Browsing by Subject "peace"

Peace has always been a pivotal issue in the core of humankind’s thoughts throughout centuries; prophets, great thinkers, poets and elites have expressed their concern, vision and ideas of peace. Major world religions have teachings for peace. As one of the new religious movements of the world, Baha’i Faith has placed peace in the focus of its teaching. There have also been academic and intellectual efforts to define peace and to present plans for making peace like the works of Johan Galtung, the founder of the peace and conflict studies. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the peace plan of Baha’i Faith with Johan Galtung’s peace theory and explore their possible crucial differences and similarities (commonalities). In Galtung’s book, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, the first chapter is peace theory which is used to explore Baha’i teachings on peace in Baha’i primary sources like writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of Baha’i Faith, Abdu’l-Bahá' (first successor), Shoghi Effendi (Guardian and appointed head of the Faith) and Universal House of Justice (supreme ruling body) publications. Secondary Baha’i sources are also studied which are articles, papers and books written about Baha’i Faith. The method of comparative analysis used in this study is lens comparison in which we explore A (Galtung’s Peace Theory) less than B (Baha’i Faith peace plan), we use A as a lens through which to view B. The text A is used as a framework to understand and compare with text B. Galtung’s peace theory is an umbrella under which Baha’i teachings are studied. The idea of peace and the approach toward this idea is in the center of this comparison. During this process, the differences and commonalities of A and B are listed and analyzed in three realms, i.e. in relation to peace and gender, peace and democracy and peace and inter-state systems. After every point by point comparison chapter, all common and different features of A and B are observed, listed and analyzed to verify to what degree they are similar with or differ from each other. In this way, it is possible to see the level of proximity and remoteness of two sources and to verify how much they converge or diverge. The thesis reveals in which areas of peace-building ideas, Galtung and Baha’i Faith have common approaches and in which areas they have different standpoints, i.e. this paper disclosed, on gender and peace, both approaches have high level of proximity and convergence.

Youth are increasingly seen as valuable actors and partners in preventing violent extremism, and the notion of youth as a problematic and dangerous at-risk group has been challenged. This research explores the ways in which youth are engaged in the prevention of violent extremism and work to advance and sustain peace in the context of Finland. Nine young, active actors were interviewed who have taken part in the prevention of violent extremism in various ways. The interviewees represent a diverse group of Finnish youth who have a positive impact on their communities and society. In addition, two expert interviews were conducted with representatives from the Ministry of Interior and the National Police Board of Finland. The thematic interviews have been analyzed by using the method of qualitative content analysis. The interviewees have engaged in youth to youth civil society activity as well as they have taken part in the policy-making processes and cooperated with officials and practitioners in the local, national and EU level. This research found that the activity of youth-led organization is dynamic, and their work is guided by the wants and needs of the youth themselves. The work that the interviewed youth do is nuanced and has multiple goals. Only a part of the work aims to prevent violent extremism while the majority of activity has a wider set of goals, such as improving the well-being of the youth and strengthening identity & a sense of belonging. This research also raises the point whether the term ‘preventing violent extremism’ is problematic since it might be perceived to be stigmatizing and it frames the work in negative terms. This research also sheds light on both internal and external factors that encourage and enable the youth to act. Youth were motivated to act because of their willingness to change something in their community or society. The support, opportunities and encouragement from other actors played a significant role in youth recognizing and strengthening their capacity. In order to build an environment of peace where violent extremism does not thrive, there is a need to encourage dialogue within and between groups of people, empower youth to active citizenship, strengthen inclusivity and to increase the awareness of youth on ways to influence society. The value of human rights-based civil society work for peace and well-being should be recognized and it should be supported.