Peace Processes
A Sociological Approach
1. Edition January 2010
272 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Peace processes are mostly very fragile. This engagingly written book takes a bold new approach to the topic by beginning from the premise that sociology can identify those factors that help to stabilize them.
The book draws a distinction between the political and social dimensions of peace processes, arguing that each is dependent on the other. Consideration of the social peace process, neglected in conventional treatments of the subject, is made central to this volume. While complementing current approaches that emphasize institutional reform in politics, law and economics, it pays due attention to sociological factors such as gender, civil society, religion, the deconstruction of violent masculinities, restorative justice, emotions, hope, forgiveness, truth recovery, social memory and public victimhood. These important themes are fully illustrated with examples and in-depth case studies from across the globe.
The book locates itself within the growing debate about the positive impact of global civil society on peace and identifies the new forms of peace work engendered by globalization. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of peace studies in politics, international relations and sociology departments.
Introduction: War, peace and communal violence.
Chapter 1: Types of post-violence society.
Chapter 2: The Problem of peace processes.
Chapter 3: Civil society.
Chapter 4: Gender.
Chapter 5: Emotions.
Chapter 6: Memory, 'truth' and victimhood.
Conclusion: A sociological approach to peace processes.
Bibliography.
Peace Processes is simply a remarkable achievement. It
should be required reading for scholars, policy makers and
practitioners who are concerned with peace."
Glady Ganiel, Sociology
"A very valuable, pioneering study that simultaneously highlights
the centrality of sociological analysis for understanding peace
processes and opens sociology to such neglected but central topics
as peace, war and organized violence."
SiniSa MaleSevic, Sociology
"Brewer's sociological approach is refreshingly different;
Brewer is a westerner applying much of the wisdom of the non-West
to conflicts in the West. A very promising approach."
Johan Galtung, Sociology
"John Brewer's Peace Processes: A Sociological Approach
stands out for two reasons: first because it is written in an
accessible, reader-friendly manner - a sign, I always think, of the
author's self-confidence - and second, because it is replete with
references to key writers and debates in the field of what can
broadly be called international relations. It would therefore be of
interest to the initiated and uninitiated alike."
Times Higher Education Supplement
"Great social science nearly always comes from confronting
traumatic experience. That is what we have here, as the result of
Brewer's visceral experience in Northern Ireland: a massive
contribution to understanding peace processes, adding sociology to
prior political science knowledge - and thereby reviving that
discipline. The book is moving, scholarly, cognitively powerful and
a major contribution to policy. It is a terrific achievement."
John A. Hall, McGill University
"The book provides a comprehensive and original analysis of
peace processes. Brewer demonstrates the relevance of a
sociological perspective in pointing to the centrality of communal
violence and its structural context as well as the wider global
context. His analysis of types of post-violence society is most
interesting and rich in terms of its comparative content. The
argument is nicely situated in the sociological tradition and is
immensely readable. It will be an essential work of reference on
post-violence societies and in peace processes."
Gerard Delanty, University of Sussex
"John Brewer's book is a unique contribution to our
understandings of peace- making, a path-breaking work of creative
scholarship that sharply illuminates the complexly contradictory
potentials for, and barriers to, pragmatic peace-making in the wake
of war and communal violence. The innovative insights in this work
will provoke important constructive discussion and policy debates
for years to come, while also providing significant conceptual
frameworks for peace activists around the world."
John Brown Childs, University of California Santa Cruz