Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding: A Resource for Innovators
August 15th, 2003 by sfuqua
This pathbreaking book is a bold invitation to peace-builders to consider new approaches — “positive approaches” — to transforming conflict and building peace in some of the most complex of human situations. It is a call to shift from focusing predominantly on the conflict, struggle, and suffering to also shining light on cooperation, coexistence, and visions for a better future.
Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding: A Resource for Innovators,
Cynthia Sampson, Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Claudia Liebler,
Diana Whitney, Editors
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS: Elise Boulding, Mark Chupp, Jaco
Cilliers, David Cooperrider; Peter Delahaye, Tamra d’Estree, Sam Gbaydee Doe,
Scott Fisher, Charles Gibbs, Paula Green, Peggy Green, Robin Gulick, Barbara
Hartford, Meg Kinghorn, Bharat Krishnan, John Paul Lederach, Michael
Henderson, Mark Mancao, Erin McCandless, Joseph Montville, Thomas Porter,
Amela Puljek-Shank, Randy Puljek-Shank; Maurici Rios, Mary Hope Schwoebel,
Nancy Good Sider; Herm Weaver; Anastasia White, and Heidi Paulson Winder
This pathbreaking book is a bold invitation to peace-builders to consider
new approaches — “positive approaches” — to transforming conflict and building
peace in some of the most complex of human situations. It is a call to shift
from focusing predominantly on the conflict, struggle, and suffering to also
shining light on cooperation, coexistence, and visions for a better
future.
Chapters by some of the leading practitioner/scholars as well as some
fresh new faces in the field are full of ideas for making this shift. The
hope of the contributors is that these ideas will be useful and will capture
the imagination of readers who will apply them, adapt them further, and go
far beyond them in innovating with positive approaches to peacebuilding.
Praise for Positive Approaches to
Peacebuilding
“This book presents an innovative perspective on peacebuildIng that breaks
new ground while maintaining strong roots and relationships in
tradition.”
—Ambassador John McDonald, Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy
“Like many ‘helping professionals,’ conflict resolution practi- tioners
are prone to focus on problems, and this can create a negative bias that
interferes with peacebuilding. Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding explores
refreshing new approaches to peacebuilding without slipping into naive
hopefulness that avoids looking at difficult problems. The theoretical
frameworks are rich enough to satisfy scholars, the case studies are
practical enough to engage practi- tioners, and the tips and guides to
practice are sure to inspire new and innovative work among
peacebuilders.”
— Dr. Jayne Seminare Docherty, Conflict Transformation Program, Eastern
Mennonite University
“Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding is a pathbreaking con- tribution to
international peacemaking. In a highly readable fashion, it combines theory
and case studies, domestic and international experiences, and advocacy of an
innovative approach along with appropriate caution against simplistic
application. I strongly recommend it for both teachers and field-based
peacemakers.”
— Dr. David Smock, Religion and Peacemaking Initiative, United States
Institute of Peace
“This book beautifully describes the social construction of imagined
futures, inviting us, as scholar-practitioners, to move beyond ‘problem
solving’ and its ethic of ‘neutrality,’ towards Appreciative Inquiry, and its
ethics of narrative, voice, and meaning-making, relying on the heart-wisdom
that flourishes in the context of affirmation.”
— Dr. Sara Cobb, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George
Mason University
“This book powerfully delivers what it promises — a provocation to think
more deeply about how we conduct our peace-making and peacebuilding
relationships. At a minimum, it dissatisfies us with our inabilities to ask
questions that change relationships. At a maximum, it challenges us to ask
whether we could not work differently altogether. For those who dare to read,
the impact will last a lifetime.”
— Dr. Harold H. Saunders, International Institute for Sustained
Dialogue and former Assistant Secretary of State
PUBLICATION DATE: August 4,2003
PRICE: $24.95 plus postage
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