State Of Peace Research Articles

Preparing Citizens for Peaceful Living: An Evaluation of Obafemi Awolowo University Curriculum for Peace Education

This article evaluated Obafemi Awolowo University’s special electives and faculty general courses to determine their peace education contents and their potentials to build the capacity of undergraduates for peace living in the society. Using a peace education evaluative framework specifically designed for the study, 60 courses were evaluated for their peace contents. Results were qualitatively described in words and with the use of simple frequency tables and graphs.Findings showed that Obafemi Awolowo University offers 24 special electives consisting of 201 topics with 20.3% of peace education diet while 15 courses have peace education diet, 9 courses have none.1.4% of the contents of the special elective curriculum reflect elements of education for peace. Human right education 1.4%, Gender education 0.4%, Environmental education 2.9%, Futures education 7.4%,Global citizenship education 0.4% and multi-cultural education 6.4%. Of the general courses of the 13 faculties in the university, only 5 faculties have peace education contents. Faculty of Administration 7.1%, Faculty of Agriculture 21.7%,Faculty of Education 12.5%,Faculty of Law 5%, and Faculty of Social Sciences 57.1%. The two most frequent peace education elements in Obafemi Awolowo University curriculum are Futures Education and Environmental Education.There are therefore convincing empirical evidence suggesting that Obafemi Awolowo University curriculum has low peace content.The term peace is frequently and liberally used in the media the public and the private sector as well as in the International arena. Peace is a key term for education because it pertains to the basic condition of human existence and societal as well as political embedding. Defining peace is a difficult task as it encompasses not only a concept but also a plethora of behaviours and conditions that could be necessary to obtain peace. The most common definition of peace states that peace is the absence of war or protracted conflict. Peace can also be seen as an attitude, behaviour, specific relation among people or quality of relations (Waterkamp 2006). The concept of peace has evolved throughout history as a result of changes in the world order and modifications in a state of existence. Moreover, in the modern world, understanding of peace varies significantly within cultural and geographical contexts.Galtung (1969), one of the best known theorists of modern peace research, defines peace through social goals as a major part of a scientific strategy. The terms peace and violence are closely linked to each other. Harris and Morrison (2003) elaborate that peace is concerned with different forms of violence and it functions at multiple levels of human existence. Traditionally, peace is associated to nations and their ability to settle disagreements. Peace is a concept that motivates and inspires imagination indicating more than the absence of violence. It implies co-operation, respect for life and human rights and the dignity of each human being without discrimination or prejudice (Burns and Aspeslagh 1983, Bajaj 2008).Since independence, Nigeria has not escaped a season that was free of crises both at community level and within ethnic groups in the country. There were political crises as well 1.0can count up to fifty or more religious crises from 1977 till 2000 (Alabi 2010). In spite of the conflict prone situation in Nigeria, her desire for peace is evident in her national anthem and the pledge. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-25-04 Publication date: September 30 th 2021

The Practice of Humanistic Buddhism for the Indonesia’s National Integrity

In the midst of Indonesian society which is full of diversity, so there needs to be a sense of tolerance and respect for these differences in order to maintain the integrity of the nation, where this is in line with Buddhist teachings which also teach to be able to live in people’s lives so that the desired state of peace and prosperity will emerge. communicate as stated in the text of the 2020 Vesak message of Saṅgha Theravāda Indonesia is reviewed through the use of Buddhist communication theory as part of communication theory originating from the east and Buddhist semiotics to dissect the meaning of the text so that it can be practiced in daily life. The findings from the analysis of the text show that each paragraph in the text of the 2020 Vesak message of Saṅgha Theravāda Indonesia has a Buddhist-based communication delivery pattern that is beneficial not only for Buddhists but for the wider community about the importance of practicing the teachings of love in building a spirit of fraternity in order to maintain the integrity of the Indonesian nation.

Social democracy and the decline of strikes

This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. We use panel data techniques to analyze more than 2000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns. We find that a shift of political majority towards the Social Democrats led to a significant decline in strikes, but only in towns where union presence was strong. The strike-reducing mechanism is related to corporatist explanations rather than increased social spending in municipal budgets.

Introduction: reframing narratives of peace-building and state-building in Africa

ABSTRACT This paper introduces the Special Issue that grew out of a research project at the African Leadership Centre, which was supported by the Canadian International Centre for Development Research (IDRC). Like the underpinning research, the papers in this volume engage with two aspects of the state-building and peace-building debate and foreground the theory of “conversation” as a useful lens through which to advance the pursuit of sustainable peace in Africa. First, we challenge the dominant approach that constructs liberal state-building as an essential condition for durable peace in societies emerging from armed conflict. Second, we examine the extent to which various forms of political settlements are able to deliver sustainable peace and as a result, more peaceful and viable states. The concept of “conversation” is the thread that connects the two elements of the research. The notion of conversation reverses the conventional view of the relationship between peacebuilding and state-building while re-centring a particular dimension of political settlement. We argue that peacebuilding should be conceived as part of the conversations occurring along the state-building continuum in the affected societies. This shifts the traditional approach of privileging the technical over the political, power over agency, and the international over the national and local. This paper introduces the articles in this volume, which include conceptual and empirical case-studies and it discusses implications for policy and practice.

The Political History of Military-Induced Conflict and Instability in Lesotho and Its Economic and Developmental Implications

The military has for a long time been used to crush dissent and to silence and stifle democratic principles in Lesotho. This small enclave country (fully surrounded by South Africa) has had, since 1966, a history of political instability, mainly triggered by skewed civil-military relations. This has impacted negatively on its economic growth and development. The central argument of this article is that stagnant and even regressive socio-economic development in Lesotho has a strong correlation with the untenable political situation, fuelled by the involvement of the military in politics. It has been found that Lesotho’s military is too entrapped, like many militaries in Africa, in the post-colonial “colonial” mentality in that it is too inward-looking and therefore sees and treats its own citizens as enemies instead of allies. The incidence of human rights abuses and meddling by the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in civilian matters is staggering. Fundamentally, these are institutional problems that warrant an overhaul of the entire system of governance, beginning with radical amendments to the constitution. To this end, various reforms have been suggested by civil society organisations and political parties, including constitutional reforms, security sector reforms, electoral reforms, and many others. If these reforms could be implemented, Lesotho might transition into a stable, peaceful, and developmental state in the southern African region.

An Impact of first COVID lockdown on physical and mental health along with the quality of life in Adults belonging to Maharashtra state

Amid rise in Covid-19 cases throughout the world including India. So study was initiated to find out the impact on different domains of health. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared, which consist of questions pertaining to the change in physical and mental health along with the quality of life during the lockdown period and was distributed through Google forms. During the survey, a total of 663 responses were collected, of which 604 responses were analyzed. Out of responses that were calculated, the physical health of 370 participants (61.30%) was improved, physical health of 111 (-18.40%) participants has deteriorated and the remaining 123 (20.30%) participants barely changed. The mental health of 274 (-45.30%) participants was declined, 201 (33.20 %) respondents tried to maintain a healthy mental state while 129 (29.30%) members maintained a peaceful state of mind. The quality of life of 290(48%) was adversely affected, 218 (36%) participants were able to maintain a healthier lifestyle, and their quality of life increased, while 96 (15.8%) remained unchanged. Quality of life is most negatively hampered whereas there is improved physical health status in the adult population. All the 3 components are Physical and Mental health along with Quality of life was affected due to Covid-19 related lockdown but out of these, physical health was 61.3% positively affected while mental health and QOL were deteriorated by 45% and 48% respectively.

ANALYSIS OF INTER-ETHNIC CONFLICTS AND APPLICATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY THEORIES IN KAZAKHSTANI CONTEXT

Two large conflicts arose between representatives of Uighurs and Kazakhs in 2006 and between Kurds and Kazakhs in 2007 within the Republic of Kazakhstan. Official authorities did not want to consider these conflicts as inter-ethnic conflicts in order not to propagate further ethnic escalations and clashes. One of the few reasons were due to the fact that the state did not want to worsen its international image as a peaceful and multi-national state as it has proclaimed to be so, where representatives of around 130 nationalities live in peace and harmony together.

Le langage des murs qui enferment dans L'Étranger de Camus et Hiroshima mon amour de Duras

Meursault de L’Étranger et « Elle » d’Hiroshima mon amour sont des personnages tragiques qui, comme poussés par un fatum antique, ont commis un crime, crime de sang ou crime d’amour, pour lequel ils doivent payer. Tandis que le premier est accusé d’insensibilité et condamné à mort parce que la justice voit en lui un « monstre moral », le deuxième est accusé de « collaboration horizontale » et puni par la « justice populaire ». Dès lors, enfermés, dans une cellule pour le premier, alternativement dans une chambre et une cave pour le second, ces deux êtres cherchent les visages et voix d’amours passées. La quête de ces visages et voix d’un monde révolu qui font souffrir les protagonistes par leur disparition va laisser la place chez les deux personnages à un état d’apaisement allant permettre, au héros comme à l’héroïne, de se réconcilier avec leur passé. Tandis que Meursault, qui a changé en prison, va redécouvrir sa mère et finalement comprendre la volonté de celle-ci de reprendre goût à la vie à l’asile de vieillards, « Elle », guérie par le Japonais, va retrouver un équilibre sentimental.

Spiritual Awakening of the Personality as key to Spiritual Security in the Context of Postmodernism

The article presents a new view on the problem of educating the spiritual security of the personality from the positions of axiological, culturological, civilizational, systemic, and anthropological approaches, on which the research methodology is based. The article describes the basic concepts of research: spirituality, culture, spiritual awakening, spiritual security, and presents the author’s definition of the concept of spiritual security of the personality. The article describes the cultural ideals of coziness in different countries of the world, which allowed us to highlight the features and prove the importance of leading a spiritual way of life, the essence of which is a person’s acquiring of a state of inner peace, coziness, security and which is accompanied by the achievement of pleasure from life. The principles of educating the spiritual security of the personality have been defined. They include the principle of spiritualization, the principle of cooperation, the principle of “live” dialogue based on spiritual and cultural values. The authors have identified the main threats to the spiritual security of the personality and described the ways to overcome them, among which special attention is paid to the importance of reviving the spiritual and cultural educational component, which will be the first step towards educating a positive personality with a human face, the humane, altruistic, creative personality focused on creation, not destruction.

Theoretical aspects of modern security threats. Definitions, typologies, evolution

In the literature on the subject, the term “security” is accompanied by the terms “non-threatening state”, “non-threatening state of peace”, “state of peace”, “state of certainty”. The lexical meaning of the term (Latin sine cura – no worries) should be understood as a situation in which there are no threats. In the context of lexical meaning, the term security means a risk-free situation. Contemporary understanding of the term focuses its attention on learning security understood as the resultant of the theory and practice of providing a reference subject with the possibility of survival (existence) and the pursuit of own interests, particularly using opportunities, taking challenges, minimizing risk and counteracting all types of threats. Definitive approaches to the term security indicate that it should be understood as a state and process. The state of security should be understood as a sense of confidence of the subject and guarantee of its survival, while the process – as chance for improvement and development of state’s means to protect and defend it. The current catalog of security threats proposed by Barry Buzan was extended in the second half of the 20th century from military nature threats to threats of a political, economic, social, and environmental nature. These changes have redefined the modern understanding of security. The main research problem was formulated as the question: what are the theoretical aspects of contemporary security threats? The article aims to analyze and diagnose contemporary definitions of security and its threats. The research process uses methodological methods of scientific cognition, mainly analysis and criticism of literature.

Just War Doctrine – Relic or Relevant?

In the article, I examine the relevance of Just War Doctrine to contemporary conflicts. Just War Doctrine, which grew out of Western Christian thinking, presupposes that evil might be confronted with force, if there is no alternative way to restore a just order. But modern trends call into question the certainty and universality of this doctrine. On the one hand, ideas of moral relativism and comparative justice have become more widespread, potentially undermining the use of the notions “just” and “justified” in relation to military conflicts. On the other hand, the nature of war is changing, as warfare is no longer only kinetic in character. I offer examples of how the evolving character of warfare challenges the traditional understanding of Just War Doctrine. For example, there is the growing threat of cyber warfare, but the ethical criteria for its use are not defined. In relation to Just War Doctrine, questions of whether and when pre-emptive cyber attack is permissible arise, what should constitute legitimate targets of cyber warfare and to what degree collateral damage could be acceptable. Another challenge to the traditional understanding of Just of War Doctrine was the putative doctrine of humanitarian intervention.Prima facie,humanitarian interventions do not comply withius ad bellumcriteria of Just War Doctrine, because of the absence of a direct military threat to the intervening state. The justification of humanitarian intervention is based on the assertion of an intolerable violation of accepted values. The weakness of such approach, as discussed in the article, is that it implicitly assumes that one protagonist’s values are superior to others. A further example of emerging challenges to Just War Doctrine is the phenomenon of hybrid war, a term used to describe a type of conflict that is multi-faceted and in which kinetic warfare is not dominant. The orchestration of several strands of conflict, each designed to be below the threshold to provoke a military response, exploits the absence of legal and ethical norms regulating such activity. I conclude the article by suggesting that, firstly, for Just War Doctrine to remain relevant, it should be expanded to include harms caused by non-kinetic actions, and, secondly, the distinctions between the states of war and peace should be redefined to reflect the changing character of war more accurately.

Acute Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Cognitive Performance

The beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation on higher-order cognitive performance as well as physiological parameters, such as decreased cortisol levels, blood pressure, pulse rate, and reaction time, have been studied extensively. However, most of these studies have been conducted over a relatively long term, comparing subjects who meditate on a regular basis with those who have never meditated. In this study, the acute effects of mindfulness meditation are investigated by examining the differences between tactile reaction time and temporal-order judgement (TOJ) obtained before and after a 10-minute meditation session in several case studies. Additionally, the participants reported their mood and stress levels in a survey before and after the meditation session. The results demonstrate that mindfulness meditation improves performance on the tactile reaction time and TOJ tasks, and it also promotes a peaceful state of mind.

Conflict and its relationship to climate variability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Deviations in rainfall duration and timing are expected to have wide-ranging impacts for people in affected areas. One of these impacts is the potential for increased levels of conflict and accordingly, researchers are examining the relationship between climate variability and conflict. Thus far, there is a lack of consensus on the direction of this relationship. We contribute to the climate variability and conflict literature by incorporating Markov transitional probabilities into panel logit models to analyze how monthly deviations in rainfall affect the likelihood that a grid cell transitions to an above average level of conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. To control for differences in seasons across the continent, we model this relationship for each of the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa separately – East, Central, West, and Southern. We find significant seasonal and regional effects between rainfall and the probability that a grid cell transitions from a state of peace to a state of conflict. In particular, above average rainfall is associated with a higher likelihood of transitioning into conflict during the dry season. Further, each region has specific months—primarily those associated with prime crop harvest periods—where variations in rainfall significantly influence conflict. We also find regional variations in the linkage between rainfall and conflict type related to the types of conflict that predominate in particular regions of Sub- Saharan Africa. These findings are important for policymakers because they suggest additional law enforcement and/or peacekeeping resources may be needed in times of above average rainfall. Policies that provide financial support for farmers or other sectors, such as mining, that are impacted by rainfall patterns may also be a useful strategy for conflict mitigation.

Housefly Maggot Meal as a Potent Bioresource for Fish Feed to Facilitate Early Gonadal Development in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell,1822)

Food security is threatened by the global increase of human population, climate change, inequality of wealth distribution, the state of natural resources, peace and sustainability, among others. Aquaculture has become an important part of the food supply, hence contributing to food security. Sustainable fish production, which represents an important affordable protein supply, should therefore involve feed formulation and production techniques that are not dependent on fish meal as the protein source. It is on this basis that bioeconomy becomes very important to promote the resourceful use of biomass for feed, food, biomaterials, and bioenergy. This study presents housefly maggot meal as an efficient alternative protein source to fishmeal and a valuable bioresource. Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (male and female) were fed maggot meal supplemented diets for 24 weeks and we assessed their growth and gonadal development. The findings of this study revealed that maggot-meal-enhanced diets promoted growth and faster gonadal development in fish. Maggot meal represents a quality alternative protein source to fish meal and an excellent bioresource, which can help us attain sustainable aquaculture production.

A systems approach to the sustainability–peace nexus

This paper uses a systems approach to model the coherence and linkages between peace and sustainability. These two interconnected dynamic states emerge from the interaction of multiple systems and subsystems and unfold in a landscape of specific context and scale. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all unified and optimized static state of peace, the same way as there are no individual united and optimized stationary states of sustainability or sustainability–peace coherence. Each has “to be read as a plural.” Studies have shown that these states are difficult to conceptualize for different scales and contexts, let alone quantity. The paper first reviews several definitions of sustainability and peace, and explores their linkages at the community scale. Guidelines for a systems approach to address sustainability, peace, and their nexus are suggested. A generic system dynamics model is proposed as an aid to capture, albeit with a high level of abstraction, the complex dynamics between sustainability and peace.

Human rights law and humanitarian law: between complementarity and contradiction

International human rights law and international humanitarian law are two specialized areas of the public international law, which exist as distinct legal branches. These legal branches have a different origin and legal basis, but a common humanist ideal, and consequently areas of overlap in practice. Both legal regimes share the responsibility to protect human beings’ rights; Humanitarian law in time of armed conflict, human rights law in peacetime and in wartime as well. Because of this, in practice there is sometimes concurrent application of the legal norms of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. At the same time, there are also differences between these two legal regimes that arise from the different circumstances which are relevant in a state of peace and in state of war. Hence, regarding this relationship, many relevant questions arise: Whether these legal branches are mutually exclusive? Under what circumstances does humanitarian law apply, and how does this differ from the applicability of human rights law? Which are the areas of overlap? What are the practical consequences of the legal issues resulting from parallel application of the two legal frameworks? This paper is not intended to resolve all these questions, but to make contributions in the ongoing debate by presenting similarities between human rights law and humanitarian law, areas of overlap, and situations of concurrent application. We will also underline the differences which exist in this relationship, especially the differences in the scope of protection guaranteed within the legal norms, the responsibility for breaking the norms, as well as permitted derogations in implementation of the norms. One part of the paper applies the principle lex specialis in cases where one of the legal branches is more specific in a concrete situation.

The Repercussions of Armed Conflict on Food Security in the Republic of Cameroon

Peace and stability are among the most significant conditions capable of guaranteeing food security in all communities in the world. In fact, the constant availability and access to food is largely dependant on the state of peace. Armed conflicts in the world today have seriously affected food security with direct consequence on the economy, health, and standard of living of the affected population. This paper seeks to show how the ongoing armed conflicts in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon between separatist armed groups and Cameroon defence forces have affected food security. It is also argued that sustainable food security is strongly dependent on the degree of peace and security existing in a particular region. As such, effective conflict prevention and resolution can significantly contribute to guaranteeing food security to all communities in the world.

Guanajuato: A Struggle to Control Oil Theft

Guanajuato became Mexico’s most dangerous entity in 2019. It used to be a peaceful state in the 1990s, but with the evolution of criminal groups and organised crime, Guanajuato became a strategic region because of its geographical location, road network, economic development and fuel pipelines. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that brought Guanajuato to the first place in terms of homicides in 2019 nationwide. The hypothesis states that violence in the entity was the result of an invasion of the CJNG and its fight against the CSRL to dominate the theft of gasoline. To prove this hypothesis, we use a multiple regression model to correlate homicides taking place from 2015 to 2019 between the most dangerous municipalities of Guanajuato with those occurring in Jalisco and Michoacán. The correlation parameters which also take into account the road network were significant for Leon, (Guanajuato) vs. San Pedro de Tlaquepaque (Jalisco), Tlajomulco de Zúñiga (Jalisco), Tonalá (Jalisco), Zamora (Michoacán) and El Salto (Jalisco); Irapuato vs. Guadalajara (Jalisco) and San Pedro de Tlaquepaque (Jalisco) and Salamanca vs. Guadalajara (Jalisco), Tonalá (Jalisco), Zamora (Michoacán) and Lagos de Moreno (Jalisco).

The uncertainty of modern society in Cambodia: The new perspective of the government in insurance regulation

Since the long period of political, social stability and especially the peacebuilding under the interfering of the United Nation, in 1991 the Paris Peace Accord was signed. Cambodia was settled in a peaceful state and it has achieved the basic fundamental for county’s economic development with rapidly status. Accordingly, the social protection policy has critically recognized by the government recently, however, whilst the economic gains are more likely fragile, most of the people are still in the poverty line, the long-term economic prospects are uncertain, such as its weak institution, social inequality and unemployment issues, and social protection system. The social protection system in Cambodia, as a particular, is at an early stage, and very limited. With the small proportion of the covered social insurance program, there are lifecycle shocks and economic downturn have resulted. Thus, the role of private insurance (insurance industry) in boosting the domestic financial economy, and its potential in risk management and complement state’s social insurance program have become the prime matters of considerable interest to state’s regulators and policy-makers.

The struggle and peace in the debates on recognition

The work presented investigates the reception by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, in particular from what is stated in his book Los caminos del Reconocimiento, of the normative social theory that the representative of the Frankfurt School, Axel Honneth presents in his text La lucha por el reconocimiento.Por una gramatica moral de los conflictos sociales. In a context where struggles for recognition are a constitutive part of modern social relations, Paul Ricoeur, without ignoring the presence of conflict and the need for struggle, is going to introduce into the debate on recognition, what he called states of peace, which would be understood as effective experiences of recognition that do not arise from the struggle. This will allow human experiences such as gratitude, hope, and hospitality to enter in a scene and a debate marked largely by belligerent rhetoric and practices. Exploring the critical and emancipatory potential linked to these peaceful experiences of recognition is the ultimate goal of this reflection.