Schools and war: urgent agendas for comparative and international education

A focus on conflict and education is one of the most pressing concerns of the current times, and yet the role of education in the perpetuation, or the mitigation, of international conflict is curiously underplayed and under‐researched. This paper looks firstly at the contributions that education makes to conflict, through the reproduction of inequality and exclusion, through perpetuation of ethnic or religious divisions, through its acceptance of dominant aggressive masculinities, through selection, competition and fear, and through distorted curricular emphases on narrow cognitive areas of learning. However, the paper also outlines some ‘possibilities for hope’, such as resilient schools, the impact of peace education initiatives and the rise of global citizenship education. It is argued that comparative and international education has a highly important role in establishing patterns of educational contribution to peace or conflict, and in dissemination of research to act as a lobbying force to influence education policy and practice. The paper outlines eight priorities, including alternative international studies focusing on ‘achievement’ in peace education; cross‐cultural or longitudinal studies of impact of peace education and war education; and tracer studies of why young people join fundamentalist organisations.     

Peace Process Pedagogy: lessons from the no-vote victory in the Colombian peace referendum

ABSTRACT

Is there a need for a new field within Peace Education that looks at the complex dynamics of transitional societies in the post-truth era? What formal and informal pedagogical strategies might be best suited for transforming ‘emotional anti-peace mindsets’? Drawing on practical examples from the complex political contingencies in Colombia, this article positions the concept of Peace Process Pedagogy within discussions in Critical Peace Education and Critical Contemplative Pedagogy. It encourages critical pedagogues to develop strategies to dismantle misinformation about peace policies, to engage in open conversations about emotions, and to work with embodied action.     

苏新关系与“三区革命“新论

二十世纪三、四十年代,苏联两次插手新疆政局。第一次出兵支持盛世才建立亲苏政权,以失败告终。苏联策动"伊宁事变",制造"东土耳其斯坦共和国"分裂政府。在国际国内诸因素影响下,苏联被迫改变对新疆的侵略方针。经过和平谈判,成立新疆省联合政府,伊、塔、阿三区和民族军回到中国人手中。"新疆保卫和平民主同盟"的成立,标志着三区人民的斗争融入了中国革命的大潮。从这个时候起,方可称作"三区革命"。     

Difference,diversity and difficulty: problems in adult peace education in Northern Ireland

The peace process in Northern Ireland has been hailed, variously, as the successful resolution to one of the world's most intractable conflicts, and as a failed attempt to reconcile the conflicting claims of the two main ethnonationalist communities. At both these points, and at every other point along the continuum, recognition is given to the centrality of education. This article looks at the role played by adult learning, and contrasts two fundamentally different approaches. In one, enlightenment assumptions about the power of knowledge to dispel prejudice have run alongside attempts to create a world of shared values; in the other, a postmodern acceptance of different cultures has accompanied a peace process that builds upon ethnic distinctions. As with the Dayton Accord and with other peace agreements brokered with international assistance, the consociational model of governance has been chosen for Northern Ireland in order to create a political equilibrium between the unionists and nationalists. Such a political framework reverses the direction of previous integrationist educational policies in favour of a celebration of difference, an approach that is fraught with difficulties.     

试论邓小平时代主题观科学体系的建构

邓小平关于“和平与发展是当代世界主题”的论断,是邓小平理论的重要组成部分,是我国社会主义市场经济发展必然面对的外部环境中最根本性的问题,是作为各个层次的决策者、执行者对世界政治经济的主要内客和基本走向的最高层次的战略判断,是一个政党正确制定国内外方针政策的基本出发点之一。     

析王韬外交主张的"主和"思想

作为早期维新思想家的代表,王韬以自己的特殊经历以及对时局发展的敏锐认识,使得他比同时期的人站得更高,看得更远.尤其在外交方面,他所提出的"主和"思想更是代表了很多朝廷大员的外交思想,影响了众多洋务大员.文章试就其"主和"思想作一谈析,以就教于方家.     

Narrative,Adaptation, and Change

This paper explores how individuals and communities orient themselves to the future by the way they story the past. There is a persistent tendency to think of such narratives as factual and therefore stable. The mutability of such narratives is actually a key adaptive characteristic, ranging from complete repression of individual traumas to public revisionism and debates about such events as the bombing of Hiroshima. Arguably, only those with a predictable future can afford a fixed version of the past, while those who are swept by unpredicted social change toward new learning and improvisation must also construct new narratives. This paper considers the social and individual value of multiple fluid narratives in the context of multiple belief systems of other kinds.     

Affirming conflict and identity in the Korean Peace Park (DMZ) proposals

Abstract

According to their advocates, Peace Parks represent a real and symbolic hope for peace and reconciliation. Peace Parks both create a buffer and a “bridge” for cooperation to generate peace. The South Korean government and elite-led green NGOs are placing the DMZ military buffer zone as a “soft power” Peace Park instrument for peace between the two Korea's. This paper argues that the conventional approaches to explaining the Korean DMZ Peace Park initiatives/proposals fail to address the underlying national identity questions and narratives. These conventional approaches can potentially reinforce conditions for inter-Korean hostility. This is because inter-Korean hostility is based on ongoing contestations from each Korea over what counts as the historically authentic and unified Korean heritage/identity. Contests are also based upon which of the Korea's has the legitimate right to monopolize these master-narratives of what counts as genuine Korean identity. Further investigations of the practices and processes of (South) Korean identity construction through inter-cultural tensions between the two Korea's need to be addressed before a Peace Park as concept and policy can move away from the initiatives that potentially reinforce these contested identity constructions.     

美德关于罗斯福"世界和平会议计划"的外交接触

1936～1937年,罗斯福设想召开世界和平会议,讨论政治、经济和裁军问题,在美国不承担政治义务的前提下,通过满足德国在经济领域和殖民地等方面的要求来安抚希特勒,从而缓和日益危急的欧洲形势并避免战争爆发。美国为此与德国进行了外交接触,但没有取得任何结果。这一方面是由于美国计划对德国作出的让步与德国的外交政策目标相距甚远,另一方面也是因为美国对欧洲影响力的下降导致德国对美国计划根本不予重视。     

“衣着”新解《桃花源记》——“男女衣着，悉如外人”争论述评

《桃花源记》本为陶渊明为《桃花源诗》所作之序,其中“男女衣着,悉如外人”一句,历来释义颇杂,争论至今,未曾达成一致性意见。问题不是在于如何理解“外人”,而是如何理解“衣着”。“衣着”应该是动词。