Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Terminology

Penalties threatened or imposed by a government, institution, organization, or group on a targeted party for actual or anticipated failure to act in accordance with standards, obligations, or expectations.

Hindi word that describes the principles of Truth and Love as the forces of power and change. Also mean ‘firmness in Truth’, or a ‘relentless search for Truth’,

Offering an adversary an alternative course of action which spares him or her embarrassment.

Traditionally, security has meant freedom from military attack and has been synonymous with national security. In addition, a state could enter into alliances that provided collective security.

Include a limited number of groups that hold the responsibility to protect public order and security, and the power to arrest, detain, search, seize and use force and firearms.

According to the United Nations, is “a broad term used to describe the structures, institutions and personnel responsible for the management, provision and oversight of security in a country.”

The flip side/reverse of a boycott. Making a point of purchasing a product or service from a company that supports justice.

A form of gender-based violence.

Tactic of nonviolence in which protesters sit down at the site of an injustice and refuse to move for a specified period of time or until goals are achieved.

The notion/idea that individuals and nation-states tacitly agree to a set of mutually binding stipulations and obligations.

Social media is computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, documents, videos, and photos. Users engage with social media via computer, tablet, or smartphone via web-based software or web application, often utilizing it for messaging (www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-media.asp).

A situation in which basic human needs are met and people are able to coexist peacefully in communities with opportunities for advancement.

The origins or loci of political power: legitimacy, human resources, skills and knowledge, material resources, intangible factors, and sanctions.

Individual or a group that has a “stake” or an interest in some issue or process.

The activity, process, or plan to attain desired objectives or goals as efficiently as possible, usually in the face of or in competition with others who are developing and implementing similar activities.

Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure, and pressure turns into stress when you feel unable to cope. 

Organized withholding of labor to correct injustice.

Embedded social and political hierarchies—enacted most often by societies and their institutions—that impose conditions which place people at high risk for negative consequences, such as unemployment, malnutrition, mental illness, suicide, crime, disease, and ill health.

Requires the deep institutionalization of participatory processes providing civil and political rights to all peoples. The building blocks of sustainable peace and security are well-functioning local, state, regional and international systems of governance, which are responsive to basic human needs. It designates Positive Peace over the long-term.