"Deference and dissent strike a delicate balance in any polity. Insufficient deference to authority may incapacitate government, whereas too much may allow leaders to orchestrate mass violence. Although cross-national and cross-temporal variation in deference to authority and willingness to express
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dissent has long been studied in political science, rarely have scholars studied programs designed to change these aspects of political culture. This study, situated in post-genocide Rwanda, reports a qualitative and quantitative assessment of one such attempt, a radio program aimed at discouraging blind obedience and reliance on direction from authorities and promoting independent thought and collective action in problem solving. Over the course of one year, this radio program or a comparable program dealing with HIV was randomly presented to pairs of communities, including communities of genocide survivors, Twa people, and imprisoned génocidaires. Changes in individual attitudes, perceived community norms, and deliberative behaviors were assessed using closed-ended interviews, focus group discussions, role-play exercises, and unobtrusive measures of collective decision making. Although the radio program had little effect on many kinds of beliefs and attitudes, it had a substantial impact on listeners’ willingness to express dissent and the ways they resolved communal problems." (Abstract)
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"Journalisten statt Soldaten", so könnte man die neuen Maßnahmen der Friedenförderung im heutigen unruhigen Kongo bezeichnen. Die Stiftung Hirondelle ist eine Initiative zur Friedenssicherung und Völkerverständigung mit Hilfe des Radios. Aus diesem Grund wurde das Konzept “Radio Okapi” entw
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ickelt, welches im Krisengebiet mittlerweile einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad hat. In Europa ist der Friedensjournalismus ein zwar bekanntes, aber selten eingesetztes Mittel. Erfolgreich zur Deeskalation kritischer Momente wurde er z.B. im ehemaligen Jugoslawien eingesetzt. Mit Radio Okapi, das flächendeckend in einem Land der Größe West-europas aufgebaut wurde, geht die Chance einher, das Grundrecht auf Information durchzusetzen: ein bedeutender Schritt in Richtung Friedensförderung und Deeskalierung." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Can the media reduce intergroup prejudice and conflict? Despite the high stakes of this question, understanding of the mass media’s role in shaping prejudiced beliefs, norms, and behaviors is very limited. A year-long field experiment in Rwanda tested the impact of a radio soap opera about two Rw
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andan communities in conflict, which featured messages about reducing intergroup prejudice, violence, and trauma. Compared to communities who listened to a control radio soap opera, listeners’ perceptions of social norms and their behaviors changed concerning some of the most critical issues for Rwanda’s post conflict society, namely intermarriage, open dissent, trust, empathy, cooperation and discussion of personal trauma. However, the radio program did little to influence listeners’ personal beliefs. Group discussion was a notable feature of the listening experience. Taken together, the results suggest that radio can communicate social norms and influence behaviors that contribute to intergroup tolerance and reconciliation." (Abstract)
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"The work force at Radio Baba Gurgur includes a mixture of four Iraqi ethnicities: Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs and Chaldean-Assyrians. Because our programs aim at targeting all listeners in our multifaceted city, we broadcast in all of Kirkuk’s different languages. Our policy is not to increase the lin
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guistic divide between these communities at our station and not to dedicate certain timeslots to particular groups, meaning: not to give two hours to Kurds and two hours to Arabs, etc. To this end, our programs are linguistically mixed, and we have been helped here by the fact that many of our presenters at Radio Baba Gurgur know most of the languages used in Kirkuk (Kurdish, Turkmen, Arabic and Assyrian). Accordingly, our programs offer a linguistic and cultural mix, which is further encouraged by the various discussion topics which are proposed on the shows, the phone calls received from listeners, and the music and songs which are played as well. This policy has led to an overall increase in our listeners, as well as an increase in listeners across the cultural spectrum. It has also led to increased competition between our station’s employees in learning more local languages and interacting more systematically with listeners." (Pages 87-88)
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"This guidebook examines the interrelationship of media and conflicts and was conducted for broadcasters, especially presenters, who work in regions where there are violent conflicts. It aims to give examples and tools for talkshows which contribute to peace, and is structured in three greater parts
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: 1. Explanations of 'conflict' and of the different kinds of violence (ie, physical, cultural and structural) 2. Definitions and examples for talkshows and the different formats commonly used (face to face, roundtable, phone-in) 3. Notes on issues and practices, discussing questions like: how to talk about taboo subjects, how to deal with hate speech, accusation, censorship or even extremely sensitive issues like genocide, and how to seek the common ground of conflicting parties? Moreover, the manual contains a planning checklist and suggestions for conflict mapping in order to gain a better understanding of the conflict, and it shows the differences between peace and conflict-oriented talkshows." (commbox)
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"This guidebook is designed to help young people and those who work with them design and produce entertaining radio programmes which help construct a peaceful future. The basis of this guide was developed in September 2005 at a workshop in Ghana bringing together presenters and producers from 12 sub
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-Saharan African countries who explored the skills necessary to make youth programmes which engage the audience and have a positive rather than negative impact, helping resolve rather than inflame conflict. The principles behind include new ways of seeing their roles, new perspectives on conflict, and new objectives and techniques for presenting their programmes." (Publisher description)
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"In 2004, SFCG’s Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa (RFPA) project conducted a baseline survey in 21 sub-Saharan African countries, to ascertain knowledge of, attitude towards, and use of peacebuilding techniques by radio professionals. 1000 radio professionals were surveyed by email with phone follo
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w-up, and 446 responded. Since then the Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa project has sought to be in contact with radio professionals across sub-Saharan Africa and to gather their experience, inform them about different peacebuilding techniques and formats in radio, and to encourage use of the different techniques and formats available – many of which have been developed and refined by SFCG. This has been done through workshops, mass emails, a project website, distribution of guidebooks and CD-ROMs, and the provision of downloadable materials (guidebooks, exemplary programmes and other information). The objective of this end-term evaluation is to assess whether the project outcomes have been successful in contributing to the goals and purpose of the project. The likely Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior (KAB) changes over the past two and a half years will be examined, among the participant radio professionals in sub-Saharan Africa; related to the manner in which they deal with conflict issues in their programmes. It will establish what, if any, link exists between the RFPA project activities and outputs (such as the guidebooks, website, exemplary programmes, and workshops) and any KAB changes that have taken place. In addition, the evaluation will assess likely impact and extract learning for future SFCG interventions." (Page 1)
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"Ce guide s’adresse principalement à toute personne qui participe à la réalisation d’un talk-show radiophonique dans une région ou un pays connaissant un conflit. Il se concentre principalement sur les conflits violents entre individus, groupes ou pays, ou qui sont susceptibles de le devenir
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. Certains professionnels de la radio seront peut-être familiers avec certains des concepts abordés, mais nous espérons que le guide contient un bon nombre de nouvelles idées efficaces. Chacun aimerait vivre dans une société pacifique, où la haine et la violence n’auraient pas droit de citer. La question fondamentale est de savoir comment la faire exister. Ce guide comprend une série d’exemples et d’outils pouvant stimuler des discussions de groupe consacrées à la manière dont les talk-shows peuvent contribuer à la paix. Chaque chapitre commence par un court résumé reprenant les principales idées et concepts développés. Le guide rassemble les éléments suivants: base théorique et ensemble de techniques d’analyse des conflits; instruments (illustrés par quelques exemples) à l’intention des professionnels de la radio désireux de réaliser des talk-shows pour construire la paix; définition et description des différents formats pouvant être utilisés dans un talk-show (avec leurs forces et leurs faiblesses)." (Comment utiliser ce guide, page 4)
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"This is a guide for those training writers of radio soap operas for peacebuilding. It contains a ten day training course, materials, and background information which are invaluable to facilitators." (Back cover)
"This manual was designed for project managers, and gives emphasis to the planning and production - not on scriptwriting - of radio soap operas for peace building in conflict areas. Its underlying assumption is that radio soap operas can, over a long term period, subtly change attitudes, and contrib
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ute to peace, because they reach people emotionally. The guide gives instructions on several steps of the planning and implementation process, such as conducting a timeline, defining the target audience, and choosing a team, recording a schedule, and planning the budget. It discusses where to record a soap opera (in studio or outside), how long a soap opera should last, and when it should be broadcast. It gives advice on the pre-test phase with focus groups, and provides a checklist with the overarching aims, ie, the intended outcomes and the emotional focus, of the soap. The appendix contains an excerpt from an Indonesian radio drama serial, produced by Common Ground Indonesia." (commbox)
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"Radio has long been seen as an important tool in the social, economic and political mobilization of developing countries. There have been volumes (Fardon & Furniss; Head Manoff; Wedell; Hyden, Leslie & Ogundimu) written about social development and the utility of radio in addition to how radio migh
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t be used in post-conflict and nation building scenarios. However, there has been little, if any, examination of a more holistic approach of how both these bodies of work might be melded together providing some insight into how media, and more specifically radio, might be used as a peacebuilder. This paper seeks to draw elements from both social development and conflict resolution theories, bringing them together to examine how radio could be used in post-conflict and conflict resolution situations. An examination of Radio Okapi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC; former Zaire) will serve as a case study of the role radio can play as a post-conflict or peace-building tool." (Introduction)
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