multiple loyalties and belongings. Nearly two decades later, many people are less optimistic about the global political climate. In the face of economic difficulties, demographic change and uncertainties, some welcome authoritarian and populist leaders whose rhetoric suggests easy solutions to complex problems, blaming the most vulnerable (e.g. refugees, foreigners) for society’s ills. A politics of solidarity and hope is derided as those who have suffered the negative impact of globalisation, economic crisis and austerity policies are urged to put “our people” first. This paper examines various challenges confronting teachers who seek to educate young people for living together in democratic communities in which human rights, justice and peace prevail. We argue that education for human rights and cosmopolitan citizenship is more urgent than ever. Such an education can offer young people alternative narratives, empowering them to struggle for justice in their own lives and those of others.

Horticulture in Iran Can Be an Alternative to Petroleum and a Major Source of International Business with Unique Potential and Challenges

The art and science of horticulture and horticultural crops are integral parts of Iranian’s rich and ancient culture and modern economy. Many deciduous fruit, flowers, and vegetables are native to Iran (Persia), and from there, they were distributed to the rest of the world through the Silk Road established by the Achaemenid, the Royal Pars Dynasty. Variations in climate and presence of numerous mountains, lakes, rivers, and natural springs have created a unique country capable of producing all types of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Apples and other deciduous fruits are commercially produced in mountain ranges of Alborz and Zagrous and in many central provinces of Iran. The Caspian Sea area in the north of Iran is one of the most unique regions in the world where mild Mediterranean climate meshed with the adjacent Alborz mountain ranges has created a home to numerous species of edible horticultural plants, ranging from tea to cherries and pomegranates. Pistachio, olive, citrus, banana, and date are produced in Kerman, Fars, and Khuzestan regions. However, the Iranian horticultural industry faces many challenges, including global and regional political issues. Although some attempt has been made to preserve invaluable germplasm, a large number of native fruits, vegetables, and flowers are becoming extinct. Postharvest transportation and storage of horticultural crops is one of the most important issues facing Iranian horticulture. The future of horticulture in Iran can potentially be bright, and horticultural products have the potential to replace the oil income after reserves disappear, particularly if peace prevails in the region.

Reorienting the Study of Citizenship in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lankan scholarship the second component, namely 'citizenship' is virtually absent from the public discourse. The obvious reason for the elusive presence of citizenship is, as previously mentioned, the inevitable invasion in every sphere of peoples lives of issues of nationalism, subnationalism and conflict in the past thirty years owing to the Tamil insurrection in the North and East of the island. In the 1980s and 1990s while the world was embroiled in debates over cosmopolitan and multicultural citizenship Sri Lankan studies were concerned with issues of power and democracy and remained locked in outdated analytical frameworks of nation, ethnicity, and community. For historical reasons citizenship has not had in the Sri Lankan scholarly field the seminal and near obsessive presence that nation and state have occupied. Another reason may be that liberal and radical scholars - defenders of minority rights - have been suspicious of majoritarian appeals to some ideal of 'good citizenship' where minorities will eventually be expected to play by majority rules. Although by the 1990s the terms had become a buzzword amongst thinkers in the North, citizenship remained in fact one of the least theorized notions in Sri Lankan studies where a generally instrumental understanding of the term that includes common defense of personal freedom, establishment of basic conditions of social justice and maintenance of civil peace prevails. In Sri Lanka, the tie between citizenship and nationhood, however, can never be wholly deconstructed or ignored. In this light, this paper will proposes future possible areas of study.

The Trinity of Violence in Northern Nigeria: Understanding the Interconnectedness between Frustration, Desperation and Anger for Sustainable Peace

<p>Violence is triggered by disagreements or contentious issues between two or more individuals, parties, regions or nations. The consequences of violence are often undesirable, leading to disease, malnutrition, starvation, moral decadence (deterioration), poor economic performance of governments, boundary disputes, tribal divisions, the wanton destruction of lives, properties and so on. This paper uses the principles of negative emotion to understand the concept of violence as it occurs in Northern Nigeria. The paper further derives theoretical explanations from the principle that individuals have the power to let peace prevail through a focused consciousness and common structures of intelligibility. The process was based on 10 principles of understanding violence, which were derived from 14 negative emotion indicators or factors of violence in the study setting. Subject matter experts (SME), including security agencies, private security experts, victims of violence and religious leaders, were consulted to determine the interconnectedness between these emotions in trends and patterns of violence. Social network analysis was used as a tool to map the dynamics of emotions, which identified three negative emotions: desperation, frustration and anger. These were ranked in order of their occurrence in conflicts and subsequent violence. The paper also suggests means to reduce violence and conflict by understanding this ‘trinity’ of violence in the region.</p>

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The fragility of deterrence in conflicts

We study deterrence in sequential move conflicts, modeled as a contest. We bias the model in favor of peace by assuming that under complete information deterrence is achieved and peace prevails. We show that under incomplete information about states’ types (resolve) the chances of deterrence decrease rapidly. Studying a uniform type distribution, we show that the finer the type space becomes the more resolve a defending state must have to support deterrence in equilibrium. In the limit, as types occur on a continuum, deterrence is possible only under relatively extreme conditions.

The Fragility of Deterrence in Conflicts

We study deterrence in sequential move conflicts, modeled as a contest. We bias the model in favor of peace by assuming that under complete information deterrence is achieved and peace prevails. We show that under incomplete information about states' types (resolve) the chances of deterrence decrease rapidly. Studying a uniform type distribution, we show that the finer the type space becomes the more resolve a defending state must have to support deterrence in equilibrium. In the limit, as types occur on a continuum, deterrence is possible only under relatively extreme conditions.

Known Unknowns: Power Shifts, Uncertainty, and War

AbstractLarge and rapid power shifts resulting from exogenous economic growth are considered sufficient to cause preventive wars. Yet most large and rapid shifts result from endogenous military investments. We show that when the investment decision is perfectly transparent, peace prevails. Large and rapid power shifts are deterred through the threat of a preventive war. When investments remain undetected, however, states may be tempted to introduce power shifts as a fait accompli. Knowing this, their adversaries may strike preventively even without conclusive evidence of militarization. In fact, the more effective preventive wars are, the more likely they will be launched against states that are not militarizing. Our argument emphasizes the role of imperfect information as a cause of war. It also explains why powerful states may attack weaker targets even with ambiguous evidence of their militarization. We illustrate our theory through an account of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Borrowed Power: Debt Finance and the Resort to Arms

Military expenditures are often funded by debt, and sovereign borrowers are more likely to renege on debt-service obligations if they lose a war than if they win one or if peace prevails. This makes expected debt service costlier in peace, which can affect both crisis bargaining and war termination. I analyze a complete-information model where players negotiate in the shadow of power, whose distribution depends on their mobilization levels, which can be funded partially by borrowing. I show that players can incur debts that are unsustainable in peace because the opponent is unwilling to grant the concessions necessary to service them without fighting. This explanation for war is not driven by commitment problems or informational asymmetries but by the debt-induced inefficiency of peace relative to war. War results from actions that eliminate the bargaining range rather than from inability to locate mutually acceptable deals in that range.

Anchoring the Peace: Civil Society Actors in Peace Accords and Durable Peace

Is peace more likely to prevail when the peace accord includes civil society actors such as religious groups, women's organizations, and human rights groups? This is the first statistical study that explores this issue. The article develops key claims in previous research regarding the role of civil society actors and durable peace, and proposes a set of hypotheses that focus on legitimacy in this process. The hypotheses are examined by employing unique data on the inclusion of civil society actors in all peace agreements in the post–Cold War period. The statistical analysis shows that inclusion of civil society actors in the peace settlement increases the durability of peace. The results further demonstrate that peace accords with involvement from civil society actors and political parties in combination are more likely to see peace prevail. The findings also suggest that inclusion of civil society has a particularly profound effect on the prospects for overall peace in nondemocratic societies.

Finding an alternative to illicit opium production in Afghanistan, and elsewhere

Prohibition attempts have failed for over a century, as the case of Afghanistan shows. There are many and complex reasons for this. Illicit opium production has benefited from synergies between war economies and drug economies, in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It has also thrived on economic underdevel opment and poverty. Part of the problem is that illicit opium production largely outlives war and that economic development can only occur in countries and regions where peace prevails. What is needed to reduce poppy cultivation is broad and equitable economic development. Ignoring the causes of opium production or making them worse by increasing poverty through forced eradication, will compromise antidrug policies and stabilisation efforts.

When Peace Prevails: The Management of Political Crisis in Ecuador, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Venezuela

This article presents a comparative study of four countries that experienced severe political crises during the past two decades—Ecuador, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Venezuela. Despite this, peace prevailed in three of them. Only in Madagascar was there an armed conflict in 2009. Based on a comparison of these cases, the article identifies a set of factors deemed crucial as constituents of a country's domestic capabilities for peaceful conflict management. The article also explains why—in the case of Madagascar in 2009—these capabilities became weakened and the crisis culminated in a military coup. The factors identified as crucial for the preservation of intrastate peace are channels of political participation, the identity and loyalty of the military, a culture of constructive conflict management, and the structure of conflict fault lines in a country. The comparative study revealed that strength in one or more of these factors could substitute for weaknesses in the others. Conflict-prevention research and conflict-prevention efforts therefore need to pay attention to all of these factors, and to the balance between them.

Existing and the future planned desalination facilities in the Gaza Strip of Palestine and their socio-economic and environmental impact

One of the major options for the remedy of water shortages in the Gaza Strip of Palestine, and the protection of its coastal aquifer from either depletion and/or becoming saline, is the utilization of desalination technology for brackish and seawater in that region. Other effective options for water supply may become feasible after a comprehensive peace prevails in the region. As a means of an immediate remedy to fresh water shortages in cities in central and southern Gaza and water conflict resolution, the donor countries have funded 3 relatively small brackish water reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants, each of which produces between 45 and 75 m 3/h. Two private Palestinian water investing companies also established two similar RO plants. Several other much larger seawater RO desalination plants are planned to cover the overall shortages in the whole Gaza Strip and allow time to restore and rejuvenate the polluted and saline Gaza aquifer. The Gaza Strip with its low rainfall and sandy soils depends greatly on its intensive agriculture production on irrigation resulting in an over utilization of the underground water resources. The high water withdrawal through about 4000, mostly unregulated, private farm wells with a capacity of 20–80m 3/h and 95 municipality wells of 60–100 m 3/h, and lack of sufficient natural recharge is causing a deterioration of the valuable coastal aquifer system in the Gaza Strip. Discussion will entail the USAID many faceted assistance programs to rehabilitate the Gaza aquifers and investigate the options for alleviating the water shortages in the Gaza Strip. USAID allocated and began collaboration with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) on a USA grant of US$10M yearly, over 5 years, which is currently being implemented through the USA consulting firm of Metcalf and Eddy. Currently, desalination by RO of the abundant supplies of brackish water around the cities in central and southern Gaza, which may be appealing as an emergency alternative water source, is causing through the brine disposal, long range environmental problems, and through intensive underground water withdrawals, a lowering of the water table and encroachment of seawater and other brackish water intrusion into the fresh water aquifer. Furthermore, the brine disposal from the private desalination plants and the small private RO water vendors are a menacing and uncontrolled environmental problem in the Gaza Strip.

Crisis in Sierra Leone

Efforts to resolve Sierra Leone's nine-year conflict have stalled. Within the country an uneasy peace prevails, but more fighting is possible once the rainy season ends in November. Incursions by rebels into neighbouring Guinea make finding solutions all the more crucial. For United Nations peacekeeping efforts to succeed, greater commitment and cohesion as well as a stronger sense of purpose will be needed.

Objective: Industrial Peace

Industrial strife leaves its scars upon the relations between employers and employees. When strikes occur, distrust and antagonisms are engendered which persist after the strikes are over. Strikes, too, curtail production. A strike in one plant often causes work stoppages in other plants where industrial peace prevails. Strikes cause employees to lose wages which they may never recover even though they gain increases in their rates of pay. Strikes upset the economy of the communities in which they occur. The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker lose business if the striking employees cannot buy. Strikes weaken the finances of the companies in which they occur. Stockholders face possible reductions in their dividends. Strikes, particularly in the basic industries and utilities, jeopardize the rights of the public. The cutting off of electricity, gas, transportation, milk, and fuel are serious matters. Strikes and other forms of industrial strife must give way to industrial peace. But we cannot countenance industrial peace any price. Industrial peace must not be gained at the expense of our democratic way of life, nor by the abandonment of our American free enterprise system. Industrial peace must be achieved by democratic means, in some countries industrial strife has been outlawed but only through the compulsion of autocratic government. While we recognize the evils of industrial strife, we have not clearly identified the underlying causes. I shall endeavor to throw some illumination upon the causes, as I see them, by reference to outstanding eveners and developments in the period of about 30 years which commenced with the First World War. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)