Civil Society, Peace, and Power

David Cortright

Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute

Melanie Greenberg

President and CEO, Alliance for Peacebuilding

Peter van Tuijl

Senior Advisor, Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls

Executive Director and cofounder, FemLINKPACIFIC

Darynell Rodriguez Torres

Program Manager for Policy and Advocacy, GPPAC

Laurel Stone

Program Manager of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute

Civil society plays an increasingly powerful role in the global landscape. It has emerged as a key actor in preventing and managing conflicts and building more peaceful and sustainable societies. The panelists are all authors of the new book Civil Society, Peace, and Power published by Rowman & Littlefield (October 2016). Together, they will discuss their involvement in working on peacebuilding policy in national, regional, and international levels. The experiences of these peacebuilders illustrates how the involvement of civil society can result in better informed, more inclusive, more accountable government decision making and more effective peacebuilding policies.

The focus of the edited volume is on multi-stakeholder, systems-based approaches to peacebuilding and human security that involve diverse civil society groups (NGOs, religious organizations, media, etc.), government agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and security forces. This unique comprehensive approach encompasses diverse stakeholders seeking to understand the drivers of conflict and the possibilities for working together to build peace. Importantly, a number of the case studies provide a gender perspective on peacebuilding and civil society issues, voicing and giving attention to women’s perspectives without being focused only on gender issues. Further, authors from the Global South offer the perspectives of those directly immersed in ongoing struggles for justice and peace.

Free and open to public