Promoting Peace Through Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change has affected people's peace in the form of impact on livelihoods, health, and/or well-being. Most of these peace impacts, however, are felt significantly by people who are living in the low-lying communities in the Pacific, who are within and/or close to the Ring of Fire. This chapter is based on a study of peace and climate change adaptation that was conducted in the Pacific island region in 2016. It took place in five communities in Suva, Fiji: Vatuwaqa, Raiwaqa, Raiwai, Samabula, and Toorak. It highlights the impact of climate change on peace, and then it indicated how peace can be promoted in the form of climate change adaptation for these communities. Based on the results of this research, the author recommends that peace should be incorporated into the Pacific islands national adaptation plan.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Meme as a Business Foundation for Economic Peacemaking

This chapter presents economic peacemaking in historical business terms through an exploration of the meaning of competition in the 20th century. The 19th century meme, “survival of the fittest,” may be considered a quality of natural law that has been used to defend laissez faire capitalism, which has at times produced economic outcomes that are good for a select few at the expense of humanity at large. The counter-concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which was developed in the mid-20th century, presented an alternative view of the corporation as citizen, and called for the compromise of profits for the sake of the betterment of the community in which the business existed. This chapter explores the historical development of these concepts in the social science context of social Darwinism vs. neo-Darwinism, concluding that economic peacemaking through stakeholder management and CSR implementation is an inherently natural concept and preferable for humanity to unregulated competition.

Peace in Economic Equilibrium

Peace is a spiritual phenomenon, but it evolves through various disciplines – psychology, economics, biology, and so on. This is because human beings are complex in nature, and various facets of human existence are correlated with these disciplines. Peace is an integration of all aspects of humanism in a state of equilibrium. This chapter discusses peace as imbibed in ideas of microeconomic equilibrium. Economics is so often disapproved by spiritual thinkers as being a science of self-centeredness even after decades of progress in the subject matter after Alfred Marshall's “Principles of Economics.” This seems justified as today an ordinary man is still concerned with individual welfare first. Therefore, peace needs to be seen from this micro-perspective first so that the society may move to higher objectives later once the individuals are in equilibrium and have attained peace in this narrow but indispensable sense.

Exploring Peace Perspectives Through the Lens of Gender Inequality

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the relationship between peace processes, gender equality, and communication by introducing feminist and intersectional approaches as tools to assess and deconstruct underlying power structures. The author argues for a human rights-based approach to gender equality and a deconstruction of essentialist understandings of “women,” calling for a perspective on peace that is responsive to the experiences of minorities and the marginalized. The chapter seeks to outline ways for individuals and groups to engage around the topics of power, oppression, and marginalization, and to create space for a more inclusive dialogue as the basis for a peace culture. Coeducation, the media, and a change in discussion culture are established as essential in creating a peace culture that allows all individuals to live empowered and fulfilling lives in a peaceful society void of structural violence, regardless of their gender, race, class, or sexual orientation.

Artistic Spaces for Rebuilding Social Fabric

This chapter analyzes the theoretical concept of social fabric, as well as the damage which armed conflict has caused it and how art can contribute to rebuilding it. Affective and symbolic characteristics of art, engaging the body, and the act of collective interpretation-creation may provide the conditions required for the necessary intangible and tangible factors to rebuild a social fabric damaged by war. Artistic spaces, as shown by a case in Colombia, can be an important place to generate, especially, intangible factors which keep the flow of social fabric active, such as values and beliefs, sense of community, confidence, and emotional stability of the individual and the group.

Dismantling Cultural Walls

Stories are powerful means of building relationships among people. When human beings feel connected, community is formed. The author, an Assistant Professor of Theology, examines the potential for dismantling cultural walls through her theology course, Faith Behind Bars, via letter-writing as sources of transformative narratives, circles as means of critical reflection, and community-building as a key predecessor to activism. Stories, rituals within peace circles, and the strength of kinship bind learners in the class to one another and community members in shared comprehension of injustices and the desire to change systems. It is a spirit of compassion and investment in relationships that spurs people to act as peacebuilders, both independently and collectively. Experiences, connection, and knowledge all contribute to a responsive and practical theology that is relevant and contributes to building peace and nurturing justice.

Peace Culture?

The term peace culture is used freely in Hiroshima and around the UN but remains inadequately defined and envisioned. This chapter will examine the concept in depth. It will distinguish peace culture from the dominant war culture, explain why peace and peace culture are still such anemic ideas, offer philosophical or rational reinforcements, recommend concrete peace-culture-promoting actions, and offer a realistic, feasible peace-culture world vision. The author will defend the proposition that global graduation from the current war culture to a genuine peace culture is required to prevent human extinction before the end of this century. Thus, the primary purpose of this chapter is to encourage the immediate, nonviolent overthrow of the violent status quo.

Aiki

Although aikido is practiced in many countries, it is still unknown to the general public. Instructors have been teaching it as a new martial art ignoring its profound objective: it was designed to promote peace and human sensitivity based on a body work that teaches how to handle violence in order to achieve human success in life. Ai means “adaptation” and ki is the name given to the vital energy of people. When this energy is combined among people, it gives way to aiki – the conjunction of peoples' energy in accordance to their human nature. The practice of aikido movements systematically educates for a peaceful heart that benefits society. So, this chapter presents its educational dimension and social possibilities which may interest educators, physical instructors, orientators, and even practitioners. Aikido is a transcendental activity designed to reconstruct human ethics and human interaction by teaching people how to collaborate and achieve their non-violent human potential, a peaceful heart which is their most important competence for life.

Examining the Drivers of Success in the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand Peer-Mediation Programs

The 2016 evaluations of New Zealand's Cool Schools and the leadership through peer mediation (LtPM) programs revealed positive results regarding improved self-esteem among peer mediators, increased perceptions of safety in the schooling environment, and increased conflict resolution and interpersonal communication skills. This chapter highlights the contribution of these peer-mediation programs. The authors then turn to problems, inequalities, and peace education practices within the New Zealand schooling environment to explain how the Cool Schools and LtPM programs are relevant in solving wider societal problems. The chapter finally focuses on examining the drivers of success in both programs and the broader ethos of the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand, which enables its success.

Collaborative Peace Education in Contexts of Sociopolitical Violence

This chapter presents collaborative peace education as a perspective to the development of capacities for conflict transformation in countries that have experienced socio-political violence. For this, it takes the Colombian violence as a context to integrate principles of peace education, conflicts transformation, social constructionism, and collaborative practices in order to establish working premises and ideas for scenarios where strengthening a culture of peace is required. From the revision of these concepts, the authors propose four principles that support the collaborative peace education, some contents that can be developed in an initiative of this type and relevant ideas to choose the format to be used in a collaborative peace education program.