Sociologist Elise Boulding offers a collection of essays that emphasize her study of civil society during the second half of the 20th century. She revisits her theme of connection among family, community and government, offering perspectives and advice on how to fuel the process of peace.

In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer recounts the political and military changes that have occurred in Russia up to mid-2010. Using hundreds of interviews she conducted with officials, dissidents, and liberal intellectuals, she describes the various groups, forces, and individuals that worked to liberalize the totalitarian Soviet Union and its fellow nations behind the Iron Curtain, and which ultimately brought about the dissolution of those repressive governments. Spencer identifies four political orientations to describe Soviet society: 'Sheep,' ordinary citizens who accepted the undemocratic regime they lived in without challenging it; 'Dinosaurs,' hard-line Communist officials; 'Termites,' including Mikhail Gorbachev and his advisers and government; and 'Barking Dogs,' a few hundred dissidents who made 'a lot of noise' protesting, hoping to awaken a grass-roots demand for democracy. The strange rivalry between the Termites and Barking Dogs would ultimately doom perestroika. Spencer's research dispels the widely-held perception that US President Ronald Reagan 'won' the Cold War by standing firm until the Soviet Union 'blinked first.' There are vitally important lessons to be learned from the Soviet period, about how to assist citizens of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world. The irony is that transnational civil society organizations, major sources of the progress in Soviet Russia, are still needed today in authoritarian Russia, under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, for totalitarianism remains a potential social trap. In The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy, Metta Spencer suggests new ways of building urgently-needed social capital in today's Russia, where democracy has yet to flourish.

In recent years there has been a tendency to intervene in the military, political and economic affairs of failed and failing states and those emerging from violent conflict. In many cases this has been accompanied by some form of international judicial intervention to address serious and widespread abuses of international humanitarian law and human rights in recognition of an explicit link between peace and justice. A range of judicial and non-judicial approaches has been adopted in recognition of the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all model through which to seek accountability. This book considers the merits and drawbacks of these different responses and sets out an original framework for analysing transitional societies and transitional justice mechanisms. Taking as its starting point the post-Second World War tribunals at Nuremburg and Tokyo, the book goes on to discuss the creation of ad hoc international tribunals in the 1990s, hybrid/mixed courts, the International Criminal Court, domestic trials, truth commissions and traditional justice mechanisms. With examples drawn from across the world, including the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the DRC, it presents a compelling and comprehensive study of the key responses to war crimes. Peace and Justice is a timely contribution in a world where an ever-increasing number of post-conflict societies are grappling with the complex issues of transitional justice. It will be a valuable resource for students, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers seeking to understand past violations of human rights and the most effective ways of addressing them.

We typically define and talk about wars using the language of politics, but what happens when you bring in a doctor’s perspective on conflict? Can war be diagnosed like an illness? Can health professionals participate in its mitigation and prevention? The contributors to Peace through Health: How Health Professionals Can Work for a Less Violent World engage with these ground-breaking ideas and describe tools that can further peace once war is understood as a public health problem. The idea of working for peace through the health sector has sparked many innovative programs, described here by over 30 experts familiar with the theory and practice of Peace through Health. They cover topics such as prevention and therapy, program evaluations, medical ethics, activism, medical journals, human rights, and the uses of epidemiology. Those considering careers in medicine and other health and humanitarian disciplines as well as those concerned about the growing presence of militarized violence in the world will value the book’s many insights Other Contributors: Will Boyce, Caecilie Buhmann, Anne BundeBirouste, Kenneth Bush, Helen Caldicott, Rob Chase, Khagendra Dahal, Hamit Dardagan, Ann Duggan, Lowell Ewert, Paul Farmer, Norbert Goldfield, Paula Gutlove, Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, Maria Kett, John Last, Barry S. Levy, Tarek Loubani, Evan Lyon, Graeme MacQueen, Ian Maddocks, Ambrogio Manenti, Klaus Melf, Viet Nguyen-Gillham, Wendy Orr, Andrew D. Pinto, Alex Rosen, Simon Rushton, Hana Saab, Victor W. Sidel, Sonal Singh, John Sloboda, Karen Trollope-Kumar, Marshall Wallace, Jim Yong Kim, Anthony Zwi.

When the field of Canadian history underwent major shifts in the 1990s, international history became marginalized and the focus turned away from foreign affairs. Over the past decade, however, the study of Canada and the world has been revitalized. Undiplomatic History charts these changes, bringing together leading and emerging historians of Canadian international and transnational relations to take stock of recent developments and to outline the course of future research. Following global trends in the wider historiography, contributors explore new lenses of historical analysis – such as race, gender, political economy, identity, religion, and the environment – and emphasize the relevance of non-state actors, including scientists, athletes, students, and activists. The essays in this volume challenge old ways of thinking and showcase how an exciting new generation of historians are asking novel questions about Canadians' interactions with people and places beyond the country's borders. From human rights to the environment, and from medical internationalism to transnational feminism, Undiplomatic History maps out a path toward a vibrant and inclusive understanding of what constitutes Canadian foreign policy in an age of global connectivity.

Routledge Library Editions: Peace Studies (12 Volume set) contains titles, originally published between 1928 and 1985. Looking at peace movements and the people involved in them around the world, who seek to learn lessons from war and find solutions to a peaceful existence. It includes titles from a number of well-known pacifists, both pre- and post-war who have influenced ideas and policy throughout the twentieth century.

This book contributes to the increasingly important issue of how Buddhists should respond to war, violence and the injustices of the world. The collection of essays in this volume is the most comprehensive on the theme of peace and justice in Buddhist contexts to date. The distinguished contributors equally represent the two major Buddhist traditions, Theravada and Mahayana, and investigate the subject from the rich array of expertise in Buddhist theories and practices. The book is intended for social scientists, peace activists, Buddhist scholars, engaged Buddhists and all people concerned about social conditions. Readers will find this Buddhist wisdom on peace and justice may broaden their understanding of the relationship of self to other. The contributors hope these uplifting messages will lead to the discovery of ways of brining about happiness in this world of conflict and injustice. (

The essays collected in The Peace of Nature and the Nature of Peace consider connections between ecology, environmental ethics, nonviolence, and philosophy of peace. Edited by Andrew Fiala, this book includes essays written by important scholars in the field of peace studies, pacifism, and nonviolence, including Michael Allen Fox, Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, Bill Gay, and others. Topics include: ecological consciousness and nonviolence, environmental activism and peace activism, the environmental impact of militarism, native and indigenous peoples and peace, food ethics and nonviolence, and other topics. The book should be of interest to scholars, students, and activists who are interested in the relationship between peace movements and environmentalism.

Historians, veterans, museums, and public education campaigns have all documented and commemorated the experience of Canadians in times of war. But Canada also has a long, rich, and important historical tradition of resistance to both war and militarization. This collection brings together the work of sixteen scholars on the history of war resistance. Together they explore resistance to specific wars (including the South African War, the First and Second World Wars, and Vietnam), the ideology and nature of resistance (national, ethical, political, spiritual), and organized activism against militarization (such as cadet training, the Cold War, and nuclear arms). As the federal government continues to support the commemoration and celebration of Canada’s participation in past wars, this collection offers a timely response that explores the complexity of Canada’s position in times of war and the role of social movements in challenging the militarization of Canadian society.