In March of 2009, the author decided to establish the Center for Peace Education (CPE) in Liberia solely dedicated to promoting a non-violent culture by imbuing students with the skills, knowledge, and attitude needed to peacefully coexist. To begin the process of building a culture of peace, in April of 2009, CPE conducted a baseline survey in 14…

From July 6th to 10th, 2010, International Peace Research Association (IPRA) held its biennial conference at the University of Sydney in Australia. Hosted by the University's Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies and coordinated by Jake Lynch and a team of dedicated staff and volunteers, the conference featured seven plenary panels and many…

Peace and conflict studies courses are seldom seen by faculty curriculum committees and university administrators as deserving to be part of their institution's liberal arts education requirements. We show that this unfortunate tendency is rooted in a lack of understanding of not only the compatibility between the two but of their quite…

The Peace Education Special Interest Group of AERA had a very successful AERA Annual Meeting in San Diego in April 2009. There were a total of seven sessions, including two paper sessions, two interactive symposia, two roundtable sessions and a business meeting. The program began with an interactive symposium by Irene Zoppi, Brecken Swartz and…

This paper discusses the notion that the international sojourn has the potential to transform sojourners into cultural mediators who carry the power to improve global relations. A year-long ethnographic study of the adjustment experiences of international postgraduate students in England revealed a universal early enthusiasm for cross-cultural…

US community colleges play various roles in American higher education. Because of their wide-ranging diversity and open enrollment policies, they are frequently referred to as "democracy's colleges". They are vital today in assisting Americans in better understanding the global realities of a post-September 11 world. Programmatic…

In September 2005, adult students from Kilinochchi, located in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-controlled Wanni region of northern Sri Lanka, were awarded University of Bradford, UK, validated postgraduate certificates or diplomas in conflict resolution and peace preparedness. The diploma is, we think, a landmark in peace education…

This article discusses a qualitative research project designed to investigate processes and outcomes of learning in a first-year undergraduate course--"Introduction to conflict resolution: theory and skills" (ICR)--taught in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. The research project was set up to help us understand how…

Numerous educational efforts have been tried in order to address problems of conflicts and violence at various levels of society. These efforts have been effective to various degrees. This article investigates the effectiveness of the Swedish-based peace education project "The dream of the good" (DODG), through its use of…

This article is based on the convictions that peace education is the basis for any sustainable non-violent relations between parties in a conflict, and that virtual peace education is almost the only feasible way to practise peace education in an open violent conflict as is the current Israeli/Palestinians one. Moreover, virtual peace education…

Peace education is comprehensive. It encompasses instruction by all members of a school. These standards, which were recommended by researchers and practitioners from many areas of the world, prescribe comprehensive and simultaneous instruction with informal as well as formal curriculum. Although the voluntary standards are a response to…

South Africa has been a high-conflict society for nearly 350 years. The first 300 years were characterised by colonial rule with all the attendant conflicts inherent in such polities where dominance over the subjects was achieved by coercive means. This was followed by a more virulent form of racial domination, called apartheid, which…

Despite the multifaceted role language plays in promoting direct and indirect violence, activities that would develop the linguistic knowledge and critical language skills for understanding how discourse shapes individual and group beliefs and prompts social action are conspicuously absent from peace education. This article aims to address this…

H. G. Wells produced some of the best literature and practical ideas on peace, providing essential clues for achieving a mutually beneficial federal human unity through an "Open Conspiracy", as he put it, i.e. an intellectual and political transformation, and a revolution in education. It is possible to abolish war and ensure lasting…

Long overdue in the classroom is a critical examination of media coverage when seen and told through the unique vantage point of the audience and storyteller. This discussion is intended to demonstrate how to prepare students to critically examine and evaluate the social role of media within a diverse global society. The author elaborates on the…