The intensification of ethnic and religious identity, accompanied by growing tendencies for creating new national states and escalations of regional conflicts, characterize the post-Cold War era. This article examines the growing impact of religion and the potential of religious activism as a tool for peacebuilding. A case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be accompanied by a historical-genealogical approach and analysis and deduction methods. By using those methods, I will answer the question of whether religion has a cohesive role (building of civil society) or divisive effect (accentuation of mutual differences and distancing of ‘other’) in the process of peacebuilding. The research results show that religious activism did positively contribute to peacebuilding but that the existent conciliatory potential is not adequately used for overcoming mutual differences and the creation of civil society, primarily due to the political and institutional framework in which it operates.

Nationalist narratives in Bosnia and Herzegovina generate organized hypocrisy against the culture of memory which involves different protagonists of this society. The real name of the culture of memory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the culture of denial. This is the very structure of its culture. By examining the perpetuation of memory into organized oblivion as a particular form of structural and cultural violence, the author will establish scholarly and axiological criteria in favor of the creation of conditions to end the culture of oblivion. In contrast to the ontology of oblivion, as an instrument of the culture of denial, this article affirms Emmanuel Levinas’s principle of the responsibility for the Other, as a relationship of pure holiness, as an a priori ethical requirement. Also, to reinforce the argument in favor of a responsible culture of memory in the face of its ideological stagnation, the author also examined critical objection to culture of memory by radical left intellectuals, in whose view culture of memory inhibits emancipation of the oppressed class. Although such argumentation should not be dismissed outright, it dances around the reality of post-conflict communities like Bosnia and Herzegovina, where war victims cry for justice, and hold it as important as their very existence.

As displacement increases due to conflict and climate change, it is vital to find permanent solutions to the global refugee crisis. Currently, refugees are predominantly hosted in less-developed states, to the detriment of both the refugees and the communities providing shelter, while developed states with the financial capacity to provide permanent resettlement restrict the number of refugees accepted. Despite anti-immigrant rhetoric, many developed countries are dependent on economic immigrants to provide population influx and economic growth. Examining this dependency while exploring the social factors which facilitate successful newcomer integration, this paper proposes an immigration system which balances the ratio of refugees and economic immigrants to encourage an equitable system of resettlement. Linking refugee resettlement with economic immigration addresses the needs of refugees, ameliorates pressure on less-developed states currently hosting refugees and serves the national self-interest of developed countries.

This essay explores the prophetic—peacemaker dynamic using Oscar Romero’s theology of the Transfiguration as an interpretative key. I argue that there is a continuum between being a prophet and being a peacemaker and that one is dependent on, and informs, the other. For Romero, the mystery of the Transfiguration involves a journey undertaken by the community from Calvary to the Resurrection. The Transfiguration is a stark reminder that the Cross always leads to the Resurrection and that there can be no Resurrection without the Cross. Before being realised in the community, however, this is embodied in those individuals or communities that sound a prophetic voice, thus acting as peacemakers. In so doing, the community finally partakes of a foretaste of Christ’s Resurrection.

Habermas and Rawls presented distinctive theories of new world order at the turn of the new century: the Constitutionalization of International Law and the Law of Peoples. Both theories aim to promote peace and justice all over the world. Unfortunately, their theories have been ignored by mainstream IR theorists. Since few scholars make a deep comparative study between Rawls’s Law of Peoples and Habermas’s Constitutionalization of International Law to reveal their crucial difference, this paper aims to fill this gap by clarifying their essential difference and preliminarily exploring how to formulate their proper relationship. I argue that Habermas’s project is a legalistic peace theory. In contrast, Rawls’s Law of Peoples is a modified form of democratic peace theory, putting hope for international peace on the improvement of the domestic political system of sovereign entities. Finally, I present a tentative suggestion to address their relationship, returning to Kant’s systems approach.

This article examines the possibility of establishing a Department of Peace (DOP) as a Department of the Government of Canada. The topic has been introduced in Parliament twice, as Bill C-447 in 2009 and as Bill C-373 in 2011, without any further actions beyond the formal First Reading. The introduction of the bills could only happen on the basis of significant support among Canadians. At present efforts to introduce the DOP continue, although in somewhat muted form. Based largely on oral interviews, this article assesses the potential for establishing a DOP in the context of the Canadian peace tradition as well as global developments. It concludes that a DOP has great potential to move the peace agenda forward but that, in view of the priorities of the current government and the general mood in Canadian society, it is not realistic to expect a DOP to be implemented at present.

There is little attempt by the Turkish government to end violence directed against queer people or to provide intervention and prevention services. This article explores the social and legal traditions that the Turkish state maintains to oppress the queer community and to prevent people from accessing their basic human needs. In order to understand violence orchestrated against Turkey’s queer people, it is important to explore some of the threats they face on an everyday basis. These threats include unemployment, harassment, discrimination, disowning/honor killings, denial of freedom of expression and freedom of association, and death. Finally, we explore the Gezi Park nonviolent protests as well as providing some important social change recommendations that Turkey must implement with international solidarity.

Critical and Emancipatory Theory (CET) of peacebuilding emerged as the sixth school of thought in Peace and Conflict Studies to critique the liberal and neoliberal approaches to peacebuilding. CET contends that liberal and neoliberal approaches to peacebuilding are discriminatory and biased, perpetrates the interest of Western elites, hinders the achievement of social justice, and considers the local as insignificant for peacebuilding. A call for the reformation of the liberal and neoliberal approaches necessitated the CET school of thought to outline certain principles and guidelines that could guide the practice of peace-building. Different methodologies, intervention strategies, principles and approaches that could guide praxis have therefore been advanced by scholars, researchers, and practitioners. This paper therefore examines and reflects on the multiplex methodologies in peacebuilding, the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach to understanding peace and peacebuilding, and the question of intervention in post-war peacebuilding, the principles that guide the implementation of peacebuilding from the lens of Critical and Emancipatory school of thought. This piece contend that CET approach may not be self-sufficient but would be the most appropriate way to decentralize the peacebuilding process and, as such, local or indigenous peacebuilding processes must be encouraged while acknowledging the salient role of the international community as well.

The paper examines the tension in the social construction of pandemic by doctors, traditional healers, and faith-based healers and considers the potential public health implications. Methodologically, the author uses a case study of Mwenezi District in Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe and draws on autoethnographic experiences to observe and analyse local level asymmetric confrontations as the Coronavirus pandemic unfolded. What emerges is how values, beliefs and scientific interpretations are contributing factors to conflict, and more significantly, the deleterious impact it has on mobilizing community action against the pandemic. Research findings reveal how untenable and inconceivable it will be to contain the pandemic without paying appropriate attention to apostolic sects and traditional healers. Interventions have so far ignored this social capital.

Though the heroic strides, accomplishments and sacrifices of many clerics who have led exemplary lives in the Catholic priesthood remain indelible, we are faced today with a preponderance of allegations and claims of clerical sexual abuse suggesting that both the Catholic Church and priesthood are experiencing crises of different kinds. Clerical sexual abuse is a contradiction of the life of chastity, one of the evangelical virtues which are corollaries of responding to the call to the Roman Catholic priesthood. How those evangelical virtues concern us and the needed critical family roles for addressing the challenges of clergy sexual abuse are often overlooked; but our lives are inter-connected. This article has been prompted by the need to see the other side of the problem, which is general huge family failures, and to awaken our consciences to assume our own responsibilities that would, by collective action, help to bring about positive and peaceful change.