scholarly journals The Power of the Media on Peace and Reconciliation Processes: Representing Former Enemy Groups as Moral versus Immoral Matters

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 183449092110025
Author(s):  
Ana Janković ◽  
Sabina Čehajić-Clancy
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
The Media ◽  
Group Target ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
Intergroup Behavior

The efforts of peace-building and reconciliation between historical enemies are faced with many structural and psychological obstacles. Scholars have identified mechanisms that can induce improvements in psychological aspects of intergroup relations, such as intergroup contact. However, establishing direct contact with everyone is impossible. Therefore, the mass media represents an important source through which groups learn about each other. Numerous studies have shown that stereotypical and often negative portrayals of specific social groups through the media produce or reinforce negative intergroup outcomes. In this research, the authors report results from an experimental study conducted in a post-conflict society of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( N = 119). It examined the effects of stereotypical and counter-stereotypical representations of former enemy groups (Bosniaks) through the media on intergroup behavior (reported by Bosnian Serbs). More specifically, in this research the authors explored the effects of representing out-group individuals as immoral (the stereotypical condition) and moral (the counter-stereotypical condition) on specific behavioral tendencies toward the historical enemy group. The results indicate that exposure to primarily moral information about the out-group target facilitated important positive intergroup outcomes. This study extends the literature and research on moral exemplars by demonstrating the effects on relevant intergroup outcomes whilst utilizing current (vs. historical) moral exemplar stories.

scholarly journals Moral-Exemplar Intervention: A New Paradigm for Conflict Resolution and Intergroup Reconciliation

2021 ◽  
pp. 096372142110130
Author(s):  
Sabina Čehajić-Clancy ◽  
Michal Bilewicz
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Intergroup Behavior

Conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation are difficult to achieve because of many social and psychological obstacles, such as people’s belief that members of a social group that is an adversary of their own group are mostly bad and essentially all the same. In this article, we introduce a novel intervention aimed at challenging these beliefs by exposing people to stories about individuals who have risked some important aspects of their lives to save the lives of other social groups’ members ( moral exemplars). The effects of this moral-exemplar intervention have been tested with field experiments in several postconflict contexts using members of real antagonistic groups. We discuss the results of these studies and three specific and important aspects of the moral-exemplar intervention: (a) its comparative advantage over existing social-psychological interventions aimed at conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation, (b) its content and conditions, and (c) implications for future theorizing and research targeting prosocial changes in attitudes and intergroup behavior.

scholarly journals Covering Post-Conflict Elections: Challenges for the Media in Central Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Soleil Frère
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
The Press ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Many ◽  
Congo Brazzaville

In the past ten years, elections were held in six countries of Central Africa experiencing “post-conflict” situations. The polls that took place in Burundi (2005), the Central African Republic (2005), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Congo-Brazzaville (2002, 2007), Chad (1996, 2001, 2006) and Rwanda (2003) were crucial for peace-building. In some cases, they were widely supported and supervised by the international community, being considered the last step of a peace process and the first step toward establishing a truly representative “post-conflict” regime. The media were expected to play a large part in supporting these elections, both to inform the citizens, so they could make an educated choice, and to supervise the way the electoral administration was organizing the polls. This paper attempts to show the many challenges faced by the media while covering these post-conflict electoral processes. In a context of great political tension, in which candidates are often former belligerents who have just put down their guns to go to the polls, the media operate in an unsafe and economically damaged environment, suffering from a lack of infrastructure, inadequate equipment and untrained staff. Given those constraints, one might wonder if the media should be considered actual democratic tools in Central Africa or just gimmicks in a “peace-building kit” (including “free and fair” elections, multipartism and freedom of the press) with no real impact on the democratic commitment of the elite or the political participation of the population.

Animals as Social Objects

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Sevillano ◽  
Susan T. Fiske
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Responses ◽  
Content Model ◽  
Stereotype Content ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Sphere Of Influence

Abstract. Nonhuman animals are typically excluded from the scope of social psychology. This article presents animals as social objects – targets of human social responses – overviewing the similarities and differences with human targets. The focus here is on perceiving animal species as social groups. Reflecting the two fundamental dimensions of humans’ social cognition – perceived warmth (benign or ill intent) and competence (high or low ability), proposed within the Stereotype Content Model ( Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002 ) – animal stereotypes are identified, together with associated prejudices and behavioral tendencies. In line with human intergroup threats, both realistic and symbolic threats associated with animals are reviewed. As a whole, animals appear to be social perception targets within the human sphere of influence and a valid topic for research.

scholarly journals Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration in Violent Conflict Settings

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Clarissa Augustinus ◽  
Ombretta Tempra
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Land Administration ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Settings ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Fit For Purpose

According to the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency, there were 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide by the end of 2019. Evictions from homes and land are often linked to protracted violent conflict. Land administration (LA) can be a small part of UN peace-building programs addressing these conflicts. Through the lens of the UN and seven country cases, the problem being addressed is: what are the key features of fit-for-purpose land administration (FFP LA) in violent conflict contexts? FFP LA involves the same LA elements found in conventional LA and FFP LA, and LA in post conflict contexts, as it supports peace building and conflict resolution. However, in the contexts being examined, FFP LA also has novel features as well, such as extra-legal transitional justice mechanisms to protect people and their land rights and to address historical injustices and the politics of exclusion that are the root causes of conflict. In addition, there are land governance and power relations’ implications, as FFP LA is part of larger UN peace-building programs. This impacts the FFP LA design. The cases discussed are from Darfur/Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Iraq, Jubaland/Somalia, Peru and South Sudan.

Spectacular memory: Zombie pasts in the themed shopping malls of Dubai

2022 ◽  
pp. 175069802110665
Author(s):  
Paul O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Shopping Malls ◽  
Mass Consumption ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Past ◽  
Media Institutions ◽  
The Media ◽  
Coherent Body ◽  
Late Modern

Memory invariably involves sifting and sorting historical traces and reassembling them into societal representations of the past. Usually this has been done by social groups of different kinds or the cultural institutions associated with them, and has provided materials for the construction and maintenance of group identity. In what I term “spectacular memory,” however, the sifting and sorting of memory traces is performed by commercial and media institutions within a globalized cultural framework to create spectacles for mass consumption. Spectacular memory is enabled by the progressive breakdown of Halbwach’s “social frameworks of memory”—the association of memory with face-to-face relations within social groups. In late modern societies, “memory” as a coherent body of representations which is the property of more-or-less bounded social groups has largely devolved into a globalized store of representations curated and diffused through the media, advertising, tourism and entertainment industries. This article uses the example of the history-themed shopping malls of Dubai to characterize this form of memory.

When There Was No Aid

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah G. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
International Aid ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Global North ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
Civil Order ◽  
Peace And Development

For all of the doubts raised about the effectiveness of international aid in advancing peace and development, there are few examples of developing countries that are even relatively untouched by it. This book offers us one such example. Using evidence from Somaliland’s experience of peace-building, the book challenges two of the most engrained presumptions about violence and poverty in the global South. First, that intervention by actors in the global North is self-evidently useful in ending them, and second that the quality of a country’s governance institutions (whether formal or informal) necessarily determines the level of peace and civil order that the country experiences. The book explores how popular discourses about war, peace, and international intervention structure the conditions of possibility to such a degree that even the inability of institutions to provide reliable security can stabilize a prolonged period of peace. It argues that Somaliland’s post-conflict peace is grounded less in the constraining power of its institutions than in a powerful discourse about the country’s structural, temporal, and physical proximity to war. Through its sensitivity to the ease with which peace gives way to war, the book argues, this discourse has indirectly harnessed an apparent propensity to war as a source of order.

scholarly journals The African Peace and Security Architecture as a Tool for the Maintenance of Peace and Security. Part 1

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Bewuketu Dires Gardachew
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Security Architecture ◽  
African Union ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Operational Structure

This study critically explores the extent to which the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) (such as the African Standby Force (ASF), the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), Panel of the Wise (PoW) and the Peace Fund (PF)) have been successful in achieving their institutional objectives, as well as the degree to which they are able to contribute to the work of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC). The AU PSC as a key pillar of the APSA is the main decision-making body regarding issues of peace and security. In order to achieve its responsibility, the AU PSC shall be supported by the African Standby Force, the Continental Early Warning System, Panel of the Wise and the Peace Fund. APSA is the umbrella term for the key African Union (AU) mechanisms for promoting peace, security and stability in the African continent. More specifically, it is an operational structure for the effective implementation of the decisions taken in the areas of conflict prevention, peace-making, peace support operations and intervention, as well as peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. APSA is envisioned as a means by which Africa can take a greater role in managing peace and security on the continent, with the objective of offering “African solutions to African problems”.

scholarly journals Peace Education in India: Possibilities and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (S1-Dec2020) ◽  
pp. 34-36
Author(s):  
Anu Chandran ◽  
P Nagaraj
Keyword(s):  
Peace Education ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Education In India ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

Peace education is an emerging field of study that has attained full acceptance in many countries, and is on its way towards development in many other parts of the world. The world is becoming more of an unsafe place to live in. There are threats in many forms against survival. Peace has become devoid in the day to day lives of people in all spheres of society, culture, politics and economics. Therefore it is essential to impart knowledge about peace and reconciliation post conflict, as that would help build a nonviolent approach towards conflict, and encourage to develop skills and values promoting reconciliation, and nonviolence. Once the right knowledge, skills and values are transmitted, transformation begins as people understand the root cause of conflicts and explore ways to address the challenges. Peace education is both educating on the peace content as well as educating for peace. The paper discusses the objectives of peace education and how it can be implemented as an effectualacademic discourse either by integrating it within the curriculum or through extramural activities. It also looks into the challenges and possibilities of a higher learning that shapes the mind and spirit of the learners as much as their intellect.

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