Peace & Change 

About: Peace & Change is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Computer science. It has an ISSN identifier of 0149-0508. Over the lifetime, 890 publications have been published receiving 6683 citations. The journal is also known as: Peace and change (Online).

Empowerment or Imposition? Dilemmas of Local Ownership in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding Processes

Abstract: This article examines questions of local ownership in post-conflict peacebuilding and makes the case that the complex relationship between insiders and outsiders lies at the very heart of contemporary peacebuilding processes. While the discourse of local ownership has increasingly become part of the vocabulary of post-conflict peacebuilding, the discussion to date on both the meanings and the practices of local ownership in peacebuilding contexts remains underdeveloped. This article is therefore an effort to add substance to the local ownership debate, and outlines two forms of peacebuilding—liberal and communitarian—which contain markedly different assumptions concerning the role of local actors in peacebuilding processes. Ultimately, the article suggests that the search for ways to operationalize local ownership principles remains one of the key challenges of contemporary peacebuilding, and outlines a vision of peacebuilding as cultural exchange as a way forward.

Galtung, Violence, and Gender: The Case for a Peace Studies/Feminism Alliance

Abstract: My paper argues for an incorporation of feminist theories into peace theories, by analyzing what is missing by not confronting feminist contributions to a theory on violence. I take Johan Galtung's theory of violence as a point of departure, as a theory that is widely uncontested in peace studies. Galtung's articulation of direct, structural, and cultural violence offers a unified framework within which all violence can be seen. On the other hand, feminism can contribute to and enrich Galtung's theory of violence in four possible ways: 1Galtung's theory needs to incorporate notions of gender as a social construct embodying relations of power. 2Dichotomous, mutually exclusive categories that shape our understanding of the world are gendered and they are key to the production and reproduction of violence at all levels. 3Gendered language defines the possibility and impossibility of pursuing different visions of the social world. Violence and peace can be constituted through language. 4Violence produces and defines gender identities and, in turn, is produced and defined by them. These contributions have important implications for peace studies: only by taking gender seriously as a category of analysis, can prescriptions for a violence-free society be more than temporary solutions to deeply ingrained attitudes to accept violence as “natural.”

Peace-building: Theoretical and Concrete Perspectives

Abstract: In a world where war is everybody's tragedy and everybody's nightmare, diplomacy is everybody's business. —Lord Strang1 This paper presents a comprehensive review of the conflict resolution and peace-building literature focused on the issues involved in assessing the impact of peacemaking and peace-building through people-to-people contact. Findings reveal that we are still in the beginning stages of establishing frameworks for the resolution of wars and the building of peace and that there continues to be academic and political contestation over the definition of peace and peace-building. At the same time, this review identifies significant research progress in creating useful conceptual distinctions among the various modalities for peace, in establishing definitions that are both explanatory and remedial, and in recognizing the need for multi-faceted approaches to peacemaking and peace-building. Likewise, the literature indicates a growing understanding of the various forms of people-to-people contact, their impact, their possibilities, and their limitations. Attempts are made to reconcile the tensions between structural and social-psychological approaches, and similarly, the contradictions between conflict resolution and social justice. Finally, directions for future research that address the impact, the effectiveness, and the possibilities for creating an infrastructure for a sustainable just peace.

Humor as a Serious Strategy of Nonviolent Resistance to Oppression

Abstract: This article explores how humor can be used as one aspect of a strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppression and dictatorship. It combines sociological and philosophical theories about humor's duality and incongruity with theories of nonviolent resistance to oppression in order to investigate the links between topics that have previously been considered unrelated. Experiences from the Serbian Otpor movement, which used humorous actions as a part of its strategy to bring down Slobodan Milosevic from power, serve to illustrate the dynamics of humor as a form of resistance. Empirical examples and existing theory are combined to make an outline of an innovative theory of the functions of humor in nonviolent resistance.