Civil Society and Peacebuilding

Ghana is among the few African countries that have not experienced any form of large-scale violence or civil war since independence in March 1957. This is why the country has often been described at both local and the international levels as an oasis of peace and stability in a continent besieged by conflicts. Hence, Ghana is considered one of the most peaceful countries in West Africa, especially, having witnessed the most peaceful political transition in 1992 following the acceptance of democracy. In addition, the peaceful organisation of the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 general elections has made Ghana a beacon of hope for democracy, good governance, stability and peace in Africa.

Do social cohesion activities change the attitudes of the participants? This paper uses intergroup contact theory to explore attitude change resulting from contact with out-group(s) in social cohesion activities. Results from a pre-test/post-test design with fifty-five participants in two bicommunal camps in Cyprus show how attitudes change at the immediate end of these activities; an analysis of fourteen participants’ comments after one, thirteen, and twenty-five months provides a medium- to long-term assessment of attitude change. Not all participants were completely positive towards the other community before they took part, as assumed by some. There is clearly space for impact in terms of attitude change. Social cohesion activities represent indispensable tools for reducing prejudice and improving relationships between former enemies in post-conflict countries.

Barış evinin inşası uzlaşı mekânlarıyla mümkün. Uzlaşı mekânlarını oluşturmak ise ne tek başına çatışmaların durmasıyla olabilir ne de tek başına çatışan aktörlerin yapabileceği bir şeydir. Daha da ötesi, siyasi aktörler de böylesi bir toplumsal inşayı tek başına yapamazlar. Zira sanıldığının aksine çatışmalar sadece çatışan taraflar arasında cereyan etmez. Bu çatışmalar ekonomik, sosyal, kültürel, idari, mekânsal, psikolojik birçok alanda toplumsal ilişkileri yıkar ve çatışmaların neden olduğu nefret ve düşmanlıklarla “zehirlenmiş” yeni toplumsal ilişkiler, bu ilişkilerin şekillendirdiği alt-sistemler ve sistemler oluştururlar.

Şiddetsizlikten öteye geçmek, siyasetten öteye uzanmak, zehirlenen toplumsal ilişkileri yeniden kurmak mikro ölçekten makro ölçeğe çok katmanlı, çok aktörlü ve çok boyutlu bir toplumsal mobilizasyonu gerektirir. Sivil toplum aktörleri böylesi bir mobilizasyonda kilit bir rol oynayabilirler. Sadece toplumsal alanda ilişkilerin yeniden kurulmasına değil, aynı zamanda siyaset alanının da dönüşümüne katkı sunabilirler.

Elinizdeki kitap “DİSA: Barış Okulu” kapsamında organize edilen “Çatışma Çözümü ve Toplumsal Barış İnşasında STK’ların Rolü” başlıklı programın tartışmalarından oluşuyor. Yedi sivil toplum örgütünün etkileyici ve umut veren hikayesi sizi bekliyor.

This dissertation is conceived to be a contribution to the understanding of the Italian “Civil Peace Corps” Concept, as a tool delivering non-violent conflict transformation actions of positive peace, contributing to Human Security interventions within National, European and International “Early Warning Systems”, Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management Operations. It is, anyway, not concerned on how to run these interventions, taking into brief account the existing framework, into which an institutionalized implementation of the Italian CPC concept would find its place, as an instrument complementary to others.
This thesis is, therefore, aimed to address the following question: could the institutionalised development of the Italian CPC Concept be considered as a potentially useful tool, in the framework of comprehensive approaches to HS in EWS, CP and CMO? The tentative answer is organized in five chapters, giving overviews over: the international CA to CM; the Italian approach to a HS CM; the CPC concept; the path towards a CPC institutionalisation in Italy; the potential usefulness of the CPC in the current system with education, training and employment issues, considering also cultural concerns in the background, aiming to give an answer to the main question, in the most comprehensive way.

This paper posits a societal model of peacebuilding and examines its empirical applicability in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005. Given the mixed results of international peacebuilding, this paper unpacks the key policy narratives and theoretical models, and highlights the societal model as a critical alternative. The case of Somaliland indicates the critical role of local societal agencies in forming, reforming, and transforming a societal peace, and leads to discussions on various findings, including the empirical plausibility of the societal model, as well as its contradictory relationality with external intervention, remaining challenges, and suggestions of how to address them.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for
a more active role for women in the prevention and reconciliation of conflicts. Focusing on the Palestinian Right of Return and the work of a feminist organization called the Jerusalem Link, this paper examines Resolution 1325’s premise that women can make a unique contribution to peace building. As “transfer” or the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza looms on the horizon, scholars, advocates, and policy-makers must pay more attention to the work of women peace-builders because they might be able to help chart a path towards a real and just solution on seemingly intractable issues such as the Right of Return.

Turkish-Greek relations are marked by a long trajectory of enmity and tension. This book sets out to explore the ‘other side’ of that history, focusing on initiatives that have promoted contact between the two societies and encouraged rapprochement. Presenting a new critical re-description of Turkish-Greek rapprochement processes over a lengthy time span (1974-2013), Turkish-Greek Relations offers innovative explanations for the emergence of the reconciliation movement.

Instead of lineal continuities, the book explores different routes that these efforts for rapprochement have followed, reflected in the divergent visions for a ‘Turkish-Greek friendship’ pursued by actors as distinct as radical leftists, civil society activists, local government representatives, artists and liberal intellectuals, as well as journalists, politicians and businessmen.

Drawing on political discourse theory and social anthropology, this book employs extensive archival research into Turkish and Greek sources, significant numbers of interviews with pioneers of the rapprochement movement, and an original ethnographic study, to examine the competing claims for ‘Greek-Turkish friendship’. In doing so, it is possible to assess their successes and failures, prospects and predicaments. A valuable addition to existing literature, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of International Relations, Peace and Reconciliation Studies, and Politics.

Without questioning its essential role in the defense of the rule of law, and the values that it underpins, this article attempts to demonstrate that Burundian civil society cannot be confined to idealist conception. To this end, it highlights its ambivalence to identify the conditions that can effectively defend human rights. Thus, in the context of post-conflict Burundi (2005-2015), the article argues that, despite the nature of the current political regime to test local civil society, intrinsic arguments have hindered its effectiveness. Rather, they are linked, in particular, to the prevalence of ethnic anecdotal evidence based on a gain to ponder wealth in this sphere of civil society. Therefore, by strengthening the intercommunity dimension, and objectively defending the interests of citizens, Burundian civil society may bypass government accusations and make its claims better understood.

This article argues that the rationale of the current conflict resolution strategy for resolving the Cyprus problem is problematic. Time and energy should be spent more on peace-building efforts that penetrate into ideas and identities of the Cypriots, than on negotiations that take place between the leaders. Greek and Turkish Cypriots should have a sense of ‘we’ based on equality rather than recognizing each other as the ‘enemy’ in case a durable solution to the problem can be found. In spite of the current political rhetoric which is very negative, civil society can be a crucial actor in reversing this trend and pursuing this important task. Even though the peace-building success of
civil society in Cyprus may be questionable, the author argues that the opportunity for a highly profitable outcome exists if civil society can shift its focus on in-group socialization, increase work-related activities, apply a more participative strategy, and act in a coordinated way.

The devolution (considered as social degradation and regression), opposed to the social evolution, is a denial of justice and equality, accompanying the disintegration of personal and hence social value systems, which testifies to the disintegration of community self-consciousness, the replacement of the common good of the community (bonum commune communitatis) with private oligarchic interests, the obliteration or replacement of history, the obliteration or replacement of identities - national and personal. Historically, examples of such denials are armed conflict, racism, segregation, discrimination, corruption, ineffectively protected human rights, that should be fundamental, inalienable, universal and egalitarian. The article traces the leading vectors of these processes with a focus on the most severe global crises.

Participation at the negotiation table for finding peace agreements can be conceptualised as a peacebuilding function of civil society but studies which measure the impact of civil society’s participation at the negotiation table are distinctly scarce. Do people perceive inclusive peace treaties to be more legitimate? The study focuses on this question by gathering and analysing data from 400 Turkish Cypriots. The survey experiment suggests that inclusiveness does not influence the perceived legitimacy of peace treaties. The implications of this finding for conflict resolution are discussed.

It is argued that including civil society at the negotiation table can increase the perceived legitimacy of peace treaties. As a result, it can contribute to the consolidation of peace. In this paper, the author presents the findings from a controlled experiment in order to test the impact of inclusive peace negotiations on the perceived legitimacy of peace treaties. Contrary to the expectations of the scholars working on the inclusiveness and the consolidation of peace hypothesis, the results show that the treatment group in the experiment does not perceive inclusive peace agreements to be more legitimate.

Esta investigación se centra en analizar como las técnicas creativas, artísticas y vivenciales posibilitan una construcción de paz transformadora e inclusiva a través de procesos participativos y vivenciales en el contexto colombiano, a través de las prácticas estético-artísticas y vivenciales (PEAV), como el teatro del oprimido, el teatro de lo afectivo, las artes plásticas, grafitis, música, terapias corporales, entre otras; que han demostrado reforzar el tejido social, sanar a través del arte y memorializar a las víctimas del conflicto armado colombiano, teniendo en cuenta que el arte, así como las técnicas creativas y vivenciales son instrumentos y herramientas para la incidencia política, la transformación de liderazgos, el empoderamiento y visibilización de las violaciones de derechos humanos

This dissertation is conceived to be a contribution to the understanding of the Italian “Civil Peace Corps” Concept, as a tool delivering non-violent conflict transformation actions of positive peace, contributing to Human Security interventions within National, European and International “Early Warning Systems”, Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management Operations. It is, anyway, not concerned on how to run these interventions, aiming to address the following question: could the institutionalised development of the Italian CPC Concept be considered as a potentially useful tool, in the framework of comprehensive approaches to HS in EWS, CP and CMO?

This research aims to analyse NGOs’ positions and capacities for ending conflicts in the Kurdish issue and building of social peace, and to set policy proposals for both civil society and political actors for possible negotiation and consensus processes. In this context, this evaluates the work of NGOs on conflict resolution and social peace-building at the 2013-2015 Resolution Process. This report analyses the place and the role of the NGOs by their own point of view concerning both the failed Resolution Process and a possible new negotiation process. Qualitative research technique was used as research method. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were held with a total of 45 NGOs and three experts in the cities of Diyarbakir, Van, Istanbul and Ankara between 15 May and 30 July 2017.

This chapter offers an explanation for the continuous shifts, in character and function, of civil society engagement  in Greek–Turkish relations, across time. Via a constructive critique of works in this field, the chapter argues that the significance of civil society engagement should not be assessed as a result of a net impact – or against a set of fixed criteria. In contrast, I propose that such an assessment should take into account the existing conditions of possibility and the challenges present under every different socio-political conjuncture in different periods in time.