Essential to the momentum of the City of Peace movement are those whose support keeps aloft the wings of peace in our journey toward practical, sustainable Global Peace. The Jubitz Family Foundation is a major grantor of International Cities of Peace. The Foundation focuses on communities “in which we live by strengthening families, by respecting the natural environment, and by fostering peace.”
One of the flagship initiatives of the Jubitz nonprofit organizations is the War Prevention Initiative, which produces the Peace and Conflict Studies Journals. Peace Science Digest is a publication dedicated to creating awareness about the contributions peace research can make to prevent war and violence.
Vision: A world beyond war where humanity is united and a global system of peace and justice prevails for current and future generations.
Our thanks to members of the Jubitz Family Foundation, friend of Peace and Rotarian Al Jubits, and Director Patrick Hiller.
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After more than a decade of working toward our vision, it become clear to us that our organic organizational growth and strategic planning took place without considering our visual identity. To address this, we took steps to reimagine our outward face by creating a new website and logo.
RESEARCH FEATURED: Pospisil, J. (2022). Dissolving conflict. Local peace agreements and armed conflict transitions. Peacebuilding, 10(2), 122-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2022.2032945
Talking Points:
Armed conflict and peacemaking are best understood not in terms of a hierarchical relationship between local and national levels but instead as a “mesh” of different “conflictscapes.”
Examining local peace agreements on their own terms highlights how they can help dissolve armed conflict and address everyday security and well-being concerns of affected populations.
Although local peace agreements do not address the substantive issues at the center of the national-level armed conflict, they can actually have “more relevance and tangible impact” for affected populations, especially regarding everyday security.
Local peace agreements have diverse aims and fulfill three kinds of functions: “Connecting and strategising” (on the part of warring parties trying to gain advantage), “managing and mitigating” (to minimize the harmful effects of armed conflict), and “disconnecting” (“to end the armed conflict in a specific area”).
Local peace agreements can help dissolve armed conflict in two main ways: first, by modeling a different logic, showing that “non-violent forms of conflict management” are possible, even amid ongoing armed conflict, and, second, by undermining the conditions necessary for armed conflict and providing concrete improvements to everyday security and livelihoods.
Key Insight for Informing Practice:
Recognizing the distinctive value of local peace agreements and broadening our perspective in peace efforts beyond “resolution” to “dissolution” highlights the role of ordinary people and gives us more tools to address armed conflict. It reminds us that we can all work to stop armed conflicts by taking away what they need to continue, like military equipment, willing fighters, and militarist thinking.
For further reading on local peacemaking efforts and ceasefires:
Read this article on what local peace agreements can tell us about armed groups and conflict fragmentation, posted by University of Edinburgh’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Check out this piece by Saad Yaziji on humanitarian organizations calling for ceasefires in Deir ez-Zor, Syria.
View this blog post by Marika Sosnowski titled, “Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and Statebuilding in Syria.”
Read this multiorganizational report on the successes and pitfalls of local truces and ceasefires in Syria.
Look through this piece by UN Women on how Syrian women navigate security risks to mediate local conflicts.
Read this news feature titled, “In a Flashpoint South Sudanese Town, Women Peacemakers Try to Bridge the Divide,” by The New Humanitarian.
As you will notice on our website, our content is organized around our two key areas of focus: Demilitarizing Security and Managing Conflict Without Violence. Moreover, we fully integrated one of our core outputs, the Peace Science Digest, into the overall WPI website. We hope this adds clarity to our focus and invites our visitors to be partners and collaborators as we are working toward peace with justice.
Rooms That Honor, Rooms That Share is a great opportunity to create the infrastructure of peace though the good work of support Please get in touch with the Director today.
NOTE: The views of our major donors are the personal views of the honorees and not, necessarily, the views of International Cities of Peace, the Board or volunteers. We simply honor their generosity and work for peace by providing this Room of Honor. For more information:
How we create a community culture of peace is evolving. Peace building is more effective at the community level where needs are known and solutions come from collaboration and cooperation between all sectors of society: the arts, education, environment, business, safety and security, recreation, faith-based, service, wellness, and government. Read more by clicking on logo below:
