Peace is a Process

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On 21 June 2016, UNESCO hosted a path-breaking Consultative Meeting on the contribution of the UN system to the promotion of peace. The meeting was attended by heads of 28 United Nations entities (programmes, funds, specialized agencies and bodies), who discussed the advancement of the global peace agenda and took stock of the present situation – and the future of the agenda in the new millennium.

PRIO Visiting Fellow Priyankar Upadhyaya (UNESCO Chair for Peace and Professor of Peace Research at Banaras Hindu University) is a member of the Steering Committee of this ambitious project, and is likely to lead the preparation of the resulting compendium. In the Geneva consultative meeting, Professor Upadhyaya delivered the keynote address: ‘Peace is a Process’.

Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya. Credit: Kristian Niemi

In his a thought-provoking presentation, Professor Upadhyaya provided a holistic and dynamic approach to the concept of ‘peace’ as a continually evolving process with immense transformative potential to synergize human community, ecology, and planetary concerns in a mutually enriching manner. Sustainable peace is thus about the interweaving of relationships between individuals, groups and institutions that value diversity and foster full development of the human potential. A composite focus on ecological integrity and socio-economic justice must inform the twin quest for peace and sustainability. UNESCO’s rights-based approach to education, incorporating equity and inclusion, is the key to counter discrimination that leads to fractures and tension in society.

The Consultation was a part of the on-going UNESCO project on Progress and Challenges for the Peace Agenda of United Nations Entities. The project is led by UNESCO under the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022).

Interfaith Dialogue can Help Build Peace

Posted by & filed under Peacebuilding, Religion

Photo: George Gallagher via Flickr

Interfaith dialogue is a necessary aid in conflicts involving religion.

Some years ago, many Western social scientists were claiming that religion was a dying phenomenon. Such assertions were part of an arrogant assumption that the entire world would soon come to resemble the north-western corner of Europe. In Eastern Europe, which lay under the yoke of Communism, atheistic faith prevailed. And no doubt many people believed that atheism would continue to prevail after the Communist system was abolished.

After the fall of Communism, however, atheistic was to a large extent replaced by religious faith. Putin, a former KGB officer, became a churchgoer – and allied himself with authoritarian church leaders. In the Caucasus, atheistic oppression was replaced by an explosion of violence justified on the basis of religious and nationalist beliefs. In the Middle East, and far into Asia, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are being used to justify violence and the oppression of people with different views – regardless of whether they are adherents of the oppressor’s own or a different religion.

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The Right to Decide: Exit and Basque Self-Determination

Posted by & filed under Governance, Law and Ethics, Peacebuilding, Regions and Powers, Security

Five years ago, the Basque militant group ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced a unilateral and permanent cessation of operations. Since then, the disappearance of political violence has given rise to a new debate on Basque nationhood: more inclusive, more open, more civic, and at the same time stronger in its affirmation of the legitimacy of popular sovereignty and the democratic demand to exercise ‘the right to decide’, as against the earlier radicalism of immediate independence.

A new book edited by Pedro Ibarra Güell and Åshild Kolås, Basque Nationhood Towards a Democratic Scenario, takes stock of the contemporary re-imagining of Basque nationhood in both Spain and France. Taking a fresh look at the history of Basque nationalist movements, it explores new debates that have emerged since the demise of non-state militancy. Alongside analysis of local transformations, the book also describes the impacts of a pan-European (if not global) rethinking of self-determination, or ‘the right to decide’.

Basque Country Needs You. Credit: Iker Merodio via Flickr

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This Week in South Sudan – Week 25

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Monday 20 June International Crisis Group: “From Conflict to Cooperation? Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda” Voice of America, Straight Talk Africa video: “South Sudan in Focus” Tuesday 21 June More than 140 South Sudanese judges went on strike, demanding better working conditions and the reimbursement of four years of expenses. Wednesday 22 June The Troika… Read more »

Open-Access Publishing and Academic Freedom

Posted by & filed under Research Politics

Open-access publishing will make research findings freely available. But what will happen when researchers have to pay to get their own results published? Researchers’ freedom of choice regarding publication channels may become severely restricted if this issue is not taken seriously.

7066675199_8aed931933_bTwo weeks ago, a working group appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research published proposed National Guidelines for Open Access to Research Results (in Norwegian).

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Syria Travellers and Security Threats

Posted by and & filed under Governance, Law and Ethics, Migration, Security

Foreign fighters returning from Syria have emerged as a looming security threat in many European countries, so also in Norway.

As well as preventive measures against radicalization and mobilization by the Islamic State, there have been calls for the withdrawal of citizenship and deportation of returned foreign fighters. This raises a number of questions:

  • Are Norwegians more secure if we send potential terrorists out of the country?
  • Is this even feasible, if Norway wants to stay within the ‘border-free’ Europe?
  • What are the trade-offs between security and civil rights to citizenship, and how can they best be balanced?
  • Is citizenship essentially something that needs to be earned, or is it an inalienable right?
  • Should withdrawal of citizenship be a form of punishment, and if so, is it a good idea to open up this pandora’s box?
Photo credit: Jayel Aheram

Photo credit: Jayel AheramUnder PRIOs NATION project, Katrine Fangen (Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo) and Åshild Kolås (PRIO) have published an article in Critical Studies on Terrorism: ‘The “Syria traveller”: Reintegration or legal sanctioning?’. The article analyses Norwegian discourses (in the media, policy documents, and parliamentary debates) on Islamist radicalization, with a focus on a new category of people known as ‘Syria travellers’: young Norwegians who go to Syria to fight for the Islamic State (IS).

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This Week in South Sudan – Week 24

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Monday 13 June BBC: “What New York Times article says about South Sudan” Tuesday 14 June A unit of the SPLA allegedly ransacked and looted a market in the Kajo Keji area, Central Equatoria State, sparking armed confrontation in which more than 20 lives were lost. 16 former officials were sentenced to life in prison… Read more »

Moscow keeps promising responses to NATO activities

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Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary to President Vladimir Putin, is generally not known for eloquence. But his comment last week (June 7) about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s exercises in the Baltic region stands out both for its convolutedness and uncharacteristic meekness. His point, reproduced by all Russian mainstream media, can be approximately translated as:… Read more »

Open Access – Our Academic Responsibility

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Illustration by Marina Noordegraaf. Via Flickr.

The Norwegian government wants Norway to be a forerunner in the effort to ensure open access to published research. To this end, the government established a working group at the start of 2016, assigned with the task of compiling guidelines for open access to scientific papers. We, the working group, submitted our recommendation on 14 June.

We recommend a number of measures to accelerate the transition to open access. We believe, for example, that Norway needs to amend its current methods for quality evaluations and accreditation of publications, as the current publication indicator seems to be an obstacle for open journals.Read More

This Week in South Sudan – Week 23

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Tuesday 7 June Authorship of New York Times Op-ed debated: “South Sudan Needs Truth, Not Trials” The Guardian: “South Sudan leaders did not sign off New York Times article, aides say” Foreign Policy: “The New York Times South Sudan Op-Ed That Wasn’t” The Washington Post: “Who wrote that op-ed? The New York Times isn’t sure.”… Read more »