This article traces the development of peace studies in Mindanao, arguing that Mindanao’s distinct multicultural context ensured the field’s tight linkage to Islamic and Mindanao studies. In all, the search for peaceful resolution of the armed conflicts in these parts of the Philippines provided the activist-inspired impetus for the field’s growth and determined the highly localized focus of formal and nonformal peace education, research, and publications in and on Mindanao. Peace studies practitioners— from the academe, non-governmental organizations, and religious institutions—contributed to the shaping of national policies and programs for Mindanao, with government policy, in turn, buttressing the institutionalization of their initiatives. This article also provides comparative insights on the nature and evolution of Mindanao peace studies and that of Western peace studies.

The discussions on peace in Japan have significantly changed since the end of the Second World War. This can be clearly illustrated by the development of the peace studies field, which has been strongly influenced by the pacifism of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and the experiences of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This article traces the historical development of Japanese peace studies and analyzes its characteristics. Since pacifism has been accepted as the key element for understanding political culture in Japan since 1945, peace research, the practice of peace education, and peace museums are also regarded as important factors that constitute Japanese peace studies and peace culture.

Japan is a world leader in peace education, and Hiroshima is one of the world’s centers for peace. While the peer-reviewed literature on Japanese peace education is growing, few studies address how present-day peace educators in Hiroshima conceptualize peace education. This study aims to better understand how peace educators in Hiroshima (re)conceptualize, adapt, and apply their work. Using a grounded theory approach, we answer the following research questions: (a) How do contemporary peace educators in Hiroshima conceptualize their work? (b) How has this conceptualization changed or evolved over time? Interviewees presented convergent and divergent insights around three main themes: definitions of peace as a collective identity and constructivist process, metaphors for peace as informing pedagogy, and efforts to challenge taboos through a social justice lens.

This study investigates the effects of a peace education camp, designed and organized by women peace advocates, in shaping the beliefs and attitudes of youth leaders after a violent incident that threatened the gains of a peace process in the Philippines. The study uses quantitative methodology and a two observation (pretest-posttest) design. Seventy students participated in the research. The Beliefs and Attitudes toward Peace Issues (BATPI) scale developed by the researcher was employed. Data analysis procedures used the t-test for paired samples. Results showed that beliefs and attitudes of participants toward peace and the peace process significantly improved after the peace education camp. Implications and applications of findings are discussed and recommendations are offered.

Art increasingly appears at “dark” museums and related formal sites to balance the traditional exhibits of war. This article explores how art might contribute a peace education perceptive in differing countries and a globalizing context. Case studies from the United Kingdom, Europe (West and East), and Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Vietnam) are analyzed. The former deploys new technologies and supports wellknown artists who appeal to art markets. Asian curation relies more on creativity, including children’s and victim’s art. Both deploy artistic devices to symbolize the scale of atrocities and create aesthetic depth-juxtaposition, prominence, perspective, repetition, patterning, and soundscapes. The analysis provides tools and checklists to assist curation and inform artists, and concludes that critical educational processes are as important as the art.

In this article, the limits and possibilities of Korean unification education is critically examined and compared with the peace process on the Korean Peninsula for overcoming division from the perspective of peace education. For the purpose of becoming a single unified Korea, the direction of unification education has been presented within a hostile frame to cultivate attitudes and values for its own sake. peace education in a divided society refers to a collective effort to transform the situation of hostile division into peaceful coexistence and rapprochement. In this context, unification education for overcoming the division of the Korean Peninsula should be established as the subject of critical peace education according to the global standards of Sustainable Development Goal 4.7.

The introduction of civic education in Serbia in 2001 marked a beginning of an allencompassing reform that set the tone for future changes designed to support the country’s democratization. This article draws on documentary and elite interview data to unpack the conceptualization of this policy, revealing it to be a multi-level positioning exercise in the national and international political space. It argues that, by using favorable political and international policy conditions, Serbian policymakers created a version of civic education that significantly drew on grassroots peace education programs developed during the 1990s, recognizing the priority of needs in building a democratic society. The latter offered Serbian policymakers agency in the context of what critical literature perceives as a transfer/imposition of policies in societies facing “Westernization.”

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, there has been greater interest in countering violent extremism. Due to the U.S.-led “War on Terror,” madrassas in Pakistan have received international attention for initiating peace education programs through international NGOs. The motivation to work in madrassas is that erstwhile studies have blamed the madrassa education system for the lack of critical thinking and the vulnerability of madrassa students to extremist ideologies. While peace education interventions in Pakistan have continued for over a decade, there is a scarcity of scholarly assessments. This article aims to bridge that gap by analyzing the causes and consequences of extremism, particularly violent extremism in Pakistan, to make a case for and critically examine the application of peace education.

In the present article, I discuss current and past peace and reconciliation educational efforts conducted between Palestinians and Israelis. I concentrate on the educational initiatives conducted for Jewish- and Palestinian-Israeli citizens and not on those less common taking place between Israelis and Palestinians in the Palestinian Authority. In the first section of this article I describe the Israeli sociopolitical and educational context. I then review the main theoretical perspectives which underwrite the educational work undertaken. The third section is dedicated to reviewing the main existing programs and offering information regarding research results where research has been conducted, and in the fourth and last section I offer critical insights on the educational initiatives portrayed.

Twenty-four years into democracy, South Africa remains a country searching for peace. High levels of interpersonal, gender-based, and political violence together with structural violence continue to plague the country. Schools are sites of regular violent conflict, mirroring problems in the wider community. Despite this, peace education has not received priority attention. This article discusses a context of endemic violence in South Africa and links this to its history. This prompts discussions of the need for peace education and the range of interventions that have occurred. Specific examples of peace education programs are offered to illustrate their content, philosophy, and pedagogy. A critique of such interventions is provided. Explorations of constraints and potential enablers of peace education in an expanded society-wide program conclude the article.

peace education in conflict affected societies has achieved widespread popularity amongst international aid agencies seeking to find a place for education in supporting peacebuilding since the 1990s. However, its aims, content, and effectiveness have been critiqued particularly for its failures to address structural causes of grievances. This article draws on empirical research exploring a UNICEF supported peace education related curriculum reform in Sierra Leone developed in 2008 called “Emerging Issues.” The article draws on a critical discourse analysis of its content and qualitative interview data with key informants. It argues that while “Emerging Issues” was well-intentioned, its lack of regard for contextual dynamics generating conflict and a tendency to pathologize the nation served to undermine its transformatory goals.

This article analyzes the role of schools in helping to build peace in post-conflict countries in Africa. It argues that schools cannot be built back the same after a violent conflict because they have often been complicit in the violence in the first place. Thus the need to “build back better.” There is much belief in the potential of schools to contribute to peace in post-conflict societies. However, evidence on the role of schools in terms of the introduction of courses in peace education and attempts to change the structures, relationships, and practices of schools in a more peaceful direction is not particularly encouraging. Many significant obstacles remain to schools successfully contributing to peace.

Despite the relative uniqueness of peace education in contexts of intractable conflict, research on peace education carried out in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be instructive, to a greater or lesser extent, in other contexts. Six researchbased lessons are presented: (1) The short life of peace education’s positive effects and so the need for continuous reinforcement; (2) ways of restoring the eroded effects; (3) the benefits of learning about another conflict; (4) the differential effects of peace education on different groups of participants; (5) the limitations of peace education; and (6) joint projects with common important goals as an alternative approach to peace education. In addition, two common challenges facing peace education and other kinds of programs are presented: the challenge of maintaining the attained positive effects, and the challenge of spreading the effects to wider realms of society.