After outlining the deadly scope of today’s small arms trade, this paper touches on questions of international law and responsibility, or lack thereof, as illustrated by the legal intergovernmental transfer of arms from China to the Sudan, despite international pressure urging the contrary. References include United Nations documents, task
Simon Stander discusses the real roots of the 2007-2009 economic crisis with questions and answers and with help, sometimes but not always, from Karl Marx. As is occasionally said Marx is good for analysis but not always for prediction. Simon Stander, formerly professor of Peace Studies (and founding editor of
The victory of a representative of the former guerrilla FMLN movement in El Salvador’s presidential election - the culmination of a process that began with the peace accords in 1992 - is an exemplary case of conflict transformation, says Victor Valle.
This article is cross-posted with the online magazine Open Democracy
Seong Eun Lee discusses the failure of international law to hold states responsible for their use of women as sexual slaves during the Pacific War. The history of international treaties and regulations outlawing such behaviour are briefly reviewed, as is the current state of the former comfort women's struggle for
Over the past several decades, peace-building and trauma studies have emerged as interdisciplinary fields that seek to better understand their respective social phenomena and develop appropriate responses. Practitioners of peace-building often work in severely conflicted settings with groups that have been exposed to traumatic events, while a number of trauma
In this timely article, Kenneth Cloke reflects on the potential of mediation to inspire conflict transformation and social development in times of interpersonal as well as international crisis.
Technical aspects of mediation are also discussed, as Cloke draws from his considerable experience in the field, offering practical and accessible advice
Richard Falk discusses the recent violence in Georgia in light of the geopolitical context, involving NATO, Russia, the EU, and the US.
This article discusses the shortcomings of violent social struggles - their relative exclusivity, vulnerability to foreign manipulation for geostrategic goals, and their likelihood (if successful) to establish similarly repressive and violent regimes to the ones they seek to overthrow. These are then juxtaposed with the relative merits of nonviolent struggles
JULIJANA MLADENOVSKA analyses the Macedonian elections of 2002, and concludes that few parties went to the people with concrete messages. It would be better for the parties in Macedonia to attempt to meet the real needs of the voters. The Macedonian citizen, regardless of his ethnic background and his/her fears
