Written from her deep experience in the monastic tradition, Sister Mary Margaret Funk shows us that, with faith and our given vocations, we are more than strong enough to resist and renounce the violence in the world around us. This book offers, both for personal use and for the broader community, a teaching for our troubled times, a teaching that empowers the reader to renounce violence in all its bold and subtle forms. As a concrete example, Funk retrieves the practice and symbolism of using holy water to bless, cleanse, and free us from violence wherever it is emerging—in our personal lives and in our world. This practice has thrived in the monastic tradition and has a language with a voice.

In our turbulent times, many look to the horizon, searching for a glimmer of hope. Yet there may be more than one silver lining within reach. Industry's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions could be one such ray. The decision of affluent nations to curb waste and luxury, along with a readiness to share with struggling countries, could be another. And perhaps the brightest light of all would be a shift from aggression and conflict to compromise and cooperation. What's true for the world is just as true for each of us individually. Thoughtful restraint at the right moment can relieve personal crises, ease tensions, and bring inner peace. Two experienced logotherapists have drawn from both theory and practice to offer insights that help readers discover how a mindful approach—choosing what to hold on to and what to let go—can foster confidence for the future and enrich quality of life in the present.

Why are some places successful in moving from war to consolidated peace while others continue to be troubled by violence? And why does postconflict violence take different forms and have different intensities? By developing a new theory of postconflict violence Patrick Barron's When Violence Works makes a significant contribution to our understanding. Barron picks out three postconflict regions in Indonesia in which to analyze what happens once the "official" fighting ends: North Maluku has seen peace consolidated; Maluku still witnesses large episodes of violence; and Aceh experiences continuing occurrences of violence but on a smaller scale than in Maluku. He argues that violence after war has ended (revenge killings, sexual violence, gang battles, and violent crime, in addition to overtly political conflict) is not the result of failed elite bargains or weak states, but occurs because the actors involved see it as beneficial and lowcost. His findings pertain directly to Indonesia, but the theory will have relevance far beyond as those studying countries such as Colombia, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria seek a framework in which to assess what happens after war ends. Barron's theory also provides practical guidance for policymakers and development practitioners. Ultimately, When Violence Works pushes forward our understanding of why postconflict violence occurs and takes the forms it does.

Terrorism remains one of the major threats facing the world community. While literature on the subject is dominated by discussion of the factors leading individuals and groups to join violent extremist, terrorist groups, the question of what can lead them to disengage from such groups is an equally important one. This book is the first study to provide a detailed analysis of both counter-radicalization and deradicalization programmes in eight Muslim-majority states, representing hitherto one of the largest, detailed, and most systematic inventory of such programmes in the world. Drawing on detailed case-studies from a number of countries, the book: traces the historical evolution of violent extremist groups and individuals in each country case study, including the period before independence; describes in detail states’ response to this phenomenon in each period; provides important empirical analyses for counter-and-deradicalization policies and programmes based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with state officials, former radicals, and members of civil society organizations in each country; provides a first systematic evaluation of the effectiveness and success of these programmes and policies; focuses simultaneously on factors that have led to deradicalization at an individual or organizational level, and on the macro environment, both external-global and internal, that encourages counter-radicalization and deradicalization of groups and individuals. The detailed comparative analyses allow the reader to identify conditions, both internal and external, which are conducive to both success and failure of counter-radicalization and deradicalization programmes, and the authors identify best practice and provide policy implications for states facing threats from violent extremism, as well as for international institutions and organizations working in the field of counter-terrorism.

HauptbeschreibungThe path towards Securitized Societies reconstructs this paradigm shift by looking at penal law and the criminal justice system. Over a time span of 40 years, the development from a social-integrative penal law of the welfare state to the preventive state to the securitized society is followed from the perspective of a criminologist and professor of penal law. The novelty lies in the perspective of the participating observer who comments on the criminal justice system not from the lectern but who ventures into the system and reports from experience, whether at the very end of the process of law enforcement in discussions with prisoners with life-long sentences, at the beginning of the process by tracing police strategies of prevention, or in the area of criminal policy by participating in parliamentary expert commissions or legislative processes. In retrospect, the observed legal developments show an erosion of the rule-of-law state. The shift from the preventive state to the securitized society is imbedded in global processes of change which endanger the individual's freedom and dignity and which equally affect global society and national societies. The general feeling of insecurity and lack of orientation created by these processes for broad parts of the population can no longer be restrained with the methods of individualizing social controls of the traditional kind - penal law. This insecurity brings forth forms of control which eat away at the rule of law in a securitized society which, for its apparent protection, is prepared to give up its foundations in the rule of law in favor of an ostensible security. This phenomenon is not restricted to Germany, but the country serves as an example case study for global processes of legal erosion - with the background of the unilateral development of leadership.

Violence is a prevalent and persistent theme in all aspects of human affairs. A comprehensive understanding of violence therefore requires exposure to the research coming out from all the disciplines in the social sciences: their different methodologies, findings and insights. This book promotes the merits of an interdisciplinary agenda. By bringing together scholars of violence working in political science, political theory, international relations, economics, philosophy, sociology, psychology and public health, this book explores the complexity of violence and the interface between the empirical and normative dimensions central to this problem. The aim is to investigate the ways in which a correct understanding of this phenomenon must deal with both empirical and normative issues. There is a tendency for scholars of violence to work predominantly within the narrow parameters of their own discipline: philosophers tend to read fellow philosophers on violence; criminologists tend to rely on the work of fellow criminologists; sociologists tend to trust the writings of fellow sociologists; and so on. This book invites the reader to embrace an interdisciplinary approach towards the universal problem of violence. (178 words)

The brilliant and ground-breaking mimetic theory of the French-American theorist René Girard (1923-2015)has gained wide-ranging recognition, yet its development has received less attention. This volume presents the important correspondence-conducted in French and as yet unpublished, let alone translated into English-between Girard and his major theological interlocutor Raymund Schwager SJ (1935-2004). It presents the personal relationship between two great thinkers that led to the development of a significant break-through in the humanities. In particular it reveals the theological development of Girard's thought in dialogue with Schwager, who was concerned to assist Girard in areas where he had little expertise and had encountered major criticism, such as the theological application of sacrifice. These issues in particular had placed major barriers to Girard's acceptance in theological circles. These letters reveal how Girard, with Schwager's help, entered the mainstream of theological debate.