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This edited volume summarizes and expands upon the important work of a research group, Social Bonds and Cultures of Peace, that accompanies and supports victims of socio-political violence in Columbia. Grounding the volume is an introductory overview of Colombian political violence in the recent past, as well as an exploration of the role of peace psychology in conflict situations and in the broader content of the field of psychology. The following chapters, written by active peace psychologists and researchers based in Colombia, focus on ongoing violence in the Colombian context, a complex and dynamic area in which various groups (drug traffickers, national armed forces, guerrilla fighters, self-defence groups) have been engaged in organized violence for more than 60 years. Psychosocial Approaches to Peace-Building in Colombia explores the psychological dynamics of both the victims and perpetrators of conflict. Central to the volume is the notion of "accompanying" those who have been victims of violence, listening to them, engaging them in dialogue, and working together to strengthen the resources of victims. The recovery of individual and collective memories of atrocities is discussed as an important avenue for healing and for the empowerment of individuals and groups. The solidarity among victims creates opportunities at the grassroots level to pursue truth, reveal perpetrators of violence, seek public acknowledgment and attain social justice. For perpetrators of violence and members of armed groups, the book addresses a host of psychosocial issues related to disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating former combatants, including children, into society. Throughout the book, in the spirit of peace psychology, the researchers are engaged in a form of praxis that is cognizant of the wider geohistorical context within which victims and perpetrators are embedded and the dialectical relationship between micro and macro-level events and change. This volume is an excellent resource for researchers and scholars in Latin American studies, peace psychology, social and clinical psychology, social justice, and transitional justice, and all those committed to ending and healing from conflict situations around the world

Recent attention has focused on the difficulties of establishing 'coherence' between humanitarian relief aid in complex emergencies and the objective of ending violent conflict. This paper introduces a parallel problem: absence of total synergy between making peace and building democracy. A widely held assumption in the international community is that in post-conflict situations peace-building and democratization are virtually synonymous; creating the conditions for the one does so for both, the two processes will be reciprocal and mutually supportive. This suggests the policy issues will be simple. But the reality could be very different. Choices have to be addressed between requisites for peace and conditions for democracy; over the different implications for peace of competing designs for democracy; and over the kind of 'democracy' and its relation to other essential developments like state-building Institutional crafting is important; but matters concerning civil society and political culture must be addressed too. Governance and welfare considerations will bear on both peace and democracy but not necessarily in identical ways. There are temporal choices to address as well; the order of passage from peace to stable democracy may be as significant as the rites of passage. The belief that the well-known theory of a democratic peace in international relations has its complement in a democratic domestic peace looks plausible, but 'getting there' after conflict will be challenging. Issues of strategy and policy are most problematic where peace, prosperity and democracy have all been deficient—a situation common to many societies. – democratization ; conflict ; democratic domestic peace

In this paper, we described conflict is an unavoidable component of human activity. It is a normal daily occurrence. When it happens the next thing is resolution of conflict. Studies have shown that women are often exonerated when it comes to building peace and resolution of conflict. Given the second-class status of women in Africa, their skills and contributions are often under-valued and under-utilized. It this situation of women that lead the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 1325 reaffirmed the important role of women in peace building and resolution of conflicts and called for "their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and securityâ€. This paper draws upon known capacity of traditional Africa women in peace and resolution of conflict to better understand the implications of SCR1325, and proof that African women deserve to be included in peace building and resolution of conflict in Africa.Â