Political scientists present a range of theoretical views on conflict, violence, nonviolence, transitional justice, and peace building, with extended case studies of Iraq and Columbia and shorter case studies of other countries. Their topics include reparations for children and youth as a peace-building mechanism, informality and informalization among Eritrean refugees: why migration does not provide a lesson in democracy, post-conflict justice in Cambodia: the legacy of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, reconciliation of identity groups in Iraq, conflict analysis and political means of ethnic accommodation, and four case studies and multi-site ethnography on transitional justice and indigenous jurisdiction processes in Columbia.
– ProtoView Reviews
As our world becomes more connected through technology, education, and commerce, it becomes imperative that we focus our attentions on the many, often long-standing, regional conflicts which threaten these connections. This volume in the Advances in Public Policy and Administration book series examines the local and global impacts of regional unrest and its aftermath from many unique perspectives, with a goal of increasing awareness and cultivating solutions to the many causes behind it.
Twenty-three chapters are organized into four sections which focus generally on peace building and maintenance in turbulent zones, in addition to the particular challenges of Iraq and Colombia. The opening section, Transitional Justice and Peace Building in Turbulent Regions, offers chapters on reconciliation, nonviolent action, negotiation, reparations for children, and more. Enduring Turbulences and Elusive Peace next explores the concepts of authoritarianism, migration, post-conflict justice systems, and more via the examples of Eritrea, Cambodia, Rwanda, and the Arab zone. The final two sections provide an in-depth look at two countries currently bearing out the effects of longstanding conflict: Iraq and Colombia. Topics particular to Iraq include the dynamics of ethnic accommodation, the history of Iraqi authoritarianism, and the corruption within the reconstruction economy established by the Coalition Provisional Authority after its 2003 invasion. Seven chapters then round out the book with a look at Colombia within such contexts as indigenous and displaced peoples, an extractive economy, retaliation, and political/criminal insurgencies.
While complex in scope, the chapters are well organized with a generous use of paragraph headings, subheadings, bullet points, tables, and definitions. End pages compile each chapter’s references, offer brief contributor biographies, and include an index. Other volumes in this series cover the general topics of politics, public administration, resource allocation and much more. This handbook would be highly useful to educators, policy-makers, economists, activists, students, and many others.
– ARBA Staff Reviewer