About the Journal

The purpose of the journal

For many decades, the Great Lakes region has experienced high and at times extreme levels of violence between individuals, between communities, between ethnic groups and between nation states. The consequences for the people of the region have been dire. The need to understand the causes of this violence and the range of interventions by which sustainable peace can be built is crucial. In fact, it is not widely recognised that nonviolent interventions have a much better track record in building sustainable peace than violent interventions. The aim of the Great Lakes Journal of Peacebuilding (GLJP) is to increase these understandings and thereby contribute to sustainable peace by publishing research on peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding in the region. The journal provides a valuable resource for the increasing number of students in the region who are studying peace and related disciplines.

The Great Lakes region is taken to include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Key concepts

Every academic discipline has its own languages and concepts and it is important to use these correctly. The peace studies concepts below point to the subject matter of the articles likely to be published in the GLJP.

We understand peace very widely, covering peace and well-being within individuals, between individuals, between communities, between groups and between nations. Conflict refers to an incompatibility of needs and interests which often occurs between individuals and groups. It is inevitable. It can be ignored, or it can be managed, resolved or transformed. Conflict transformation concerns the relationship between the parties and is likely to involve truth, justice, mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a high ideal, but absolutely worthy. If a conflict is not managed, resolved or transformed, it may result in violence, the most common form of which is direct violence, that is, actual or threatened physical or psychological harm to other parties.

Peacemaking describes the efforts made to manage, resolve and transform conflicts. It almost inevitably involves communication between the conflicting parties with an emphasis on dialogue as opposed to debate i.e. understanding the other parties’ positions rather winning an argument.

Peacebuilding can be thought of in two ways. First, there is preventive peacebuilding which involves actions to minimise conflicts and to prevent them from becoming violent. Conflict management, conflict resolution and conflict transformation processes can be employed in this regard. Where the violence is structural i.e. when programmes and policies favour one group over another, efforts can be made to reduce the resulting inequality. Where the violence is cultural – involving attitudes and beliefs which justify direct and structural violence – efforts can be made to confront these attitudes and beliefs through various forms of education.

Second, where violence has occurred, there will be a widespread need for recovery. If the violence was interpersonal, there will be physical and psychological damage to human beings. In the case of war, in addition to human suffering, there will be damage to community cohesion and norms, to the provision of public services, to commercial relationships and procedures, to physical infrastructures and to the environment. These two understandings of peacebuilding are interlinked. Effective recovery interventions can contribute to sustained peace and prevent the recurrence of violence.

Two explanations may help clarify the scope of peacebuilding. The first, from the website of the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame (https://kroc.nd.edu) focusses on transforming relationships:

Peacebuilding is the development of constructive personal, group, and political relationships across ethnic, religious, class, national, and racial boundaries. It aims to resolve injustice in non-violent ways and to transform the structural conditions that generate deadly conflict. Peacebuilding can include conflict prevention; conflict management; conflict resolution and transformation, and post-conflict reconciliation.

The second, from the United Nations’ Peacekeeping website (https://peacekeeping.un.org) speaks of laying the foundations for sustainable peace and taking a long-term perspective:

Peacebuilding aims to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and development. It is a complex, long-term process of creating the necessary conditions for sustainable peace. Peacebuilding measures address core issues that affect the functioning of society and the State and seek to enhance the capacity of the State to effectively and legitimately carry out its core functions.