Peacebuilding efforts always take place within—and are deeply constrained by—the global conflict system, whereby violence and peace coexist and mutually reinforce one another both within and between countries, privileging the few (“at peace”) at the expense of the many (subject to “rampant” structural violence and cultural violence, as well as the direct violence to which these often give rise).
In Afghanistan, some women from “liberal democracies” report experiencing a “third gender”—whereby, if they act as equals to their male counterparts, they “are masculinized, and not real women but something else,” providing them with a measure of freedom and access in this context.
Arms transfers and military aid from foreign countries (collectively referred to as foreign security assistance) is associated with poor human rights conditions, including violations of physical integrity rights such as torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, political imprisonment and executions, and genocide/politicide.
Reflecting on our role as peace scholars and practitioners, we realize that our work has focused too narrowly on conflict dynamics and violence prevention abroad and has failed to adequately address those same dynamics in our communities at home.
Two prominent non-police anti-violence models—the public health and community empowerment models—“hold promise… as community-centered replacements for, or alternatives to, the use or threat of police violence and incarceration as the primary means to control and reduce criminal violence.”
Countries with UN peacekeeping operations have more nonviolent protests than countries without UN peacekeepers, particularly if those peacekeeping missions include UN police (UNPOL)
In Yemen, absence of trust has been a serious impediment to the success of national dialogue processes in the past; therefore, any future process must include a “slow start” to establish basic levels of trust among involved parties.
While partisan commemoration can certainly “harden boundaries” between hostile groups, its potent symbolic resources can also be adapted to maintain community cohesion, legitimize shifts to peaceful politics by providing ideological continuity, and signal a newfound openness to previous adversaries, all in the service of peace.
La paz desobediente trata acerca de desarrollar colectivamente conocimiento por medio de la reflexión y la acción, poniendo en tela de juicio algunos supuestos aceptados tácitamente sobre un orden social complejo y la obediencia a la autoridad, y fortaleciendo una identidad moral y planes de acción para desobedecer las órdenes sociales inhumanas.
Disobedient peace is about developing knowledge collectively through reflection and action, questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about a complex social order and obedience to authority, and developing a moral identity and action plans to disobey inhumane social orders.