 Global Integration UpdateCommon Ground for the Common Good
Special News--May 2018
Peace Psychology--Sustaining Peace“We are a world in pieces.We need to be a world at peace.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres ( UN General Assembly, 19 September 2017)
This Special News Update features resources from two recent events that brought together colleagues from different disciplines and sectors on behalf of peace. The first is the Peace Psychology Conference at the University of Notre Dame (April 2018) and the second is the United Nations High Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace in New York (March 2018). Kelly was privileged to attend both of these informative and impactful events.We are pleased to focus especially on Peace Psychology. We hope that you will take note of this growing, multi-disciplinary field and probe further into its practical applications for your life and work. Its many research-based concepts, overviewed for example in the Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology, are particularly relevant for the many efforts to prevent violent conflict and to build peace at all levels in our world.
We have included more information and comments than usual in this Special News Update. The length, and carefully chosen materials, are a reflection of the crucial importance of preventing and mitigating violent conflicts as well the relevance, regardless of the foci of one's work, of connecting with the Peace and Security Sector. See also our Global Integration Updates (December 2016) Peace and Security: Uniting for a Safer World and (June 2017) Doomsday: Next Stop, Global Dis-integration?
Warm greetings from Geneva,
Kelly and Michèle 
Peace Psychology and Sustaining Peace
Two Events--Many Resources
Part One
Psychology and Peace Conference
This inaugural conference was co-sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies (University of Notre Dame, USA) and The Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence (Division 48, American Psychology Association). Held 9-11 March 2018 at the University of Notre Dame, USA, the event drew leading scholars, as well as early career academics and graduate students, who presented research intersecting psychology and peace studies. The conference program included scholarly presentations, skill-building workshops, and featured speakers. In addition, collaborative work groups of conference participants focused special attention on building research, practice, and advocacy agendas for the future of peace psychology.
Some Resources from the Conference--Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes,plenary presentation (video) by Dr. Fathali Moghaddam (Georgetown University).--Peace Psychology and Geneva Peace Week, Kelly O’Donnell and Dana Townsend. This interactive session explored the relevance and practicalities of connecting colleagues/organizations involved in Peace Psychology (PP) with colleagues/organizations involved in Geneva Peace Week (GPW). How can PP-GPW connections lead to new opportunities for fostering wellbeing and peace in our world? The handouts provide a sample of core resources from many organizations involved in peace work. GPW is held each November and includes five days of events. GPW 2017 was themed “Prevention Across Sectors and Institutions” and included over 50 presentations, symposia, global reports, films, etc. with 5000 participants (Program and Report HERE). -- Peace Psychology Book Series (currently over 30 books), Daniel Christie, series editor. “[This series] recognizes that the emerging and multi-faceted problems of human security challenge us as scholars and activists to develop psychologically-informed theory that will deepen our understanding of the major threats to human security, and create practices that will help us address some of the most urgent and profound issues that bear on human well being and survival in the 21st century” (excerpt from series website). See also Peace Psychology for a Peaceful World(overview article by Daniel Christie).
Peace Psychology
(excerpts from Rachel MacNair, The Interweaving Threads of Peace Psychology)Peace psychology can be defined as "the study of mental processes that lead to violence, that prevent violence, and that facilitate nonviolence as well as promoting fairness, respect, and dignity for all, for the purpose of making violence a less likely occurrence and helping to heal its psychological effects" (MacNair, 2003). Another definition is that "peace psychology seeks to develop theories and practices aimed at the prevention and mitigation of direct and structural violence. Framed positively, peace psychology promotes the nonviolent management of conflict and the pursuit of social justice, what we refer to as peacemaking and peacebuilding, respectively" (Christie, Wagner, & Winter, 2000).
Though peace psychology has links within all branches of psychology, there are especially strong links to social psychology, political psychology, community psychology, and positive psychology…Peace psychologists have developed a number of themes over the years. The psychological causes of war and other forms of violence is one such theme, as well as the psychological consequences. Along with these are the causes and consequences of behavior intended to counter violence, commonly referred to as nonviolence or nonviolent action. Other remedies to violent behavior include peace education and conflict resolution. In early years, focus was on international affairs. Through time those interested in peace psychology have more commonly thought that other forms of violence are precursors to war, share with war many of the same causes and consequences, and are threats to peace even in the absence of outright war. These include domestic violence, hate crimes, the death penalty, abuses of medicine, and institutional arrangements which foster poverty or environmental degradation. (read more HERE). Peace Studies( excerpted from the website of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies) Peace studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that draws on political science, sociology, history, anthropology, theology, psychology, philosophy, and other fields to: understand the causes of armed conflict; develop ways to prevent and resolve war, genocide, terrorism, gross violations of human rights; and build peaceful and just systems and societies…Within peace studies, “peace” is defined not just as the absence of war (negative peace), but also the presence of the conditions for a just and sustainable peace, including access to food and clean drinking water, education for women and children, security from physical harm, and other inviolable human rights (positive peace). This idea is rooted in the understanding that a “just peace” is the only sustainable kind of peace; an approach that seeks merely to “stop the guns” while ignoring the denial of human rights and unjust social and political conditions will not work in the long run.
Part Two
United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace
The High Level Meeting was called for and convened by H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, the president of the 72nd session of the General Assembly (24-26 April 2018, UN New York). I sought to build upon the peace emphases in the UN and especially to follow up a) two 2016 resolutions by the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly on the Review of the United Nations Peace Building Architecture (more information HERE) and b) many other recent documents/resolutions including the Secretary General’s 2015 report the Future of the UN Peace Operations (implementation of the recommendations of the 2015 High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations).
The meeting endeavored to reflect on how to: “1) Respond to the renewed emphasis on conflict prevention and on addressing the root causes of conflicts to sustain peace; 2) Strengthen operational and policy coherence including through accountable leadership, and improved capacity across the United Nations system in support of peacebuilding and sustaining peace; 3) Increase, restructure and better prioritize funding to United Nations peacebuilding activities; 4) Strengthen partnerships for peacebuilding and sustaining peace among the United Nations and key stakeholders in the field at the country, regional and global levels; 5) Enhance and strengthen the role of women and youth in conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts.” (excerpted from Concept Note) Some Resources from the High Level Meeting
--Summary of the Final Day (UN press release, 26 April) i ncluding statements by representatives of Member States and Civil Society Organizations-- The video Plenaries and four Interactive Dialogues are archived on UN Web TV--The recently published, full version of Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict (2018, United Nations and World Bank) was mentioned a few times. Click HERE for the project website and access to the Overview and Executive Summary.
Some Reflections by Kelly I appreciated listening to many heads of State and Secretaries of State/Foreign Ministers as they shared their concerns, perspectives, frustrations, and yearnings for peace in our world. Everyone is pro-peace. Not everyone is willing to openly acknowledge and address, however, some of the underlying “sustainers of conflict and war" (my term).Noteworthy for me, among many statements/comments, were the President of Columbia’s call to prioritize combating trans-national drug cartels and the emphasis by the Foreign Minister of Peru on the devastating role of regional and international corruption. Many speakers emphasized the central role of including women and youth in peace processes.
I was impressed by Dialogue Three: Strategic Partnerships with the United Nations, especially by Jeffery Sachs' candid comments (starting around 23 minutes 30 seconds) on the need for clearer typologies of violent conflict; the reality of serious lying; proxy wars; major powers threatening overall world stability via the ongoing covert and overt operations; and the need for honest reporting and real debates regarding the arms trade that feed wars—follow the money and the arms and armies and you will see what is feeding wars and who is benefiting economically.
I left this High Level Meeting with a mixed sense of hope, sadness, skepticism, and greater appreciation of the complexity of many conflicts as well as the need for externally-referenced and verifiable integrity. I left wanting to be more of a peacemaker and person of integrity myself--endeavoring to consistently integrate peace and truth in my life and work.
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit organisation working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations in the mission, humanitarian, and development sectors as well as global mental health, all with a view towards supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, developing resources, and publications.
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Global Integration is a framework for actively integrating our lives with global realities by connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based).
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