The Overlooked Contributors to Climate and Biodiversity Crises: Military Operations and Wars.

The military-industrial complex, military operations, and wars are major contributors to exacerbating both climate change and biodiversity crises. However, their environmental impacts are often shadowed due to national security reasons. The current paper aims to go through the devastating impacts of military operations and wars on climate change and biodiversity loss and challenges that hinder the inclusion of military-related activities into environmental crisis mitigation efforts. The information blind spot induced by concerns about national security reasons jeopardizes the efforts to involve the military-industrial complex and military operations in the global climate and biodiversity agendas. Besides that, many military-related challenges, such as specificity of operational requirements and lifecycles, dependence on fossil fuels, complex supply change, inadequate civilian technologies and innovations, and requirements of structural changes, can hinder emission reduction. Meanwhile, wars and conflicts not only threaten to drain all human and material resources available to tackle environmental problems but also inflict long-lasting destructions, pains, and trauma that can lead to hatred and distrust among nations and parties. With the rising hatred and distrust, global agreement and commitment to address climate change and biodiversity will hardly be achieved. Thus, promoting peace is the humanistic and planetary conscience.

Peace-Oriented Mindset and How to Measure it.

This article presents the concept of a Peace-Oriented Mindset (POM), based on peace psychology and the significance of conflict-related context. It highlights the role of preventing conflicts through creating an enabling and peace-supportive milieu, facilitated by individuals with specific peace-oriented capabilities. The phenomenon of POM is analyzed, as well as delineated in the context of the current knowledge in this field. Next, the method used to construct a questionnaire measuring the POM is presented. The POM scale is verified on an N = 1074 representative sample, documenting high reliability. Factor analysis confirms the conjecture that there are three dimensions of the POM: Cognitive, performative, and doability conviction. Moreover, social norms are documented. A cross-segment comparison delivers several insights, e.g., that women have a higher POM level than men and that those who consider themselves leaders or innovators and those who are involved in social activities have a higher POM level than those who do not. The POM concept and scale are valuable resources for identifying future peacebuilders, especially from conflicted communities, as well as for training future youth leaders in the field of peacebuilding. Finally, indications for future studies are discussed, e.g., for verifying the hypothesis that individuals who score high in POM also have higher levels of empathy and compassion.

Restarting Track II Diplomacy in Intractable Conflicts: How Psychoanalytic Concepts May Be Relevant.

Since the 1980s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and diplomats have proposed psychoanalytic theories to inform peacemaking in international relations through Track II negotiations, defined as unofficial meetings among influential stakeholders with access to government policymakers. These contributions have focused on initiating or maintaining Track II negotiations (Aggarwal et al., 2023). In this article, we apply psychoanalytic concepts to the problem of restarting negotiations that have previously failed. This study introduces theories based on a dialogue that a cultural psychiatrist trained in South Asian Studies moderated with the past directors of India's and Pakistan's foreign intelligence agencies to consider how both countries could recommence negotiations. The two former directors have participated together in five Track II initiatives between India and Pakistan. All three authors reviewed best practices for addressing impediments to Track II negotiations and how Track II negotiations may be reinstituted once stalled. We did this in a far-reaching discussion devoted to the psychology of peacemaking. We introduce the theories of trust as interpersonal authenticity, the normalization of conflicts, the back channel as a process to work through diplomatic resistance, and negotiator selection criteria. Our theories and method present new ways to apply psychoanalytic concepts to diplomacy.

Germany's Approach to Resolving the Conflict in Mali.

In this century the nature of many conflicts has changed: instead of common interstate feuds, the world has faced intrastate conflicts but with an international background. The active participation of nonstate actors in modern conflicts has made them much less manageable and their resolution much more complicated, including the efforts undertaken by international intermediaries. In the middle and the second half of the 2010s, the countries of the West, first of all, France and Germany, focused enormous efforts on resolving an armed conflict in the Republic of Mali. At first glimpse, these efforts contradict the uprising of Mali's military in August 2020 which removed from power the national civil government headed by the incoming president. The questions raised in this article concern what new elements appeared in the course of relaunching the peace settlement in Mali in 2020 and to what extent nonstandard practices meet the interests of the members of the Euroatlantic Community represented by Germany. This country is chosen as an example due to the long-term trend for the growth of its influence in Africa and the World in general.

O setor de esporte para o desenvolvimento e a paz: um modelo sociológico de agências pacificadoras / The sport, development and peace sector: a sociological model of peacemaking agencies / El sector del deporte para el desarrollo y la paz: un modelo sociológico de lasagencias de mantenimiento de la paz

Recentemente, uma ampla variedade de organizações (notadamente a ONU e organizações não governamentais) tem usado o esporte como uma ferramenta de intervenção para a pacificação. Este artigo examina e teoriza sobre essas iniciativas através da expansão do setor de “esporte para o desenvolvimento e a paz” (EDP). Para iniciar, foram localizados projetos de EDP dentro de seus contextos históricos, como elementos significativos dentro da “sociedade civil global” emergente. Posteriormente, delimitou-se três modelos de tipos ­ideais de projetos em EDP: “técnico”, “dialógico” e “crítico”. Cada modelo é examinado através de um conjunto comum de heurísticas sociais, tais como seus objetivos centrais e métodos paradigmáticos. O modelo pode ser empregado para analisar outros campos de pacificação e desenvolvimento. Os dois primeiros modelos são mais influentes entre os projetos de EDP existentes; os benefícios potenciais do modelo “crítico” são também delineados.

In recent years, a wide variety of organizations (notably the UN and nongovernmental organizations) have used sport as an interventionist tool to nurture peacemaking across divided communities. This paper examines and theorizes these peacemaking initiatives across the expanding ‘sport, development and peace’(SDP) sector. I begin by locating SDP projects within their historical contexts, and as significant elements within the emerging ‘global civil society’. I then set out three ideal­type models of SDP project; namely, the ‘technical’, ‘dialogical’, and ‘critical’. Each model is examined through a set of common social heuristics, such as its core objectives and paradigmatic methods. The models may be employed to analyse other peacemaking and development fields. The first two models are most influential among existing SDP projects; the potential benefits of the ‘critical’ model are also outlined.

Recientemente, una gran variedad de organizaciones (en particular las Naciones Unidas y organizaciones no­gubernamentales) han utilizado el deporte como herra­ mienta de intervención para la pacificación. Este artículo analiza y teoriza estas ini­ciativas a través de la expansión del sector de “deporte para el desarrollo y la paz” (DDP). Empiezo por la localización de los proyectos de procesamiento electrónico de datos dentro de sus contextos históricos como elementos importantes dentro dela “sociedad civil global” emergente. Entonces delimitar tres modelos de los tipos ideales de los proyectos en DDP: “técnico”, “dialógico” y “crítico”. Cada modelo se examina a través de un conjunto común de heurísticas sociales, tales como sus objetivos fundamentales y los métodos de paradigma. El modelo puede ser utiliza­ do para analizar otros campos de la paz y el desarrollo. Los dos primeros modelos son algunos de los diseños más influyentes. Los beneficios potenciales del modelo“crítico” también se encuentran delimitados.