Breakout session on ‘Post-conflict reconstruction and Peacebuilding’, third talk: Johanna Boersch-Supan, D.Phil. Candidate, Politics and International relations, Oxford University.

Breakout session on ‘Post-conflict reconstruction and Peacebuilding’, second talk: Bjorn Muller-Wille, Royal Military Academy , Sandhurst. As part of a trend to improve the coherence and effectiveness of multidimensional interventions donor states are increasingly willing to invest development assistance in conflict areas; resulting in a strong interest in determining which instruments contribute to a broad array of short term 'stability,' political and security objectives as well as a...

Breakout session on ‘Post-conflict reconstruction and Peacebuilding’, first talk: Dr Stuart Gordon, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. 'Stabilisation' has emerged as a powerful policy discourse guiding international interventions in conflict areas. The UK has been amongst the forefront of states adopting and developing the 'stabilisation' model and has adapted government policy, processes and structures in its efforts to deliver 'stability' in both Iraq and Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Its...

Breakout session on ‘Peace and Transitional Justice’, third talk: Lydiah Kemunto Bosire, D.Phil. Candidate, Politics and International Relations, Oxford University. The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in July 2002 created a permanent forum for prosecuting those held 'most responsible' for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, and brought fresh promise to management of past, ongoing, and future conflicts. The ICC's intervention in ongoing conflict is...

Breakout session on ‘Peace and Transitional Justice’, second talk: Chris Mahony, D.Phil Candidate, Politics and International Relations, Oxford University.

Breakout session on ‘Peace and Transitional Justice’, first talk: Briony Jones, Ph.D. Candidate, Manchester University; Student Chair, Oxford Transitional Justice Research. In the post Cold War era there has been a shift towards positive peace approaches in response to increases in intrastate conflicts. This has been part of an entrenchment of a liberal peace agenda, increased interventionism, and a greater complexity in peace-building. Such a shift has included a focus on social...

Breakout session on ‘Grassroots Peacebuilding – and linking it to national and international levels’, second talk: Dr Rama Mani, Centre for International Studies, Oxford University. This presentation addresses two issues. First, it analyses why we have largely failed to stem the tide of violence and political conflict despite significant international attention and resources devoted to conflict prevention, peacemaking and post-conflict peacebuilding since 1989. Second, it proposes an...

Breakout session on ‘Grassroots Peacebuilding – and linking it to national and international levels’, first talk: Fr Elias Omondi Opongo, Ph.D. candidate, Dept of Peace Studies, Bradford University. The end of the Cold War marked a new beginning for Non Governmental Organizations' (NGOs) engagement in peacebuilding and conflict transformation at the grassroots and middle level interventions. However, while the last two decades have seen a decrease in inter-state wars, intra-state conflicts...

Breakout session on 'The Role of International and Regional Organizations in Peacemaking, Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping', third talk: Dr Jochen Prantl, Oxford University, reflects on a lack of effective learning from peacebuilding experience. This paper highlights the structural impediments to effective coordination and learning in peacebuilding. While the post Cold-War security environment fostered the merger of the security and development agendas and seemed to call for stronger...

Breakout session on 'The Role of International and regional Organizations in Peacemaking, Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping,' second talk: Professor Neil MacFarlane, Lester Pearson Professor of International Relations, Oxford University.

Breakout session on 'The Role of International and Regional Organizations in Peacemaking, Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping’, first talk: Miles Tendi, D.Phil. candidate, Dept of Overseas Development, Oxford University.

Breakout session on 'The Study of Peace in Schools and Higher Education’, third talk: Professor Mary King, Fellow, Rothermere Institute, Oxford University.

Breakout session on 'The Study of Peace in Schools and Higher Education’, second talk: Dr Neil Ferguson, Director, Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies, Associate Professor of Political Psychology, Liverpool Hope University.

Professor David Johnson, Dept of Comparative Education, Oxford University, on 'Constructing the defences of peace in the "minds of man."' On improving peace education curricula in schools in conflict-affected countries. This paper will examine how the study of peace is pursued in schools in conflict affected countries. It argues that existing curricula on peace education are limited and proposes that if it is 'in the minds of man' that the constructs of war exist, there is need for a more...

Breakout session on 'Religion, Peace and Conflict'. Third talk, Imam Monawar Hussein, Eton College and Central Oxford Mosque, on 'Sources for Peacebuilding in Islam.' My talk will revolve around exploring what the primary sources of Islam - the Qur'an and Hadith, have to say about peacemaking and peacebuilding but I shall also seek to draw on specific examples from the 'sirah' literature on the life of the Prophet. Can we extrapolate certain principles from the life of the Prophet that...

Breakout session on 'Religion, Peace and Conflict.' Second talk: Dr David Tombs, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Dublin. on 'Christianity, Peace and Conflict in Northern Ireland'. The role of religion in 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland has been a topic of considerable debate. Differences over religion were not themselves a direct cause of 'the Troubles', and on one level the Christian churches have consistently opposed violence. Nonetheless, at another level, Northern Ireland's...

Breakout session on 'Religion, Peace and Conflict.' First talk: Carlo Aldrovandi, Ph.D. candidate, Peace Studies, Univ. of Bradford, on 'Forcing the End Times: US Christian Zionism and Israel'. US Christian Zionism may be characterized as a theo-political movement stemming from American Conservative Evangelicalism, which advocates that at the end of the time Christ will come to rule the world for thousand years before the Last Judgment and that He will do so centred on Greater Israel and...

Dr Anke Hoeffler, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, gives the second plenary address. She speaks from her work with Professor Paul Collier on the need of the poorest countries for assistance both with development and with structural security, and how to provide both in an acceptable and effective manner.

Professor Scott Appleby, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame Professor Scott Appleby, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, gives a plenary address on 'Strategic Peacebuilding for the 21st Century', and the Kroc Institute's aim of designing peace studies to form 'strategic peacebuilders'. At its core, peacebuilding nurtures constructive human relationships. To be relevant it must do so strategically, at every level of...

At the morning plenary, Saturday 2 May, Revd Dr Liz Carmichael MBE (Oxford University, Theology) introduces the Conference.