In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice
In Factis Pax is a peer-reviewed online journal of peace education and social justice dedicated to the examination of issues central to the formation of a peaceful society, the prevention of violence, political challenges to peace and democratic societies. Social justice, democracy, and human flourishing are the core factors which highlight the importance of the role of education in building peaceful societies. We invite articles and book reviews on topics related to these central issues. We are always looking for the support of external article and book reviewers. Send us an email: dale.snauwaert@utoledo.edu
A Critical Peacebuilding Guide for Educators and Leaders
In this article we elaborate on an existing critical peacebuilding approach to provide educators, leaders, and practitioners with a practical guide for examining and changing socio-cultural practices, institutional policies, and/or structural realities that promote violence. We begin with an overview of what peace education is and then describe a critical peacebuilding approach that can be used in different contexts such as schools, universities, communities, and businesses. We explain the five stages of our approach, which are fluid and adaptive, with guiding questions that: help identify structures and systems of violence; envision peaceful alternatives; foster empowerment; encourage action; and invite individuals and groups to reflect and reengage in change processes. Finally, we provide concrete examples of the critical peacebuilding approach and offer reflections on the future.
Copyright (c) 2026 Grace Keast, Ed Brantmeier https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
The essay briefly sketches the terms of a negotiated cease-fire in which Ukraine is forced to give up territory but wins certain security guarantees and can begin the process of rebuilding. It then proposes political and economic reforms in Ukraine. It acknowledges the need to secure worker rights, to engage returning soldiers, and to rebuild civil societies. The essay looks at the possibilities of conflict resolution, particularly in what can be called the Occupied Territories, the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Specific nonviolent strategies that have worked in the past century to end occupations and topple dictatorships make up the balance of the essay
Copyright (c) 2026 Michael Duffey https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Blue Maize Pollinates IIPE’s Network by Feeling and Thinking: The 2022 Excursion to San Mateo Tlaltenango, Mexico
We seek to articulate aspects of the emerging ecological relational paradigm for peace through recounting an excursion day spent at pueblo originario San Mateo Tlatenango, Mexico with international peace educators attending in a week-long International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) Mexico 2022. This immersive experience aimed to generate new learning through cross-pollinating ancient wisdom and modern knowledge embodied in the mixture of participants. Alejandra Barrera’s family lives San Mateo Tlatenango where generations have farmed, continuing communal traditions that carry forward ancient wisdom. Blue maize refers to her grandfather’s corn seeds and plants used by community women to make tortillas at the center of our shared feast. The IIPE excursion was organized in part as Alejandra’s doctoral research in ecological/political economy at the University of Vienna. Alejandra Barrera and Janet Gerson found fertile epistemological ground in bringing together academic scholarship, peace pedagogy, and indigenous community life. IIPE participants and two communities of pueblo originario all contributed to the cross-pollination that took place that day. Two concepts, sentipensar and mycelium network, inform our reflection: Sentipensar is the Latin American concept of feeling-thinking (Escobar, Borda) at the heart of IIPE Mexico. Sentipensar invites an opening of capacities and sensibilities, informing not only human-to-human relations, but importantly expanding human relations’ potential for recognizing and valuing the well-being of all Earth’s living systems. Mycelium network is what fungi biologist Merlin Sheldrake calls “entangled life”. Mycelium networks are made of webs of stretching, growing root fibers, each reaching toward resources and relationships they need. This metaphor reflect IIPE peace pedagogy that aims to generate dynamic global relational network of individuals engaged in peace practices that simultaneously preserves individuality while forming non-hierarchical, flexible .and transforming interconnections.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alejandra Barrera https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
The prominent role of the Hadhramout Foundation - Human Development in Yemen in promoting peace education and sustainable development through its educational programs
This study examines the prominent role of the Hadhramout Foundation - Human Development (HFHD) in promoting peace education and sustainable development in Yemen. Through local and international scholarships, technical and vocational training, and youth empowerment programs, HFHD has addressed critical educational gaps caused by conflict and state fragility. The research highlights how HFHD integrates peace pedagogy into its initiatives, fosters civic engagement, and contributes to workforce development. Despite challenges related to funding, Yemen’s instability, and limited partnerships, the Foundation offers a replicable model for community-driven development in conflict-affected settings. The findings underscore the transformative potential of education as a sustainable development and peacebuilding tool.
Copyright (c) 2026 HAMAD EDHAH YASLAM ALDHLEA https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
A Review Analysis of the Role of Higher Education Institutions in Promoting Sustainable Peace in Post-War Sierra Leone
The trajectory of post-conflict recovery in Sierra Leone, following the devastating civil war (1991?2002), has been a subject of extensive scholarly and policy-oriented inquiry. While significant attention has been paid to formal processes of disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and transitional justice, the strategic role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as catalysts for sustainable peace remains a critically underexplored area. This review analysis seeks to address this gap by systematically synthesizing and evaluating the existing literature on the contributions, challenges, and latent potential of Sierra Leone universities in the peacebuilding landscape. The study was guided by a central research question of “how have HEIs contributed to building sustainable peace, and what factors constrained or enabled the effectiveness of this effort?” Using the systematic review method, this analysis drew on a wide range of academic databases, institutional reports, and grey literature, framed through an integrated conceptual lens comprising four key elements of engagement. These included knowledge production and curriculum reform, skills development and capacity building, community engagement and social cohesion, and policy advocacy and research. The findings suggested that HEIs, notably Fourah Bay College (for University of Sierra Leone) and Njala University, have undertaken significant initiatives since the war. These included the introduction of peace and conflict studies programs, serving as neutral spaces for national dialogue and training of professional workforce essential for reconstruction. However, the analysis uncovered a pronounced disconnect between systemic impact in theoretical and practical potentials of HEIs in the country. The contributions of HEIs were consistently hampered by a confluence of severe challenges, including chronic underfunding, infrastructural decay, political interference, a persistent "brain drain" of intellectual capital, and a legacy of elitism that often creates disconnect with the broader society. Furthermore, community engagement efforts were frequently project-based and dependent on transient external funding, while significant research-policy gap prevented valuable academic insights from effectively informing national recovery strategies. The synthesis of evidence suggested that HEIs in Sierra Leone were an indispensable yet under-optimized actor in the peacebuilding ecosystem. For the institutions to transition from symbols of hope to agents of sustainable peace, a concerted and multi-stakeholder effort was required. There was recommended that university leadership, national government, and international partners emphasize strategic investment in institutional capacity and pedagogical innovation. This will foster critical thinking and civic responsibility, thereby strengthening policy-university-community linkages. This review provided a foundational framework for reimagining the role of academia in not just post-war reconstruction, but in fostering a resilient and cohesive society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Juana Moiwo https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
American University of Afghanistan: An Island of Liberal Arts Education in a War Zone
This research aims to explain the benefits and challenges of promoting an American-style liberal arts education at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) from 2005 to 2021 during the Western-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It draws on the author’s earlier research on Afghanistan’s higher education and professional experience of working as a foreign academic at AUAF to contextualise the exceptional characteristics of AUAF as an island of liberal arts education and to analyse its educational, institutional, financial and political challenges until the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. It argues that AUAF’s specific educational mission and institutional management, growing insecurity and over-reliance on external funding prevented AUAF from becoming a sustainable institution. These challenges were further exacerbated after the return of the Taliban and forced AUAF to close its Kabul-based campuses and relocate to the Education City in Qatar to offer a mixed of in-person and remote education.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ali Reza Yunespour https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Conflict Transformation Mechanisms in Dassanech, Hamer, and Nyangatom Agro-pastoralist and Pastoralist Community of Ethiopia
The purpose of the study is to investigate conflict transformation mechanisms to secure pastoralism and agro-pastoralism in Dassanech, Hamer, and Nyangatom rural community of south Omo Ethiopia, east Africa. To achieve the stated purpose, qualitative research approach is used with case study research design. The results of the study reveals that various conflict transformation mechanisms are taken for peace initiatives to transform the existing conflict and primarily focused on agricultural development projects, conflict management through the government peace and security apparatus, conflict prevention through the government conflict early warning and response system, and resolution. Sources of conflict identified include grievances, animal raiding, land disputes, fishing rights, and competition over water and pasture resources. Efforts aimed at conflict transformation encompass resilience-building, rangeland management, NGOs interventions in peace dialogues, integration of pastoralism and agro-pastoralism with commercial agriculture, implementation of drought and conflict early warning systems, water resource management and development, range land rehabilitation, and provision of education to affected communities. While these activities have played a significant role in addressing conflicts and transforming relationships, they are deemed insufficient and inadequately executed for comprehensive conflict transformation. To conclude, the conflict transformation mechanisms used in the study area are taken as substantial for sustainable peace and promoting social cohesion among the communities. Using the various identified mechanisms of conflict transformation would fits to the conflict context of the area but the emphasis given by the government is very limited because of lack of inclusive strategic planning for conflict transformation. The study also suggested further investigation on the role of the realization of the right to adequate food in pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities of the study area for conflict transformation. Keywords: Conflict transformation; Agro-pastoralism; Pastoralism; Natural resources; Peace; Agro- pastoralism; South Omo
Copyright (c) 2026 Asmare Shetahun https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Healing Harmonies: Grassroots Music as a Tool for Peace Education and Reconciliation in Nigeria
This article investigates the role of music in fostering peace education and reconciliation in conflict-affected communities in Nigeria. Concentrating on grassroots musical practices in regions impacted by ethno-religious violence, it explores how traditional and contemporary forms of music function as mediums for collective healing, dialogue, and the reconstruction of social relations. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from peace studies and ethnomusicology, the analysis foregrounds music’s affective and communicative capacities to transcend linguistic and cultural barriers, enabling inclusive participation in peace processes. Case examples from community music initiatives illustrate how localized musical expressions contribute to building resilience, fostering empathy, and sustaining nonviolent coexistence. The article argues for the strategic integration of music into peace education frameworks in Nigeria, emphasizing its potential to engage learners not only cognitively but also emotionally and socially. This article situates music as a culturally embedded resource for nurturing sustainable peace within Nigeria’s diverse and often divided society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Seun Bamidele https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Book Review Snauwaert, Dale T. 2023. Teaching Peace as a Matter of Justice: Toward a Pedagogy of Moral Reasoning.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jalen Carpenter https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Book Review Anderson, E. (2023). Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic Against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back.
Copyright (c) 2025 Chitranjan Greer-Travis https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
AN APPROACH TO JUSTICE FROM SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE
If we observe what is happening rather than what ought to happen, we will see that justice exercised from within patriarchy has served as the violent arm of supremacies. We could even argue that the most common historical method for addressing conflict has been imposition—whether from traditional supremacy (classes, groups, nations, races historically considered superior), by force (weapons, military or police dominance, economic superiority), or by the rational power of argument. Rarely do we find a form of justice that truly serves those who suffer and are in need, regardless of their position in the social hierarchy. It is important to recognize that, at times, groups that uphold universal human rights have themselves acted as rational supremacists, accusing others—those who defend racial or other forms of supremacy—of being intellectually, culturally, ethically, or morally inferior. These certainties of superiority may, in turn, fuel expressions of hatred. This paper proposes that by drawing upon epistemic virtues, phenomenology, restorative justice, and existential expression, it is possible to escape the supremacist game and move toward a form of justice aligned with peace. This involves freeing ourselves from the historical pattern of violent imposition and colonization as primary tools for resolving disputes, and focusing instead on responding to human suffering. In a historical moment where much of the supremacist imposition comes from groups that deny the inherent dignity of each human being, a peaceful response must become an alternative to hatred—an evolution of solidarity that prevents us from falling into anomie.
Copyright (c) 2026 Carlos Avila-Pizzuto https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
The historical, spiritual, environmental and humanistic properties of trees are recognized worldwide. As a matter of fact, the recognition of their value as an asset to the entire humanity has increased with the passage of time. Their importance has been highlighted not only by the holy books and spiritual leaders of different religions but also by the story tellers, poets, novelists, painters, film makers, medicine manufacturers, and environmental activists. With the growing awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change, proliferating scientific studies have been projecting tree plantation and forestation as an existential need. However, the ruination of trees due to wars and violence doesn’t seem to have received as much global attention as it should have. Perhaps it won’t be an exaggeration to say that a comprehensive peace perspective on the trees hasn’t been fully developed yet. The destruction of hundreds of thousands of trees in wars and violence are rarely noticed, and voices affirming that the trees also have a right to life and protection in wars and warlike situations as humans are supposed to have are still very mute. This paper discusses the sufferings of the trees as wars victims. It emphasizes the need for a worldwide campaign in favor of the basic rights of the trees and asks as to how can the campaign for the rights of the trees be converted into a powerful agency and how can the worldwide struggle for peace benefit from such an agency.
Copyright (c) 2025 Syed Sikander Mehdi https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
World-Centred Peace Education: Toward a Framework for Socio-Eco Peace in Times of Systemic Crisis
This article develops a novel framework for world-centred peace education in response to today’s interconnected social and ecological crises. It critiques anthropocentric models and the War System, arguing for a paradigm shift that centres relationality and the interdependence of people and planet. The framework is grounded in the concept of socio-eco peace—a vision of mutual flourishing—and integrates a guiding purpose, a relational worldview, theoretical influences, and five interrelated domains: inner, outer, context, pluralism, and process. These domains support peace education that is holistic, inclusive, and responsive to place, time, and community. The article explores how the framework can inform the design, facilitation, and evaluation of peace education across diverse settings, and concludes with implications for theory, policy, practice, and future research.
Copyright (c) 2025 Phill Gittins https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Interdependence, Interconnectedness, and Intersectionality: The Ecology of Positive Peace
one of the foundational links between social and environmental engagement is an overarching sense of interconnectedness.The implications of science, philosophy, spirituality, and lived experience alike are clear on this point: reality is deeply relational, and we are enmeshed in webs of interconnection from the micro to the macro scales in demonstrable ways. Yet despite this, there remains a profound reluctance to recognize interrelatedness. The bifurcation of the world into a zero-sum contest is as much a fiction as is the idea that climate change and environmental destabilization only affect people in some faraway place. Recognizing and remediating this is a central tenet of intersectionality, which understands inequalities and entrenched hierarchies not as immutable characteristics of existence but as system-wide factors reflected within foundational values and structures. This commentary paper brings this emergent lens to bear on socioecological issues from food to climate change, arguing that a systemic approach is necessary for human survival.What is intended with this analysis is not to set about demonstrating or proving that interdependence, interconnectedness, and intersectionality are important perspectives nor that they are empirically valid—instead taking these suppositions as a given and going further to unpack their fuller implications as critical factors for peace and our continued existence. The point is to assert the gravity of the moment as an inflection point in which we have been gifted with an opportunity to bend the “arc of justice” toward its fulfillment. In this work, we are called upon to be engaged actors and not spectators, to ask not merely when but how.
Copyright (c) 2025 Randall Amster https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
The Relationship Between Education and the Environment: A Critical and Nonviolent Perspective
The relationship between education and the environment has undergone various historical phases, as exemplified by practices such as open-air schools and forest schools. These educational approaches emphasize the significance of learning in natural contexts to foster a dialectical relationship between theory and practice, a core characteristic of experiential learning. Such practices offer a response to contemporary environmental challenges by proposing a non-competitive and nonviolent interaction with the environment, integrating the needs of human life with the preservation of ecosystems. However, these perspectives often conflict with current educational systems, which tend to be neutral or subordinate to dominant economic and political dynamics. Traditional pedagogy frequently neglects the role of the teacher’s personal experience as an integral component of the educational process, favoring detached and abstract approaches. This paper instead advocates for an engaged pedagogy, wherein the educator’s experience becomes both educational content and a tool for transformation. The nonviolent dimension of educational practice emerges as a process of conscientization, bridging theory and practice, and driven by engagement with what lies outside school buildings and beyond the certainties imposed by an education system often subservient to a neoliberal economy. This economy, by projecting human existence into an artificial and abstract dimension, has contributed to a loss of connection with reality. Neoliberalism has promoted consumption as the solution to existential crises, distancing humans from the authentic needs of the natural and animal environment. From this critical perspective, education must reclaim its transformative role, abandoning subordination to the market and reorienting itself toward a practice that fosters critical, nonviolent awareness. Such an approach is essential to addressing global challenges through sustainable and reality-based solutions.
Copyright (c) 2025 Paola Rigoni Grabar, Dino Mancarella https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Widening and Wilding The Socio-Ecological Dimensions of Peace Experiences from the International Institute on Peace Education
In this exploratory conceptual and reflective article, we aim to describe the dynamic yet amorphous socio-ecological dimensions of peace as we have experienced them through the learning ecosystem of the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE). We begin by naming the threads that brought us to this collaboration, then we build a conceptual mosaic in this pursuit, engaging with peace, modernity, interbeing, and sentipensar. We then describe the learning ecosystem of the IIPE and delve into the mosaic thinking that weaves this ecosystem together. We then engage in a detailed description of an example of IIPE pedagogical experimentation with regenerative peace pedagogies using the workshop on hospicing modernity, our roles, and our reflections on the experience. Finally, we consider how IIPE might enhance, deepen, or further emphasize the socio-ecological dimensions of peace through our relationships with each other, the inner workings of the institute, and the institute’s location in more intentional ways. We consider how this relational socio-ecological dimension of peace might be called regenerative peace education and discuss how these insights might open up peace pedagogy and practices for cultivating dynamic webs of caring relations and generosity of spirit among humans, other living systems and the natural world upon which our survival depends and of which we are a part. We hope that in deeply exploring these considerations using the example of the IIPE, the insights might be relevant to other peace education contexts and endeavors.
Copyright (c) 2025 Janet C. Gerson, Stephanie Know Steiner, Dani*el*a Pastoors https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Solidarity in an Eco-Relational Paradigm for Peace and Justice?
Abstract The term solidarity has inspired many definitions, levels, forms, interpretations, and material enactments. In general, traditional Western understandings of solidarity have emphasized the intersubjective relations that emerge during shared experiences of confronting interlocking systems of domination. However, an emphasis on subjectivity and the body and mind of the conscious individual in interaction with the body and mind of another has constrained imagination and encouraged an unquestioning acceptance of the human as the most significant and perhaps only species or entity capable or worthy of solidarity efforts. Rather than advocating for "humanization" while engaging in acts of solidarity for justice and peace, as if that figurative metamorphosis by anyone or anything inherently results in endorsements of their worthiness for relief, we must honestly confront the everyday, often unquestioned violence of anthropocentrism--the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity on the planet. Rather than offering sustainable peace or justice, solidarity that prioritizes human exceptionalism and domination can exacerbate the violence of human-created ecological crises. Drawing from theoretical and practical discourse across disciplines, this conceptual essay explores why and what sort of paradigmatic and epistemological shifts for an eco-relational solidarity are necessary for peace and justice education and studies. As Indigenous philosophies based on relational ontologies have long demonstrated, reconsiderations of solidarity’s Western traditional meanings and practices must include acknowledging the profound interconnectedness of all beings. Solidarity in an eco-relational paradigm anchors us in systems thinking and helps us recognize the infinite number of interconnections we share beyond those with fellow humans. The development and introduction of an eco-relational solidarity (not charity) in peace and justice education and studies can dismantle human exceptionalism and domination prominent in the creation of the climate emergency and manifest broader epistemologies and praxes that prioritize more-than-human solidarity for peace, justice, and addressing the climate crisis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Melissa Svigelj https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Following from an ecological paradigm for peace, this article promotes a focus on place as an anchor for peacelearning, deconstructing colonial notions of place and introducing place-based peace education as a strategy for planetary resilience in the face of ecological crisis. Departing from IIPE 2024's theme, "Navigating the Tensions between tradition and modernity" and drawing on philosophical scholarship on place, the author deconstructs colonial imprints of the notions of linear time, the “atomic” or “unencumbered” self, and enclosure on current notions of place, then introduces opportunities to construct place-based peace pedagogies. Place is compared to an ecosystem, constituted by the integrity of connections among beings and as stable and resilient as the strength of the bonds between them. The article concludes with an argument for place-based pedagogies that foster connections among learners and that situate learners as neighbors: beings in relationship with each other, human neighbors, and more-than human neighbors, including plants, animals, and land. Invoking Reardon’s (2021) notion that “comprehensive peace education” is an education “for global responsibility” this article seeks to weave existing work in place-based learning into growing scholarship on an ecological paradigm for peace education.
Copyright (c) 2025 Amanda Munroe https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Exploring psycho-educational horizons in the face of the climate crisis: links between contemplative pedagogy and the eco-relational paradigm of peace.
Starting from the analysis of the global ecological crisis and from the concept of interbeing, the practice of compassion and the approach of eco-pedagogy , this article explores psycho-educational perspectives for an ecological contemplative pedagogy that articulates critical , experiential and transformative practices . Through the analysis of experiences from the Círculo de estudios para la paz and IIPE 2024, the epistemological, political and affective challenges of the emerging eco -relational paradigm of peace are discussed . The work concludes by highlighting the need to integrate ancestral knowledge, contemplative practices, and an emotional reconnection with the earth to consolidate an education committed to ecological justice and planetary regeneration .
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Leonardo González torres, MSc Inés Vázquez Rico https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
The Ecological Challenge of Peace Education
The ecological challenge does not just mean the challenge of ecological problems and crises. Rather, it refers to the epistemic challenge of developing a new way of thinking, a new relationship to “nature” and thus also to the human world, which could be described as eco-relational peace. This text traces the paths that peace education has taken over the last half century in developing such a way of thinking. Ecological issues have long played a role in peace education and peace research in general. This connection began at the latest with Hiroshima and Nagasaki – in other words, with the realization that humanity itself is capable of destroying the foundations of life. As far as environmental issues in the narrower sense are concerned, the work of Anita Wenden and Frans Verhagen, but also of Betty Reardon in the USA or the German handbook Practice of Ecological and Peace Education in Germany Deutschland in the 1980s come to mind. What is new, however, is that ecology is no longer just a topic, but has become a category of peace. Added to this is the post-colonial and indigenous criticism not only of Western ecological concepts, but also of the Western understanding of nature – such as the work of Malcolm Ferdinand from the Caribbean or the critical studies of Western ecological thinkers by Raymond Matand Makashing from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is increasingly recognized that issues of global justice, non-violence and peace cannot do without the dimension that some call “peace with nature”. However, these are auxiliary expressions, because there is a danger that what should be connected will be separated again by the use of the terms. For this reason, concepts such as the Anthropocene must also be seen in their ambivalence. As far as peace education itself is concerned, the work of Vanessa Andreotti from Brazil is probably trend-setting, as it not only criticizes Western concepts such as Global Citizenship Education through postcolonial and indigenous approaches, but also renews them. In this article, a number of strands from the history of ideas will be presented and examined in terms of their usefulness for a contemporary understanding of peace and peace education. The aim is to provide some building blocks for a “new comprehensive peace education”.
Copyright (c) 2025 Werner Wintersteiner https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Revitalizing Regional Landscapes, Redefining Peace: Satoyama and Satoumi as Models for Eco-Relational Justice in Japan
The present article examines how the restoration of traditional landscapes through the practices of satoyama (a Japanese term referring to rural areas where humans and nature coexist, fostering biodiversity and cultural heritage) and satoumi (a Japanese term describing productive coastal areas that integrate human livelihoods with rich marine ecosystems) in Japan can serve as practical models for an ecological and relational conception of peace. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines peace studies, ecological justice, and sustainable pedagogies, the article explores local efforts to revitalize the regional landscape after decades of environmental degradation. These efforts include community-led reforestation, sustainable management of water and agricultural resources, and the conservation of native species. The study of satoyama and satoumi in Japan demonstrates how these practices promote relational justice, extending beyond human conflicts to address the health of soil, water, and biodiversity. Furthermore, these models enable the integration of traditional knowledge and contemporary strategies, challenging dominant extractivist paradigms. It is argued that these initiatives foster ecological regeneration and enhance social cohesion by engaging multiple stakeholders—local governments, communities, and NGOs—in collaborative practices. The cases examined in this research, particularly the one of the Totoro Furusato Foundation, provide a concrete foundation for rethinking peace education from a sustainability perspective, bridging local and global dimensions of the ecological crisis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Raquel Navarro Caparrós https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Using Climate Simulators to Facilitate Peacebuilding
As the climate crisis approaches a critical juncture, the pursuit of ecological peace becomes increasingly vital to conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts. This article explores the pivotal role of climate simulators in fostering peacebuilding through informed, data-driven dialogues. These tools anchor peacebuilding initiatives in scientific reality, enabling the identification and assessment of the co-benefits and co-considerations associated with climate-related actions. Furthermore, they promote scenario-based planning within peacebuilding contexts. Drawing from the author's personal experiences with the En-ROADS Climate Simulator in both secondary education and peacebuilding education settings, this article demonstrates the practical application of these tools. The En-ROADS Climate Simulator serves as a powerful example of how climate simulators can be integrated into educational frameworks to enhance understanding and engagement. The article provides actionable recommendations for incorporating climate simulators into broader educational environments, community advocacy efforts, and legislative processes. By emphasizing the significance of data visualizations tailored to specific geographic locations, the article highlights how personalized climate simulation tools can inform and support sustainable, long-term peacebuilding strategies. Ultimately, this article underscores the transformative potential of climate simulators in bridging the gap between scientific data and peacebuilding practices, advocating for their active adoption to address the multifaceted challenges posed by the climate crisis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ciara Renee Johnson https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Self, Eco-relationality and Peace Pedagogy: Lessons and Challenges from Wisdom Traditions ~ A Dialogue.
As peace and peace education struggle in a climate of existential threats we worry that current onto-epistemologies are insufficient to truly influence sustainable change. Instead, we fear existing pedagogies of peace only become co-opted into reproducing the dominant cultural system, which is based upon problematic notions of individuality, human-centrism, competition and violence. As peace educators and scholars we ask whether alternative onto-epistemological framings of peace could offer ways beyond our current predicaments and genuinely affect how we interact with each other and the other-than-human world. In particular, we wish to explore our own experiences working with what we will define as Wisdom-informed traditions; approaches that respectfully borrow from worldviews outside of the Western Modernist mindset. These perspectives encompass transpersonal notions of Self as interdependent and interrelational with the world around us. We believe such perspectives align with, and in some cases even predate, decolonial and philosophical critiques of peace education, offering specific methodologies that could transform our ways of being away from current Neoliberal framings towards more ecologically-centric and relational sensibilities. To discuss such perspectives, we wish to invite you the reader into dialogue with us to further destabilize the production of knowledge symptomatic with the current onto-epistemologies we seek divergence from. We therefore invite you into a diasporic co-poesis and diffractive dialogue about how Wisdom-informed traditions both challenge and inspire pedagogies of peace whilst reaffirming the central importance of an integrated Self and eco-relationality.
Copyright (c) 2025 David Tim Archer, Edward Sellman, Josefina Unger, Rosanna Wilson https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
"Forging Peace in 2025-2030: The Role of Canada and South Korea as Middle Powers in Leading Global Conflict Resolution"
This article offers a fresh and compelling look at how Canada and South Korea—two influential middle powers—can reshape the global approach to peace and security. It traces South Korea’s robust journey from military rule to democratic resilience and its ongoing efforts to engage North Korea in peace and denuclearization talks. In parallel, Canada’s experience with a nuclear-armed neighbor underscores the shared challenges both nations face. Rather than relying on outdated military alliances and Cold War mindsets, the article calls for bold new coalitions and innovative security alliances that champion diplomacy, peacebuilding, and multilateral cooperation. It argues that Canada and South Korea are uniquely positioned to lead a global shift away from militarization—toward dialogue, conflict prevention, and peace education. With the rise of emerging technologies like drones and AI-driven warfare, the need for forward-thinking diplomatic strategies is more urgent than ever. The article ends with a powerful vision: a reimagined global security order led by middle powers that dare to challenge the status quo and light the path toward a more peaceful, nuclear-free world.
Copyright (c) 2025 Erika Simpson, Juneseo Hwang https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Affirmative Action in the Educational Sector: A Discriminative Practice or for Promoting Peaceful Living?
The article discusses the admission process for Unity schools in Nigeria, which uses affirmative action to ensure the representation of students from all regions of the country. The policy promotes fairness, equity, and justice in education by compensating disadvantaged groups without equal access to opportunities, rights, and ‘social bases of self-respect’. Affirmative action removes obstacles that prevent individuals from pursuing their goals and ensures that all parts of the country are represented. They might not be the most intelligent students, but they are the best in their region. The evidence shows that affirmative action is not discriminatory but relatively justifiable as a temporary measure to reduce the educational imbalance between the northern and southern parts of the country. With limited school spaces and numerous applicants, the admission policy prioritizes diversity, equity, and unity. Without this policy, the schools would be dominated by students from the south of Nigeria, which could lead to conflict and a lack of positive peace. Educational achievement discrepancies, such as disparities in access to quality education, resources, and opportunities, have the potential to breed distrust and conflict within communities.
Copyright (c) 2024 Colins Imoh https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
It Peaces! On the Linguistic Significance of Peacing as Activity
This essay asks for the impact of grammar as enframing for the perception, interpretation and praxis of peace. It reflects the urge for a subject in all grammars of European origin since antiquity and discusses the colonizing consequences of the metaphysical peace as a singular in its transcendental context. This noun contrasts with action- and proceeding-oriented understandings of peace in many non-European languages. Such post-modern insight called the academic discipline of peace studies decades ago for the understanding of peaces as plural. This essay goes one step further and proposes to peace as a verb also for European grammars. It asks for the possibly de-colonizing and enlightening consequences of such an immanent notion in the still transcendental modern context.
Copyright (c) 2024 Wolfgang Dietrich https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Book Review: The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace
Book Review of Jolyon Mitchell, Suzanna R. Millar, Francesca Po, and Martyn Percy, eds., The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace, The Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion series, Wiley Blackwell, 2022, 656 pp., €152.60 (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-119-42434-5.
Copyright (c) 2024 Zachary Dehm https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Interview with Dr. Betty Reardon on the Theme of Peace Education
The article, an interview with Dr. Betty Reardon on the theme of Peace Education, was conducted shortly after the 2000 International Institute of Peace Education (IIPE) in Pune, India, concluded in July of that year. Dr. Reardon’s message however, seems as relevant today as it was when recorded a quarter century ago.
Copyright (c) 2024 Armene Modi https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Protecting Students? Rhetoric vs. Reality and Recommendations for Peace Educators in the United States
Republican legislators have for years said they are enacting measures to protect kids in schools. Laws have been passed around the country to limit the types of books young people have access to in schools, the curricula that they are taught, who can access school-based sporting opportunities, and even where students can use restrooms. Although attacks on educators and the public school system are not new, these recent moves are allegedly necessary to counter the supposed “wokeness” of public schools and universities today. In reality, much of the Republican party is actively opposing measures that actually protect kids. For example, many Republican politicians have opposed universal school lunch, an important measure to help feed poor kids. Republican leaders’ support for expanding Medicaid expansions to over poor children is weak, at best. Most Republican politicians actively oppose measures to restrict guns, even those specifically designed to keep guns out of the hands of children. This is despite polls that show a majority of Republic voters join Democrat voters in supporting sensible gun control. This paper begins with a discussion of several of the supposed “protection” measures Republican politicians have pushed in recent years. It then discusses efforts that might actually protect students but that Republican politicians have opposed. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for peace educators.
Copyright (c) 2024 Laura Finley https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Cutting-Edge Dynamics of Drone Technologies: Military Strategies and Peaceful Innovations
This article examines recent evidence and expert opinions on the pros and cons of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones. It analyzes the nuanced advantages and disadvantages of utilizing drones for both peaceful and military purposes. Rather than advocating for a blanket ban on drones due to their potential use in targeting individuals, such as al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan or Russian soldiers in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the article adopts a comprehensive approach by engaging with contemporary literature that assesses the complex implications of drone technology. The analysis highlights the potential benefits of drones in peaceful applications, including enhanced surveillance capabilities and their role in humanitarian efforts like disaster response and environmental monitoring. It also addresses significant ethical, legal, and operational concerns related to military use, such as accountability, the risk of civilian casualties, and the implications for international military power dynamics. Based on this assessment, the article presents specific recommendations for the international community and regional groups, emphasizing the establishment of regulatory frameworks that promote responsible drone use, prioritize transparency and accountability, and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, thereby fostering international dialogue and cooperation.
Copyright (c) 2024 Erika Simpson https://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/