The Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding: A Vision and Framework for Peace with Justice - Paperback

by Lisa Schirch (Author)

So we'd all like a more peaceful world--no wars, no poverty, no more racism, no community disputes, no office tensions, no marital skirmishes. Lisa Schirch sets forth paths to such realities. In fact, she points a way to more than the absence of conflict.

She foresees just peace--a sustainable state of affairs because it is a peace which insists on justice. Chapters include:

• Defining Strategic Peacebuilding
• Values for Peacebuilding
• An Overview of Peacebuilding Processes
• Waging Conflict Nonviolently
• Reducing Direct Violence
• Transforming Relationships
• And more!

Schirch singles out four critical actions that must be undertaken if peace is to take root at any level): ) waging conflict nonviolently, reducing direct violence, transforming relationships; and building capacity. From Schirch's 15 years of experience as a peacebuilding consultant in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

"This Little Book is an attempt to bring together the various fields and activities related to peacebuilding to integrate them into one conceptual framework. At the core of this framework is the idea of strategic peacebuilding, an interdisciplinary, coordinated approach to building a sustainable justpeace--a peace with justice. Strategic peacebuilding requires clear goals. While the concept of justpeace is growing in popularity, few writings lay out the vision and practice of justpeace. One aim of this book is to promote the concept of justpeace as an overall goal or vision for peacebuilding.

A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.

Author Biography

Lisa Schrich is a professor of peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and prgram director of the 3D Security Initiative (www.3Dsecurity.org), which promotes conflict prevention and peacebuilding in U.S. security policymaking. With colleagues in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU, Schirch consults with a network of organizations involved in peacbuilding activities throughout the U.S., Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. She has worked in over 20 countries.

A former Fulbright Fellow in East and West Africa, Schirch has written four books and numbrous articles on conflict preventions and peacebuilding. She is a frequent public speaker and has TV and radio experience discussing U.S. foreign policy.

She holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.