"This book examines how civil society engages with transitional justice in Russia, demonstrating a broad range of roles civil society can undertake while operating in a restrictive political context. Based on sociolegal research, the study focuses on three types of civil society groups dealing with
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the legacies of the Soviet repression in Russia – a prominent organisation that works on recovering historical truth, the International Memorial; a parish of the Orthodox Church of Russia operating at a former mass execution and mass burial site, the Church at Butovo; and contentious groups that could hinder attempts at reckoning and promote state narratives built on the Stalinist and WWII victory myths. This book explores an often-overlooked case of Russia’s transitional justice ‘from below.’ It provides insights into how even in authoritarian contexts, civil society can adopt imaginative, piecemeal, and at times unconventional ways of seeking justice outside and in the absence of official and institutionalised transitional justice measures." (Publisher description)
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"In at least some cases, visual images can challenge normative and normalized ways of grasping the world and prompt their viewers to see differently-and even bring people together. Seeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for soci
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al justice. Ellen T. Armour examines what distinguishes digital photography from its analogue predecessor and places the circulation of digital images in the broader context of virtual visual cultures. She explores the challenges and opportunities that visually saturated social media landscapes present for users and organizers. Despite the power of digital platforms and algorithms, possibilities for disruption and resistance emerge from how people engage with these systems. Armour offers ways of seeing drawn from Christianity and found in other religious traditions to help us break with entrenched habits and rethink how we engage with the images that grab our attention. Developing theological perspectives on the power and peril of photography and technology, Seeing and Believing provides suggestions for navigating the new media landscape that can spark what Armour calls "photographic insurrection." (Publisher description)
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"This open access book brings into dialogue migration and religion scholars with spiritual leaders and representatives of faith-based organizations assisting refugees. Migration has always been part of spiritual development. The current 'refugee crisis' has brought to the fore debates regarding the
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role of religion in defining difference, linking the 'refugee crisis' with Islam, and fear of the 'Other.' Many religious leaders and politicians invoke religious values and call for strict border controls while many humanitarians use religious values to welcome and assist refugees. This book focuses on politics and discourses mobilized by religious beliefs; lived experiences of religion; and faith actors' responses to forced migration." (Publisher description)
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"In this ground-breaking volume, the authors explore two sides of religion: the ways in which it contributes to violence against women and girls (VAWG) and the ways it counters it. Recognising the very real impact of religion on the lives of women and girls, it prioritises experiences and learnings
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from empirical research and of practitioners, and their activities at grassroots-level, to better understand the nature and root causes of VAWG. Drawing on research done in Christian and Muslim communities in various fragile settings with high religiosity, this book avoids simplistically assigning blame to any one religion, instead engaging with the commonalities of how religion and religious actors influence norms and behaviours that impact VAWG. If the sustainable development goal of ending all forms of VAWG is to be achieved, how should actors in the international development sector engage with religion and religious actors? This book unpacks the nature of religion and religious actors in relation to VAWG, with the aim of giving greater clarity on how to (and how not to) engage with this crucial issue." (Publisher description)
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"This article examines how to better understand and respond to conflicts with religious dimensions in times of social upheaval. Through different lenses, we highlight the dynamism and multidimensionality of religions, and how conflict transformation scholar/practitioners need to respond. We argue fo
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r applying analytical, practical, and arts-based tools that acknowledge the lived experiences of parties, and the various ways that religion and conflict intertwine. These tools prime analysts and negotiators for imagining a wider range of intervention resources, and for de-escalating often-inflammatory media coverage. Using examples of restrictions and reactions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we demonstrate the application of an inclusive worldview approach featuring arts tools to improve interventions in conflicts with religious dimensions." (Abstract)
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"Inclusive advocacy is mindful of the impact of its goals and objectives on all members of society and ensures that those directly impacted are adequately represented. Strong and inclusive advocacy campaigns build commitment and a cohesive vision among those involved and speak with a strong and unit
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ed voice. Effective inclusive advocacy requires taking the time and investing resources into how you will reach, collaborate, and influence each of your audiences. Inclusive advocacy is critical in building relationships and credibility in order to have buy-in of the communities affected for longterm sustainability." (Page 1)
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"Kann Gerechtigkeit eine Bedingung für Vergebung und Versöhnung sein? Diese Frage wird selten gestellt, ist aber für die Frage der Friedenspolitik in Nachkriegsgebieten von großer Bedeutung. Kriege in den Ländern in Mitteleuropa wie auch in der Region der Großen Seen Afrikas haben deren sozial
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e Gefüge schwer beschädigt. Umso schwerer waren Prozesse der Vergebung und Versöhnung. Die Suche nach der Wahrheit, auch wenn sie komplex, wenn nicht illusorisch ist, scheint ein entscheidender Faktor für die Verwirklichung von Gerechtigkeit, Vergebung und Versöhnung zu sein. Diese Themen standen in vergleichender Perspektive im Mittelpunkt der Debatten und Konferenzen der Girubuntu Peace Academy (GPA); die Ergebnisse werden in diesem Band dokumentiert." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"In the emerging fields of religious and interreligious peacebuilding, the question of monitoring and evaluation is a challenging, yet necessary process. The need to develop comprehensive yet fitting evaluation models for religious and interreligious peacebuilding is not only important for donor int
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erests, but also critical as a means of documenting and learning for peacebuilders themselves. Theories and best practices in monitoring and evaluation have become prevalent in many fields, yet the amount of literature on evaluating intercultural and, especially, religious and interreligious projects remains scant in comparison. This volume offers a unique contribution that not only looks at several of the challenges and implications faced by religious and interreligious peacebuilders but also provides concrete examples of new models and tools for monitoring and evaluating religious and interreligious peacebuilding projects. In doing so, this volume serves as a tool and point of reference for individuals and organizations developing and implementing interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding projects." (Publisher description)
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"Markus A. Weingardt hat rund um den Globus Beispiele für religiöse Friedensarbeit zusammengetragen. Er beschreibt die politischen und sozialen Hintergründe schwelender, manifester oder auch überwundener Konflikte und ihre Auswirkungen, stellt die Akteure vor und beleuchtet, mit welcher Methodik
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und welchem Friedensverständnis Gewalt abgebaut werden kann. Das Buch gewinnt nicht nur durch die Verknüpfung der religiös motivierten Friedensarbeit mit dem säkularen Instrumentarium der universalen Menschenrechte. Es erinnert auch daran, dass Konflikte prinzipiell lösbar sind, sofern ihre Ursachen erkannt und wirksam bearbeitet werden." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Die Studie diskutiert das Friedenspotential nicht-abrahamitischer Religionen am Beispiel des Buddhismus und Hinduismus und das konkrete Friedensengagement jeweiliger Akteure. Dabei werden die Entstehung und Aktivitäten zentraler friedensstiftender Personen, Organisationen und Netzwerke des Buddhis
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mus und Hinduismus in einzelnen asiatischen Ländern geschildert. Ergänzt wird die ausführliche Darstellung durch einzelne kritische Fallbeispiele. Zusammenfassend lässt sich festhalten, dass in beiden Religionen das holistische und im eigenen Inneren beginnende friedensstiftende Engagement der Akteure meist auf eigenen Kriegs- und Leidenserfahrungen beruht und auch immer soziales, politisches und ökologisches Engagement miteinschließt. Eine zentrale Rolle der friedensstiftenden Aktivitäten spielen Friedensmärsche und groß angelegte Kampagnen. Im Vergleich zum Buddhismus gibt es sehr viel weniger friedensstiftende Initiativen, die sich auf hinduistisch-religiöse Quellen beziehen. Die meisten religiösen Friedensakteure, nicht nur in Indien, sondern religionsübergreifend in ganz Asien, berufen sich auf das Vorbild Mahatma Gandhis. Ein großes Potential für zukünftige Zusammenarbeit mit Friedensakteuren in Asien liegt in der zentralen Rolle religiös motivierter Frauen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"This Guide aims to help practitioners make sense of monitoring and evaluation as applied to inter-religious action in peacebuilding. It aims to support good practice among people who are involved in commissioning or contributing to such efforts, whether they be religious, secular or a combination o
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f both, to maximize peacebuilding learning and effectiveness. Therefore, the audience for this Guide is anyone who is involved in the design, monitoring or evaluation of inter-religious peacebuilding programs or initiatives. These users include interreligious peacebuilders, evaluators, practitioners, and leaders who are tasked with commissioning an evaluation or who are managing learning and evaluation processes, as well as donors (public and private) who are involved in funding and evaluating inter-religious action for peacebuilding. Thus, a wide range of people and organizations might make use of this Guide. Throughout the Guide, we indicate which sections might be most useful for which audiences. For purposes of simplicity, we will flag sections for three (overlapping!) overall categories of users: Inter-religious peacebuilding implementers; Internal project managers or monitoring and evaluation specialists; External evaluators." (Pages 5-6)
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"Wie thematisieren Staaten und internationale Organisationen Religion in den internationalen Beziehungen? Wodurch bauen sie Religionskompetenz in ihren Außenbeziehungen auf und wo arbeiten sie mit Religionsgemeinschaften erfolgreich zusammen? Was folgt daraus für Deutschlands Außenpolitik? Diese
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Studie antwortet darauf mit einem Überblick über Hauptakteure und Handlungsfelder mit Fokus auf die Religionen Christentum, Judentum und Islam. Bei den religionsbezogenen Außenpolitiken ausgewählter Staaten dient als Analyseraster der Studie die Untersuchung der wichtigsten Aktivitäten zentraler außenpolitischer Akteure mit dem Fokus auf Außenministerien und internationale Organisationen, punktuell ergänzt durch besondere Initiativen anderer Ressorts und Institutionen. Bei der Betrachtung potenzieller Dialogpartner in Europa, Mittelmeer, Afrika und Asien liegt der Schwerpunkt auf beispielhaften Projekten und Aktivitäten mit deutscher, europäischer oder interreligiöser Beteiligung. Methodisch liefert neben der Akteurs-, Institutionen-, Literatur- und Dokumentenanalyse eine nicht-repräsentative, anonymisierte schriftliche Umfrage bei über hundert Experten, Praktikern, Multiplikatoren unterschiedlicher Ebenen aus (Außen-)Politik, Religion und Wissenschaft ergänzend als Hintergrundinformation ein Meinungs- und Stimmungsbild zu Religion und (deutscher) Außenpolitik." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 6)
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"This publication will contribute to ensuring that the breadth of human rights violations in Eritrea becomes known, and that the issue of human trafficking migrates more strongly upwards into the public eye." (Back cover)
"This book focuses on the construction of the human rights discourse inside two religiously affiliated organizations: The Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) and Pax Romana (IMCS / ICMICA). These organizations have been formally accredited as NGOs by the UN, label themselves a
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s religious, and look back upon a long and intense cooperation with the UN. Lehmann presents material from the archives of those two organizations that has so far rarely been used for academic analysis. In doing so, as well as documenting the encounters between those organizations and the UN, and looking at the Protestant and Catholic spectrum, the book provides new insights into the very construction of the notions of 'the religious' and the 'secular' inside those organizations." (Publisher description)
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