Last week I had a really interesting set of conversations with a group of practitioners who attended a training course on which I was teaching. Two of them are working on the Turkish border with Syria, one had a distinguished career with the ICRC and UN, and one was a university professor in the USA.
The course was on conflict resolution, transformation and peacebuilding, and it was great to have time to debate details from our diverse perspectives, and analyse the changes that have taken place in the last few years. The challenges of communicating with people in Syria, analysing and responding to the forms of violence that are taking place, including the forms of violence that face refugees in Europe provided a rich seam for discussion. On the one hand they demand a rethink of particular configurations of peace and conflict, but at the same time they reiterate the need to remain critical of the ways that power reinforces patterns of opportunity and constraint.
The venue gave us the chance to enjoy some pretty stunning views of London in the sun!
In other news, I'm happy to announce that my 2013 book, Formal Peace and Informal War is now available in paperback :)
The course was on conflict resolution, transformation and peacebuilding, and it was great to have time to debate details from our diverse perspectives, and analyse the changes that have taken place in the last few years. The challenges of communicating with people in Syria, analysing and responding to the forms of violence that are taking place, including the forms of violence that face refugees in Europe provided a rich seam for discussion. On the one hand they demand a rethink of particular configurations of peace and conflict, but at the same time they reiterate the need to remain critical of the ways that power reinforces patterns of opportunity and constraint.
The venue gave us the chance to enjoy some pretty stunning views of London in the sun!
In other news, I'm happy to announce that my 2013 book, Formal Peace and Informal War is now available in paperback :)
Comments
Post a Comment