Abstract
This chapter frames peace education within the disciplines of communication, adult education, and the broader discipline of political science. It addresses how adult peace education occurs informally in the context of nongovernmental institutions, and specifically the role of nonprofit organizations that comprise civil society and the third sector of the economy.
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America Speaks: http://www.americaspeaks.org.
The mission of this organization is to reinvigorate American democracy by engaging citizens in the public decision-making that most impacts their lives. Among its noteworthy projects are Twenty-First-Century Town Meetings, a unique, large-scale dialogue process that strives to maintain the values of the traditional New England town meeting while addressing the needs of today’s citizens and decision makers.
Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation (C2D2): http://www.c2d2.ca.
C2D2’s vision is a democratic society in which institutions, practices, and culture foster constructive dialogue and deliberation in which all people, regardless of income, position, background, or education, are able to engage regularly in thoughtful and challenging conversations about what really matters in ways that have positive impact.
Fielding University (Santa Barbara, CA.)-Graduate Certificate in Dialogue, Deliberation and Public Engagement: http://www.fielding.edu/programs/ce/ddpe.
This is a cutting-edge certificate in DDPE that introduces graduate students to a variety of approaches to dialogue and public engagement that enable collaboration and promote participation in civil society.
Generative Change (GC) Community: http://www.gc-community.net.
Launched in 2005, this is a global community of practice focused on strengthening the world’s capacity to address complex challenges collectively through dialogic processes. Participants in such processes experience fundamental shifts toward greater self, group, and system awareness, and these shifts create collective capacity to achieve greater coordination of action as well as understanding.
Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue: http://www.ikedacenter.org.
This is an institute for peace, learning, and dialogue. The center bases its work on the Buddhist concept of soka (value creation) and engaging diverse scholars, activists, and social innovators in the search for the ideas and solutions that will assist in the peaceful evolution of humanity during the twenty-first century.
International Association of Public Participation (IAP2): http://www.iap2.org.
ĪAP2 was founded to respond to the rising global interest in public participation. It seeks to promote and improve the practice of public participation in relation to individuals, governments, institutions, and other entities that affect the public interest in nations throughout the world.
International Institute for Sustained Dialogue: http://www.sustaineddialogue.org.
This research and educational organization based in Washington, DC, promotes Sustained Dialogue as a vehicle to transform relationships that undergird entrenched patterns of social conflict.
National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD): http://www.thataway.org.
NCCD is a U.S.-based community of practitioners, researchers, activists, artists, students, and others who are committed to giving people a voice. Its mission is to bring together and support people, organizations, and resources in ways that expand the power of dialogue to benefit society through challenging conversations that have a positive impact in the world.
Network for Peace through Dialogue: http://www.networkforpeace.com.
This is a nonprofit organization that uses dialogue to connect grassroots communities and help them identify and research common issues and solutions in areas of peacemaking and peacebuilding.
OrangeBand Initiative: http://www.orangeband.org.
Launched by students of James Madison University (VA) to promote student conversation about things that matter on campuses across the United States of America, it has evolved into a grassroots project promoting civic dialogue through the practice of intentional listening to what is important to others at work and in daily life.
Public Conversations Project: http://www.publicconversations.org.
Though it is issue-focused with an overt aim to resolve conflict around controversial topics, this is an organization with a very respectable track record that places dialogue at the center of its efforts to resolve conflict. A central aim is to facilitate the emergence of shared goals and meaning without compromising deeply held values, beliefs, or positions.
Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, BC), Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue: http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/undergrad.
This is an innovative program that strives to inspire students with a sense of civic responsibility, and encourages their passion to improve society while developing innovative intellectual tools for problem solving. Each semester develops an original and intensive learning experience using dialogue to focus student education on public issues.
Suggested Reading
Asen, R. (2004). A discourse theory of citizenship. The Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90(2), 189(23).
This essay calls for a reorientation in scholarly approaches to civic engagement from asking questions of’’what” to asking questions of “how.” Assessments of discourse too often regard it as prefatory to genuine action, and suggest that talk is cheap. A discourse theory broadens conceptions of citizenship as a process, recognizing the fluid, multimodal, and ordinary enactments of citizenship in a complex public sphere. Realization of democracy through human interaction highlights the role of communication in this process.
Bass, G., Arons, D., Guinane, K., & Carter, M. (2007). Seen but not heard: Strengthening nonprofit advocacy. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
This book presents research about the scope of nonprofit advocacy while also detailing the barriers and incentives for nonprofits to engage in various types of policy activities, though the focus is lobbying. The findings are grounded in survey research, focus groups, and interviews with nonprofit executives and board members. Though there is limited reference to the role that nonprofits can play in advancing civic dialogue that informs public policy, the book nonetheless underscores a shift that gives increased legitimacy to nonprofits to engage in the policy-making process.
Bohm, D. (1996). On dialogue. New York, NY: Routledge.
This is an important work that illustrates the creative potential for dialogue to facilitate new thinking that can contribute to peacebuilding. In facilitated dialogue, participants suspend their thoughts, motives, impulses, and judgments as they explore and attempt to “think together.” Through dialogue that is not constrained without an objective or agenda, the process creates free space for something new to happen.
Boris, E., & Mosher-Williams, R. (1998). Nonprofit advocacy organizations: Assessing the definitions, classifications and data. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 27(Dec), 488–506.
This article argues that research on nonprofit organizations has traditionally defined advocacy and its function in the public policy process as rights-based expression and association and suggests the usefulness of an expanded definition. Nonprofits participate in a variety of public decisions at different points in the policy cycle. The authors argue that building social capital, facilitating civic participation, and providing public voice are activities central to an analysis of the interaction of nonprofits and public policy in democratic civil society.
Boulding, E. (2001). Building a culture of peace: Some priorities. NWSA Journal, 13(2), 55–59.
Dialogue is the embodiment of a culture of peace, creating the space for listening, and that can lead to creative problem-solving. Boulding argues for mounting a nationwide peace-building dialogue-action process, built around meetings in every town, and posing a simple question: “Where does security come from?” She suggests that such dialogue will surface the hidden longing for peace shared by most people.
Bryce, H. J. (2006). Nonprofits as social capital and agents in the public policy process: Toward a new paradigm. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 35(June), 311–318.
This article postures a new approach to understanding the performance and purpose of nonprofits. The author envisions the nonprofit as a social capital asset in a specific relationship to the public. The public policy arena is the nonprofit’s analogy of the firm’s marketplace. Nonprofits do more than fill in for market or government failures. They regulate, facilitate, assist, and modify markets, playing a significant role in every aspect of the public policy process.
Gastil, J., & Levine, P. (2005). The deliberative democracy handbook: Strategies for effective civic engagement in the twenty-first century. (1st Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This is an excellent resource for democratic practitioners and theorists alike. The book combines case study material from many cities and types of institutional settings with careful reflection on core principles. Tempered with critical scholarship and political realism, the book gives focus to the innovations of citizens in the United States of America and around the world and shows how the varied practices of dialogue and deliberative democracy can be part of a larger renewal of civil society.
Grayson, K. (2004). Dialogical competence as a pedagogy for peace. Transformations, XV(2), 51.
Evoking themes from Freire’s critique of Western schooling, the author argues that traditional monological approaches to learning suppress dialogical thinking and bankrupt education. He speaks from his experience in college classrooms and models several approaches for facilitating dialogical learning in higher education.
Gunnlaugson, O. (2006). Generative dialogue as a transformative learning practice in adult and higher education settings. Journal of Adult Continuing Education, 12(1), 2–19.
This article explores Scharmer’s account of generative dialogue, which followed from Bohmian dialogue in the 1980s and Isaacs’ research with the MIT Dialogue Project in the early 1990s. It presents the author’s view that generative dialogue offers a useful theoretical framework and effective means for facilitating transformative learning processes within adult and higher education group settings.
Pruitt, B., & Thomas, P. (2007). Democratic dialogue: A handbook for practitioners. Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Canadian International Development Agency, Organization of American States and United Nations Development Program.
This Handbook reflects current practice in the field of dialogue and draws on concrete experiences of practitioners in various regions. It seeks to consolidate emerging learning, both in terms of the conceptual framework supporting dialogue, as well as practical experiences in the design, facilitation, and assessment of such processes.
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© 2010 Candice C. Carter
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Frank, J.W. (2010). Nonprofits Advancing Public Dialogue about a “Culture of Peace”. In: Carter, C.C. (eds) Conflict Resolution and Peace Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230107830_4
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