This book explores the resilience in urban neighborhoods affected by chronic conflict and violence, developing a new model for improving resilience policies. The neighborhood resilience approach is an inclusive form of building positive resilience, which recognizes that local communities possess valuable skills and experience of dealing with crises, and prioritizes the agency of local communities in the production of knowledge and developing practices. The book identifies and describes the repertoire of neighborhood resilience practices organized in four clusters: (1) addressing the structure of conflict; (2) increasing the effectiveness of external resources; (3) enhancing the community capacities; and (4) reflecting the dynamics of identity and power in neighborhoods. One of the key findings of the book is the nonlinear connections between structure and dynamics of conflict and neighborhood resilience practices represented in the Four Loops Model. The concentration on community-based practices addresses macro-level critiques of neo-liberalism in critical resilience studies and encourages rethinking the ways community-based indicators might operate in combination with existing macro indicators of resilience. The bottom-up indicators provide more specific details and essential localized experiences for improving resilience policies at the national level. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, resilience, urban studies, and US politics.

The recent conflict in Iraq evolved from an insurgency against the interim U.S. led government (the Coalition Provisional Authority or CPA) into a sectarian civil war. Violence became widespread, especially in areas of Baghdad City such as Sadr City, Al Amiriyah, and Al Adhamiya. However, a number of multiethnic neighborhoods in Baghdad successfully prevented sectarian attitudes and behaviors from taking hold. Four communities stand out in their self-organization to prevent the escalation of violence. This book looks at what makes these communities different from other areas within Baghdad. In-depth interviews in Sunni-dominant, Shia-dominant and Mixed neighborhoods generated a few key insights about conflict-resilience, or the capacity to prevent structural changes associated with conflict escalation. Key factors turned out to be the organization of non-sectarian self-defense groups, place attachment, collective efficacy, active intervention to de-escalate tensions, and also the presence of local religious leaders who forbid sectarian attacks. The continuity or strength of interpersonal relationships supported by the integrated physical structure of these neighborhoods and internal versus tribal conflict resolution mechanisms played a role as well. This volume examines the characteristics of the communities that have successfully prevented the rise of violence, and how they are able to maintain qualities of resilience to violent conflict.

Ecologically-focused interventions have taken center stage in addressing a range of social problems. This book synthesizes the latest research and theoretical advances of these approaches to offer multiple urban green revitalization strategies for combatting gun violence that is primarily impacting African-American/Black, Asian-American, and Latinx urban communities across the nation. Solutions include the introduction of greenspaces (greening), conversion of distressed buildings and vacant lots, and other structural changes to a community. This resource provides readers with a centralized place to draw upon research findings and includes illustrative case studies. Current and future social workers and other helping professionals will be able to work more effectively with the communities of color they serve to bolster interventions and advocate against gun violence.

This book examines the role that community-based educators in violence-affected cities play in advancing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s radical nonviolent vision for racial and social justice. This work argues that nonviolence education can help communities build capacity to disrupt and transform cycles of violence by recognizing that people impacted by violence are effective educators and vital knowledge producers who develop unique insights into racial oppression and other forms of systemic harm. This book focuses on informal education that takes place beyond school walls, a type of education that too often remains invisible and undervalued in both civil society and scholarly research. It draws on thousands of hours of work with the Connecticut Center for Nonviolence (CTCN), a grassroots organization that presents an ideal case study of the implementation of King’s core principles of nonviolence in 21st-century urban communities. Stories of educators’ life-changing educational encounters, their successes and failures, and their understanding of the six principles of Kingian nonviolence animate the text. Each chapter delves into one of the six principles by introducing the reader to the lives of these educators, providing a rich analysis of how educators teach each principle, and sharing academic resources for thinking more deeply about each principle. Against the backdrop of today’s educational system, in which reductive and caricatured treatments of King are often presented within the formal classroom, CTCN’s work outside of the classroom takes a fundamentally different approach, connecting King’s thinking around nonviolence principles to working for racial justice in cities deeply impacted by violence. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, race studies, politics and education studies, as well as to practitioners in the field.

This book offers an analysis of the major sources of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggests principles and processes for building a peacemaking platform. The primary aim of this book is to analyze the crucial roles and capacities of mid-level, nongovernmental peacemakers as they provide unique approaches to transforming the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It also aims to analyze and experience dialogue as the primary mode of peacemaking communication. The two-part format of this book creates a structural dialogue. Part One provides an academic introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, why it matters, the role of identities, and strategies for transforming the conflict based on international law and human rights. Part Two is presented in a dialogue format, providing further conflict analysis through storytelling and dialogues with peacemakers. This book will be of great interest to anyone engaged with peace and conflict transformation, ethnography, social justice, communication studies, and Middle Eastern studies, human rights and international law.

The International Science and Evidence Based Education (ISEE) Assessment is an initiative of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), and is its contribution to the Futures of Education process launched by UNESCO Paris in September 2019. In order to contribute to re-envisioning the future of education with a science and evidence based report, UNESCO MGIEP embarked on the first-ever large-scale assessment of knowledge of education.

This book offers a distinctive perspective on peace processes by comparatively analysing two cases which have rarely been studied in tandem, Ireland and Korea. The volume examines and compares Ireland and Korea as two peace/conflict areas. Despite their differences, both places are marked by a number of overlaid states of division: a political border in a geographical unit (an island and a peninsula); an antagonistic relationship within the population of those territories; an international relationship recovering from past asymmetry and colonialism; and divisions within the main groupings over how to address these relationships. Written by academics and practitioners from Europe and East Asia, and guided by the concepts of peacebuilding and reconciliation, the chapters assess peace efforts at all levels, from the elite to grassroot organisations. Topics discussed include: historical parallels; modern debates over the legacy of the past; contemporary constitutional and security issues; civil society peacebuilding in relation to faith, sport, and women’s activism; and the role of economic assistance. The book brings Ireland and Korea into a rich dialogue which highlights the successes and shortcomings of both peace processes This book will be of interest to students of Peace and Conflict Studies, Irish Politics, Korean Politics, and International Relations.