Protracted social conflicts, as those in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, are based on deep rooted perceptions of identity and definitions of "the other". According to the theory of discursive conflict transformation, war is primarily a social phenomenon, which is legitimated by a discourse of identity defined in terms of exclusionist boundaries and structural ideas of the social relations in society. In order to develop Positive peace, the discourse of violence has to be challenged and the discursive structures that enable war have to transform into a counterdiscourse of inclusion and individuality. For the purpose of making a critical peace analysis, I have, with the assistance of established conflict theories, analysed the basic ideas behind the the Annan Plan and the Belfast Agreement and thus been able to interpret to what extent they may foster Positive peace. I argue, that in order to provide basic needs on a group basis, power sharing arrangement, based on ethnicity or religion, exacerbates division rather than ameliorating it.

The aim of the study is to examine what upper secondary school students think that they themselves and their school can do to create a peaceful society. The study combine qualitative and quantitative methods based on questionnaires distributed among 328 students in three high schools in Sweden. The survey is a combination of multiple choice and open questions. For the analysis of quantitative responses the computer program SPSS was used producing frequency tables and response rate schemes. To analyze the questionnaire's qualitative part a narrative analysis method was used.

The world is yet to experience world peace, a peace that is hindered by ongoing conflicts that escalate into wars around the globe. Therefore, peace can only be possible if conflicts are restricted and resolved to prohibit war, creating and maintaining peace. This study will be constructed around this assumption, but will include a moral variable and answer: is there a moral conflict-solving road to peace?The study will be directed around appeasement, economic sanctions and war as conflict resolving agents for peace. I will construct a typology with common features by using empirical material; a topology that will then be analyzed using two opposing ethical theories, consequentialism and common morality.The analysis will be constructed around the above mentioned question.

Peace operations are considered to be hard to solve but Sierra Leone is by many thought to be a success despite major problems during the operations. Solving this conflict involved several dif-ferent actors which all contributed to the creating of peace. The purpose of this essay is to examine whether similarities between the way the conflict in Sierra Leone was solved and the method that Galula presents led to the positive outcome. This will be done by a qualitative textual analysis to demonstrate presence and absence of those parts that Galula claim are crucial to counter an insur-gency. Similarities between the method used at the solving of the conflict in Sierra Leone and Galulas method for counterinsurgency can be found.

The aim of this paper is to examine if the two latest Peace Plans in the Palestine-Israeli con-flict observes the sources of the conflict and presents measures in the purpose of solving them. The point of departure is William Azar?s theory of protracted social conflict (PSC). According to Azar, the internal sources of a PSC lies in three clusters of variables: the com-munal content of a society, the deprivation of human needs as an underlying source of PSC, and the role of the state in the deprivation or satisfaction of human needs. The study is de-signed as a multiple-case study where the units of analysis are the Roadmap to Peace and the Geneva Initiative.

The response to many on-going or emerging conflicts since the beginning of the 21st century has been different forms of multinational complex peace operations. Civil-military relations are a commonly studied field that traditionally has its focus on nations. This study intends, in the context of organisations, to test the correlation between a civil-military approach and outcome in complex peace operations. A hypothesis has been deduced from researcher Robert Egnell?s theory on complex peace operations, that states that: UN peace operations with an integrated civil-military approach are more successful in achieving their goals than peace operations with a divided approach.

A lot has been written about Nobel and Nobel Prize winners. In literature it is common to describe patterns or trends in Nobel?s peace prize rewards. One aim with my study is to examine if the same is possible to distinguish in how the authors of textbooks have written about Nobel?s peace prize.

The response to many on-going or emerging conflicts since the beginning of the 21st century has been different forms of multinational complex peace operations. Civil-military relations are a commonly studied field that traditionally has its focus on nations. This study intends, in the context of organisations, to test the correlation between a civil-military approach and outcome in complex peace operations. A hypothesis has been deduced from researcher Robert Egnell?s theory on complex peace operations, that states that: UN peace operations with an integrated civil-military approach are more successful in achieving their goals than peace operations with a divided approach.

Participating in peace support operations has been and remains a significant part of the Swedish defense and security politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the Swedish national defence has been more and more dismantled, in favor of international peace support operations which have become an increasingly important task for the Swedish defence. Why then, is Sweden so engaged in conflicts so far from home? Using two classic theories of international politics, realism and liberalism, this study aims to shed light on arguments from the Swedish parliament on why it is important for Sweden to participate in international peace support operations. After analyzing arguments of the Social Democrat Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party concerning three different peace support operations which Sweden has participated in, the result shows that although both realism and liberalism are influencing the parties? argumentation, liberalism is the theory which is used more often.

The consociational democracy model in Macedonia, which came out from a warcrisis and a peace agreement from 2001, in addition, putting an end to the violent conflict, actually admits the division of the society along the ethnic lines. Paradoxically, there is an attempt to bridge the ethnic gap with this model. As a result, the consociational democracy model holds solutions that can be abused if somebody misuses its power and desires to disintegrate the country. The future development depends therefore on the moderate attitude of the citizens, and first and foremost, on the political elites and their commitment to the values of democracy and human rights instead of their nationalistic goals. Furthermore, thepresent democratic consolidation in Macedonia is established on the execution of the peace agreement and the improved effectiveness of the institutions.

AbstractTitle: The war in Afghanistan ? a necessary evil? (Kriget i Afghanistan ? ett nödvändigt ont? En kritisk diskursanalys av New York Times ställningstagande till och framing av kriget i Afghanistan)Number of pages: 41 (41 including enclosures)Authors: Jenny Häggmark, Madeleine JanssonTutor: Christian ChristensenCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall term 2011University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/aim: Our main goal with this paper is to examine and describe how The New York Times have framed the war in Afghanistan in their editorials, and how their position on the war is reflected in the editorials. We are also interested in finding out if their position on the war has changed during the ten years of war. Are the New York Times editorials characterized by peace or war journalism?Material/Method: To fulfill our aim with this paper we are going to use a qualitative method of content analyzes, the critical discourse analysis, when we analyze the editorials selected.

Vi har gjort en utvärdering av FN:s insatser i Kongo 1960-1964. Vi har analyseratutifrån en konflikthanteringsmodell som vi har hämtat ur Contemporary ConflictResolution av bland annat Oliver Ramsbotham. I denna modell är peacekeepingoch peace enforcement centrala inslag. Med dessa begrepp åsyftas fredsbevaranderespektive fredsframtvingande åtgärder för att nå fred eller förhindra krig.Resultatet av vår analys är att delar av insatsen var framgångsrik, däriblandpeace enforcement. Långsiktliga åtgärder för fred saknades dock, vilket ledde tillatt våldsamheterna åter tilläts blossa upp när FN lämnade landet.Resultatet av vårt arbete kan användas för att visa på att peace enforcementhar använts och kan vara en framgångsrik metod för FN i framtida situationer..

Ukraine shares a long history with Russia. In the early 21th century, Ukrainians wanted a freer Ukraine. Therefore the orange revolution started in 2004 by the Ukrainians and had a positive outcome. The situation later became worse because of the economic crisis in 2008 and a corrupt president. The pro-western politician Petro Poroshenko was elected to become president in 2014.

A great source of risk during peace processes of today comes from spoilers, individuals and groups who deliberately try to undermine every attempt to achieve a negotiated peace agreement. The aim of the thesis is to examine problems related to the management of spoilers during peace negotiations and the effects thereof. A central aspect in this respect is the dilemma of whether to include or exclude controversial actors like spoilers at negotiations.The choice of limits of the subject is to examine the peace negotiations that resulted in ?The Agreement? in 1998, concerning the conflict in Northern Ireland, and in ?DOP? in 1993, concerning the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I find a significant difference between these two conflicts regarding the way of managing spoilers.

In this essay the morphing of the interstate relations in the post-World War II Western Europe is taken in to consideration in discussing how these relations were stabilized and consolidated through community cooperation to achieve a state of stable peace. It concludes that the early 1900's of Western Europe comes close to being conditioned by Herz's security dilemma and then continues to analyze the development from this state to one of stable peace. In this analysis pivotal features of the ECSC, EEC and the EC are being scrutinized through the use of Boulding's Stable Peace theory and developments of the very same, in separate case studies, in order to account for the Communities? influence on the peace process.In doing this, conclusions are drawn that external pressures can be very effective in creating an incentive to move beyond an initial state of conflicting self-images and that a stabilizing process has got to provide a long term solution in order to sustain a trustful relationship. In order to provide this long term solution the community cooperations suggests that locking in through institutionalization, harmonization, and the creation of a state of irrevocable interdependence are highly effective..