Search results

Structural violence (SV) is related to the uneven distribution of resources which then leads to social exclusion and marginalisation of people. Johan Galtung (1969) also refers to it as social injustice and it is characterised by unequal access to education, health, water, food, shelter and other basic services. SV manifests itself through different forms of exclusion supported through both public and private institutions. Without support to address economic and educational opportunities, Zimbabwean youth continue to experience SV and high levels of social inequality (Chimucheka, 2012). Conflict transformation (CT) can help address SV since it provides processes and ways to build something desired thus altering the manifestation of the conflict (Waldman, 2009). CT involves action between parties that leads to both social change and justice (M. Evans, 2016). Social entrepreneurship (SE) can be used as a CT tool because it (i) identifies an unjust equilibrium that perpetuates exclusion and marginalisation, (ii) identifies opportunities and innovatively challenges the status quo to add social value and (iii) provides a better future for the marginalised communities through creating a new and stable alternative equilibrium (Baporikar, 2016). This chapter discusses the SV transformation model which the author tested to address the disparities faced by youth in an urban area in Zimbabwe. The action research, which took place between January and May 2017, was carried out in combination with capacity building, social support systems and community participation to address some of the SV indicators prevalent in the community. Whilst SE showed great potential in tackling SV in the community study, findings also reveal contestations between theory and practice. Some of the barriers identified in the field include the community’s failure to self-organise, lack of financial resources and buy-in from the local government. Future research could test the model in multiple settings and over longer periods to see its effectiveness.

Imagine we divide human history in four phases, calling them “primitive”, “traditional”, “modern” and, then, “post‐modern”. In other words, “modernity” is not seen as the end of history, and certainly not as global market economy cum democratic polity; a social formation seen here as highly unstable. A fourth phase is added, the phase that comes after modernity, like the “middle ages” come between antiquity and modernity, and “metaphysics” comes above or after physics: the post‐modern phase. The term is frequently used; the following is an effort to give that term a richer connotation.

The purpose of the chapter is to explore peace economics in the perspective of an organic worldview. Peace economics are discussed on two levels – the level of individual economic actor and the macro level related to the systemic interplay between economic actors. The main argument is that a change from shallow authenticity and competition towards deep authenticity and cooperation presupposes a paradigmatic shift from a mechanical to an organic worldview. Such a change in mindset should be supported by introducing peace economics in the curriculum on different levels of education. In an education for peace-building there should be a focus on what constitutes true personal development in the sense of obtaining more ‘inner’ peace as well as more peaceful interpersonal interactions. On the ‘outer’ spheres, the need for equity and joint projects is fundamental. The concept of equity emphasizes mutuality, equality and co-creative responsibility.

Hit by an unprecedented financial crisis, the Greek society has been also swept away by an acute political crisis, rising political polarisation and social unrest. At the same time, over the last decade, Greece has faced an unparalleled state of emergency, with thousands of refugees and immigrants entering every year and remaining in the country, often in extremely difficult living conditions leading to ‘an exceptional crisis within the crisis’. In fact, during the recent years, immigration and the ‘refugee crisis’ have been among the most controversial topics on the Greek policy agenda and one of the principal issues that shapes public discourse and raises the most questions about social cohesion and the fundamental values of the Greek society. Media representations of the refugee and migrant ‘crisis’ have played a significant role in how this controversial issue is presented in the Greek public discourse as well as in how people perceive and respond to it. Within this context and having as a starting point the theoretical approach of peace journalism, this chapter explores the ways in which four national Greek newspapers portrayed immigration within different periods of the Greek crisis between January 2011 and September 2015. Research results reveal two different periods in the analysed news stories, one between 2011 and 2014, when immigration was portrayed as a ‘domestic problem’ and the other, in 2015, when the situation was designated as a ‘European refugee crisis’. In both cases, however, it was evident that immigration was positioned high on the agenda of the Greek newspapers, despite major political events taking place within the same periods. Findings were presented and discussed on four different but interrelated levels: immigration (1) as a source of conflict and polarisation, (2) as a political issue, (3) through securitisation and victimhood and, ultimately, (4) through a ‘journalism of conventions’ lens, with very important consequences on the quality of information (extensive lack of solutions related to immigration and asylum issues, absence of refugees' voice, insufficient context, among others).

Two trends mark the contemporary international scholarship on conflict and resolution. The scholarship on conflict has begun to look systematically at intra-state conflicts and track the role of non-state actors, along with the more established trend of analysing inter-state conflict. Conflict resolution has also moved beyond looking at states and national and global-level NGOs to the role of local, non-state actors in preventing and/or minimising conflict. While the “mainstream” scholarly work emphasises a linear process of reaching resolutions in the aftermath of a conflict (e.g. Burton, 1990; Galtung, 1965), a range of “related” scholarship has begun to focus on factors that prevent conflict and their rapid diffusion over wider areas, as well as factors that contribute to longer term, peaceful, resolution (e.g. Das, Kleinman, Lock, Ramphele, & Reynolds, 2001; Sabet, 1998; Varshney, 2001). These related literature look beyond political solutions such as conflict management, boundary adjustments, and treaties, and the role of international and national formal bodies to resolve and manage conflict; their emphasis is on conflict prevention, the healing of conflict victims, and building and sustaining peace. With the recognition, in the 21st century, of the escalating production and spread of weaponry, the power of non-state actors to generate significant conflict, as well as the rapidly growing proportion of people who suffer from and cope with the aftermath of such conflict, the expanded frames for understanding conflict and resolution, requires further attention.

This chapter will portray the long and up-hill battle to abolish child marriage in India. It will focus on a few key moments of changing discourses on child marriage. While being categorized as a legitimate customary cultural practice over the centuries, there was a crucial generational shift towards addressing it as a violation of human rights within the past decade/s. For portraying these shifts, the metaphor of an up-hill battle has been chosen mainly for two reasons. On the one hand, it explicitly asks for investigating into the two parties (armies) involved in the violent “battle” over territory and/or ideas. On the other hand, it requests an understanding about the (metaphorical) landscape, with its slopes and pitfalls, reflecting the socio-cultural and political “landscape” where the battle is set.

At the global level, the United Nations has consistently advanced the agenda of addressing and safeguarding human rights, specifically for children. In India, successive governments have contributed to improving the protection of young girls, and boys, and tackling child marriage has been a crucial step to doing so. Thus, global conventions have been translated not only into national policies, but also into comprehensive legislation/s. Above all, the current Modi government strongly endeavours to (re-)brand India as a rapidly emerging digital global economy, rather than one characterized by violations of human rights, such as child marriage. Conceptually, the chapter will portray child marriage as a form of structural violence, where governance mechanisms fail to protect children from falling victim to human right abuses.

This chapter explores how the concept of ‘peace’ has evolved and broadened over time within the Peace Studies Field to include at least seven aspects (Part I), and how a somewhat parallel evolution has occurred within the field of Business Ethics, so that each of these seven aspects of peace has implications for business ethics (Part II). In Part I, peace is defined as different, evolving visions and goals necessary for creating a more peaceful society and world. These seven aspects of peace also build on each other, collectively creating a more holistic, integrative view of peace for the 21st century, along with the need for various forms of nonviolence for bringing about these needed visions and goals. Each of these seven aspects of peace can also be seen as being based on certain underlining principles. What is most interesting to see is that these underlying principles seem to also be at work in the evolution of business ethics, implying that humanity is indeed moving towards addressing evolving aspects of what must be addressed for creating a world that increasingly works for everyone. This is perhaps a surprising but quite significant discovery.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate direct, cultural, and structural violence in education system in the midst of armed conflict in Southern Thailand.

The exploratory qualitative case study conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with 40 participants, consisting of students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, principals, experts, education specialists, and administrators from seven schools across the three southern border provinces.

The study reveals some misconceptions of violence, normalization of direct violence in armed conflict, and pinpoints the ways in which cultural violence is used to legitimize structural and direct violence in the education system, as well as adverse effects and ethno-religious segregation in schools and the larger society.

Some policy recommendations are offered to address violence and promote sustainable peace through the education system in Southern Thailand.

This paper offers new perspectives on the inter-relationship between education and violence and adverse effects on violence in the education system in the midst of armed conflict in Southern Thailand.

The term “social indicator” has become familiar in recent years in reference to the quantitative measurement of social phenomena. International organisations within the United Nations family and OECD have devoted special programmes to their development, and the term is frequently used by planners, politicians and the press. It has received the accolade of scientific respectability by having a special journal to its name, research programmes of the US National Science Foundation and the United Nations University, annual volumes under its title published by statistical offices of many countries and bibliographies devoted to the literature on the subject.