Peacebuilding Responsss to America's Crises
Start Date
10-2-2021 3:15 PM
End Date
10-2-2021 4:30 PM
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Description
How can I tell people in Burundi how to solve their conflicts if I can’t solve my own in Baltimore?
Alliance for Peacebuilding members are asking themselves questions like this one amid the COVID-19 epidemic, recession, and resurgence of racial tensions deepen the polarization around the 2020 election.
My paper/presentation would discuss initiatives in the peacebuilding community and, especially, beyond that are taking first steps to deal with these crises that are anchored in:
- Analyses that see them as an whole that I refer to as wicked problems whose causes and consequences can’t be solved quickly, easily, or separately
- Theories of change that emphasize
- Local peacebuilding
- Integrate isolated initiatives that have enjoyed success and show the potential for growth
- That can be turned into a cumulative strategy for shifting cultural norms and public policies so that we make progress toward solving policy problems that, in turn, lead to an exponentially declining rate of violence in all its forms
- That have led to projects (the list will undoubtedly change before the meeting in February), including
- Imperative 21—an initiative promoting economic, climate, and social change led by a coalition of business executives and funded by major foundations
- Efforts to help today’s new generation of activists incorporate peacebuilding principles into their work
- A civic engagement project AfP and partners are starting
- Emerging movements among high school and college students
Given what I’ve said so far, my goal would not be to document what we are doing and present it as the be-all-and-end-all of what could and should be done. Rather, I would want to use it as a vehicle to launch a discussion of how we academics who study peace and conflict resolution can help our activist and practitioner colleagues go even farther.
Peacebuilding Responsss to America's Crises
How can I tell people in Burundi how to solve their conflicts if I can’t solve my own in Baltimore?
Alliance for Peacebuilding members are asking themselves questions like this one amid the COVID-19 epidemic, recession, and resurgence of racial tensions deepen the polarization around the 2020 election.
My paper/presentation would discuss initiatives in the peacebuilding community and, especially, beyond that are taking first steps to deal with these crises that are anchored in:
- Analyses that see them as an whole that I refer to as wicked problems whose causes and consequences can’t be solved quickly, easily, or separately
- Theories of change that emphasize
- Local peacebuilding
- Integrate isolated initiatives that have enjoyed success and show the potential for growth
- That can be turned into a cumulative strategy for shifting cultural norms and public policies so that we make progress toward solving policy problems that, in turn, lead to an exponentially declining rate of violence in all its forms
- That have led to projects (the list will undoubtedly change before the meeting in February), including
- Imperative 21—an initiative promoting economic, climate, and social change led by a coalition of business executives and funded by major foundations
- Efforts to help today’s new generation of activists incorporate peacebuilding principles into their work
- A civic engagement project AfP and partners are starting
- Emerging movements among high school and college students
Given what I’ve said so far, my goal would not be to document what we are doing and present it as the be-all-and-end-all of what could and should be done. Rather, I would want to use it as a vehicle to launch a discussion of how we academics who study peace and conflict resolution can help our activist and practitioner colleagues go even farther.
