Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Terminology

Intervention assumes one of three forms: actions by external nation-states in pursuit of policy objectives or favorable conditions to achieve those objectives (widely understood as the unprovoked interference by one nation-state in the internal affairs of another, coercive and includes an array of examples, such as military force, covert operations, dissemination of propaganda, or cultural domination); actions taken to uphold internationally accepted values or laws (humanitarian intervention); or efforts to alter the dynamics or outcomes of a process under way (third-party intervention, in which the external party attempts to either influence a party (or parties) involved in conflict engagement, conflict management, or conflict resolution or seeks to manipulate any such processes already underway.)

The problem to be resolved. The topic of the negotiation. The matter at stake in a conflict. The difficulty to be addressed.

Is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity along with the punishment of the breach of the said ethics.

Understandings of justice differ in different countries, due to cultural differences, shared history and mythology, religion, and political system.

Distributive Justice: Refers to the extent to which society's institutions ensure that benefits and burdens are distributed among society's members in ways that are fair and just or equitable.

Restorative justice: Is a way of responding to criminal behavior by balancing the needs of the community, the victims, and the offenders. Restorative justice refers to a process for resolving crime by focusing on redressing the harm done to the victims, holding offenders accountable for their actions, and, often also, engaging the community in the resolution of that conflict.

1: an adaptive process-structure of human relationships characterized by high justice and low violence 2: an infrastructure of organization or governance that responds to human conflict through nonviolent means as first and last resorts 3: a view of systems as responsive to the permanency and interdependence of relationships and change.

Lederach, J. P. (1999). The Challenge of the 21st Century. In European Centre for Conflict Prevention, From People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World (pp. 27-36). European Centre for Conflict Prevention.

A just law is created by both a majority and minority and is binding on both. An unjust law is created by a majority that is binding on the minority when the minority has no voice in creating the law. Dr. King said, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law…One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

A quality that signifies voluntary acceptance of procedures that inherently necessitates obedience, cooperation, or acquiescence. Maybe explicitly or implicitly formulated by individuals or institutions and may include laws, orders, decrees, decisions, and judgements.

In political terms, legitimacy simplifies the ability to rule and removes recourse to physical or other forms of coercion.

The power that one party has to influence the behavior of another.

Also called negative-sum outcome involves the pursuit of objectives by one or more parties that produce mutually detrimental/negative effects on all the parties in question, limiting the possibility of any of them achieving their objectives.

A large number of people walk in a group to a place of symbolic significance to protest an injustice.

Concerns itself with social constructions of what it means to be a man, with the understanding that there is no single form of masculinity.