Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Mechanism and Initiatives to Eliminate Extremism, Terrorism, Criminal Violence and War

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Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen
In His Name, Exalted

Abstract
In this paper, I review some of the causes of violence and terrorism against which measures can be taken by Islamic States. Since the breadth of the topic is too wide to be treated intelligently in a short paper, I focus on the ways in which understanding can be promoted by Islamic states to reduce violence. In particular, it is recommended that Islamic states promote education about peace in the universities and at a more popular level through the media, promote cooperation between religious institutions at both national and international levels for the sake of peace building and peace education, arrange to strengthen or establish both governmental institutions and NGO’s dedicated to peace studies and peace building.
While various peace studies programs have been produced with religious, legal, international relations, historical, and other approaches, this paper suggests the development of Islamic peace studies as an integral part of Islamic peace building. These educational and practical initiatives should supplement the more obvious means of preventing conflict through mechanisms for addressing grievances, for international security and cooperation, and by the strengthening of international instruments for arbitration and national and international judicial institutions. To this end it is proposed, finally, that an international Islamic Peace Organization be established.

Introduction
The topic on which I have been asked to speak covers various types of violence, from criminal violence, to war. It is unlikely that anyone will have any meaningful proposals about what measures should be taken to eliminate all forms of violence from today’s world. Indeed, a general approach to violence seems less likely to yield significant results than one that focuses on specific types of violence. This is because the causes of violence are disparate, and any significant attempts to eliminate violence from our societies will have to find effective means to change the conditions leading to violence. However, since our conference is on “The Role of Islamic States in a Globalized World,” we can restrict the scope of our topic by considering only those measures that might be carried out by Islamic States and those who live in them for the purpose of the reduction of violence.
Given the nature of the conference, I propose to focus on two basic policy initiatives that can be taken at a governmental level by Islamic states: the promotion of academic research and training in Islamic Peace Studies and the setting up of an international Islamic Peace Organization. These proposals should by no means be taken to imply that efforts by individuals, and non-governmental groups and organizations are any less important. To the contrary, measures to be found in Islamic sources for preventing violence primarily focus on individual responsibilities; and peace advocacy through NGO’s can also play a vital role in promoting a culture of peace. However, the suggestions offered here are directed toward how Islamic states can facilitate the conditions under which halal and haram may be observed by Muslims in conditions of conflict and violence in the contemporary world. Islamic states should seek to protect Muslims from being oppressed and from becoming oppressors. They should promote unity among Muslims without threatening variety, and at the same time promote cooperation and harmony among all their citizens, Muslims and non-Muslims.

Islamic Studies
All too often the Muslim voices that are given attention by Western media are those of extremists who condone the use of violence in order to achieve political and social aims. After 9/11, there was a vast condemnation of terrorism by Muslim scholars and intellectuals across the world, yet many Europeans and Americans remain ignorant of this, and the uninformed repeatedly asked why Muslims were not speaking out against terrorism. Muslims were speaking out against terrorism, but they were not being heard.1 Threats of violence by Muslim extremists would be front page news, but condemnations of extremism by mainstream Muslims were given scant attention. Violent reactions by Muslims to what are perceived as attacks on their religion are newsworthy, but peaceful protests and reasoned responses are largely ignored. The result is not only the creation of a false image of Islam for Westerners, but also the spread of misconceptions about their religion among Muslims.
These misperceptions present a challenge to the Islamic world, a challenge that is fundamentally educational. In order to respond effectively to extremist views and the misperceptions of Islam that they engender, much more is needed than insistence that Islam is a religion of peace. Education is needed for the general Muslim populations as well as for non-Muslims about the foundations to be found in Islamic teachings for peaceful solutions to conflicts of various sorts. Like the other major religions of the world, Islam does not absolutely forbid all violence or use of force, but it confines the use of violence and force through elaborate restrictions. Muslim extremists illegitimately justify the use of violence by arguing that there is no effective alternative.
They argue that violence or terrorism is the only way to achieve just ends, and they misuse references to the battles carried out by the Prophet(s) and his companions to glorify violent struggle. Education in this regard needs to draw attention to the following:
(1) the fact that force and violence are intrinsically abominable, and are only religiously justified under severely restricted conditions;
(2) the fact that there are alternatives to violence and the use of force for conflict resolution that have been neglected;
(3) the fact that violence does not achieve the ends its advocates intend;
(4) the fact that modern armed conflicts inevitably require haram actions by those who participate in them because of the harm done to non- combatants, which violates the basic restrictions imposed by Islamic law;
(5) the fact that extremist calls for violence lack religious authority.2
Islamic governance was first established to bring peace. Consider (Al-Quran 3:103):
“Hold fast, all together, to Allah’s cord, and do not be divided. And remember Allah’s blessing upon you when you were enemies, then He brought your hearts together, so you became brothers with His blessing. And you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, whereat He saved you from it. Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you so that you may be guided.” (3:103).
One of the most important alternatives to violence sanctioned by the Qur’an and numerous hadiths is respect for treaty agreements, and encouragement for entering into treaties. Various forms of arbitration and settlement of differences among people by peaceful means are also found repeatedly in the Qur’an and hadiths. In all of these cases, peace is always linked to justice or to mercy and forgiveness. Not only does Islam aim at just and peaceful relations with others, and with groups within Islam, it also seeks to discourage violence among groups outside of Islam, as indicated by the prohibition against selling offensive weapons (swords and spears but not armor) to those at war.
At the level of nations, groups, families, and individuals, Islam indicates measures to be taken that seek to avoid violence. Furthermore, within the soul of the believer, Islam offers a spiritual and moral path that enables one to quell the internal sources of violence, such as anger, envy, lust and ignorance. Given the harm caused to non-combatants by modern warfare, it becomes imperative for Muslims to take measures to insure that armed conflict does not take place.3
Opponents will protest and ask why there is so much violence in the Muslim world if Islam is so systematically directed at peace and justice. The standard responses are that we are not very good Muslims, or that violence is imposed on us from outside, or that there is no alternative for those who resort to violence. What is needed, however, is insight into the critical structural weaknesses in Muslim societies that allow them to erupt so easily into violence and prevent seeing alternative to violence as effective.
Structural problems can take various forms, but we will call a structural problem critical when it can be remedied through policy change. In order to understand the problems of Muslim societies, we should ask what efforts can be taken by individuals and institutions in Muslim societies that would alter the patterns of behavior that are conducive to the undesirable phenomena under scrutiny, in our case, violence; but here our focus will be on the policy initiatives that can be taken by Islamic states to avoid violence.4
What are the main forms of violence in the Muslim world today? War, extremist terrorism, state terrorism, and factionalism are certainly conspicuous.
Terrorism, whether carried out by extremist groups or by the state, aims to change public opinion in a way considered favorable by the perpetrators through horrible and shocking acts of violence. Sometimes terrorism is defined in such a way as to apply only to criminal violence committed by groups opposed to the policies of the state. Here, however, I will understand terrorism to include violence against non-combatants committed for political ends regardless of whether this violence is committed by individuals, insurgents, or government forces.5 Sometimes the strategy is to provoke a disproportionate response from the enemy that will win public sympathy for the terrorists.
Terrorism by the state often consists in group punishments designed to frighten a rebellious segment of the population into submission. Another form of state terrorism is the use of the agent provocateur to incite dissidents to commit crimes (often acts of terrorism) that can be used to justify the state’s reprisals against the group. Terrorism is also committed by communities against one another in order to affect policies of the rival community. There are also instances of terrorism carried out by renegade factions within the agencies of governments for the sake of frightening rivals or potential allies of rivals. Terrorism should be distinguished, in theory, from other violent acts of hatred, although in practice the motives for terrorist acts may be quite confused. Terrorism, however, involves the use of violence in order to achieve political aims by terrifying a target population.
Throughout history, whether in Europe or the Muslim world, religion has been used to express grievances about governance, and state power has been called upon from time to time to prevent alleged abuses by religious groups or institutions against the state, against other religious groups, and against individuals. In the conflict between religion and the state, the state has the advantage of the treasury, army, police and other institutions by which it governs, while religious groups have the advantage of loyalty grounded in the individual and communal relationships that arise through the practice of the religion.
Political and religious authorities need not conflict, and there are various arrangements in which conflict between them is minimized. However, in traditional religious societies, where any tribe or group has grievances against the government, it is natural to articulate those grievances in the form of an appeal to religious authority. This continues to be the case in many predominantly Muslim societies.
Historically, the main religious institutions of Muslim societies usually have been used to endorse the will of the state, and the state has sought to maintain at least a modicum of religious appearances. In Europe, until the nineteenth century, church and state became so interdependent that revolutionaries like Marx and Bakunin saw them as two faces of the same enemy. Since the nineteenth century, however, Western states and churches have maintained a sort of truce whereby neither interferes with the affairs of the other, although the truce is often uneasy. As late as 1926, the American philosopher W. E. Hocking wrote that the separation of politics and religion was untenable.
The state ‘tolerates’ religion of all sorts on condition that religion lets politics severely alone.
“In our own country we have been especially enamored of this view; yet it is a view which everywhere to-day shows its untenableness. The state loses by it something it needs. The church loses hold upon the sense of practical importance and passes through an era of marked feebleness. The attempted mutual indifference is psychologically impossible, for the religious and the political interest exist side by side in individual minds, and each person is bound to reach some kind of working understanding between them. To keep them in separate compartments would imply a violence to personal identity worthy of the age of the twofold truth”.6
Hocking continues by remarking that even Rousseau saw that the situation in which the church was confined to subjective other-worldly interests is anomalous. The solution to the anomaly, in Hocking’s view, is not an obliteration of the distinction between church and state, but a church that speaks out publicly on matters of political concern and a state that appeals to religious conscience to support its policy decisions.
In the Muslim world, however, the situation is much more complicated than that of the Western secular governments described by Hocking, due to the tenuous nature of the governments that have arisen subsequent to the colonial period. Dissatisfaction with national governments is often (but by no means always) expressed through religious opposition, especially where political opposition is stifled. Where there are no legitimate channels for dissent and no real hope that matters of contention can be addressed, the potential for violence and even terrorism will increase.
On the other hand, state terrorism occurs when the state or groups aligned with the state feel that the state is threatened and can only preserve itself through violence. Terrorist acts of the state are committed against dissidents when the dissident movement is understood as threatening revolution or subversion of the aims of the state. Legitimate channels of dissent can help to decrease state terrorism when the authorities learn to recognize forms of dissent that are safe, that do not threaten the vital interests of the state.
Legal institutions can play a vital role here in creating the public space in which protest can take place and in setting up safeguards to prevent public protest from turning into open rebellion. Likewise, effective police work and transparency in government are keys to minimizing violence, although the proper balance between these factors is difficult to define.
When there are grievances against the government, for example, due to widespread corruption, and the government is unstable, opposition groups will be tempted to use violence to change the government unless there are institutions for effective change without violence, as is the aim of democratic forms of government.
No one, however, should imagine that democracy is some sort of magic that can put an end to all violence in the Muslim world. Even in a democracy, there will be groups that feel alienated from the political process, and it will be tempting for such groups to mount violent opposition and to use Islam to sanctify their cause. On the other hand, as democratic freedoms expand in a society, protest will become more open and publicly visible, and this in turn might well tempt those in a weak government or aligned with it to respond to such protests with violence.
The last chapter of the book by Hocking quoted above is titled, “On Violence.” As Hocking sees it, governments, whether or not democratic, create situations in which their citizens feel justified in the use of violence to the extent that government is unresponsive to the reasonable demands of its citizens. Although economic hardship may supply sufficient cause for complaint among citizens, alone it will not result in violent attacks against the government.
As Hocking sees it, revolutionists are more likely motivated by a sense that those who hold power are insincere, and by a resolve not to be dupes to government deceptions. The solution to the temptation of revolutionary violence is a demonstration that the state is not beyond hope, that there is sincerity at some levels of government, and that such sincerity can be made to prevail.
Hocking is thinking primarily of Europe between the world wars, and of the prospects for communist or syndicalist revolutions. The final pages of his book are an appeal to the would-be revolutionist to seek the way of reform rather than violence, because the violence of revolution is so destructive it makes the kind of society sought much less likely to be realized.
I do not think that Hocking was so naïve as to think that his arguments would have any effect on the ideological extremists who were ready to carry out acts of terrorism in the 1920’s. The point of the argumentation is educational. Those who might be tempted to revolutionary violence are reminded of the alternatives and of the undesirable consequences of such violence.
Both of these points apply to the current problem of terrorism in Muslim societies. An educational program is needed, not in the sense of mere schooling, but in the sense of raising public awareness about alternatives and negative consequences of violence. In Muslim societies, it is also possible to argue decisively that the use of violence to achieve political aims is contrary to fundamental Islamic teachings. In this paper I simply will assume that the arguments of qualified fuqaha decisively demonstrate the religious illegitimacy of any form of terrorist violence, whether by individuals or the state: assassination, attacks on non-combatants, collective punishments, etc.; although I realize that more work is needed to make this matter thoroughly clear.
Hocking does not consider the problem of violence by the state and its allies against protesters, although by 1926 in the United States there were more than sufficient examples of the government intimidation of labor activists by violence, the Palmer raids from 1919-1921, and the violent strike breaking of the Pinkertons and other industrial police from the late 19th century until the 1930’s. This sort of violence was only quelled in the U.S. when labor became sufficiently organized and politically influential to push for legislative reforms. As legislation was debated and established, labor violence gradually decreased. Both those who support the state and those who protest against its policies tend to use violent methods as long as there is no effective legislative alternative through which contending parties can hope for a tolerable resolution.
In conclusion, the steps Islamic states must take in order to prevent or minimize violence are not merely educational, but practical, as well. What is needed is support by Islamic states for and integrated program of Islamic peace studies and Islamic peace building.

Islamic Peace Studies
One of the measures that can be taken by governments and non-governmental organizations in Islamic states to achieve the educational aims mentioned above is the promotion of Islamic Peace Studies (IPS). Specifically, I am proposing an interdisciplinary degree program for the universities in Islamic states.
Peace studies began as a field of academic study shortly after World War II, and there are now more than four hundred fifty degree programs in peace studies taught at universities in forty countries.7 IPS would seem naturally to be similar to faith oriented peace studies as developed among Christians, except that Islamic theology would replace Christian theology. However, the Islamic religious sciences differ considerably from Christian theology, and as such the analogy would seem forced. Furthermore, the emphasis on law in the Islamic sciences allows for more comparisons with programs that have a legal studies approach.
IPS should involve the study of causes of, remedies for and alternatives to violence incorporating both the traditional Islamic sciences and modern fields of research. From the Islamic sciences, students of IPS need to become familiar with fiqh, hadiths, the Qur’an and its interpretation (tafsir), the biography of the Prophet(s), the history of Islam, Islamic philosophy (stressing political philosophy and ethics), philosophical psychology (‘ilm al-nafs), and Islamic mysticism or ‘irfan, not, however, in a general way, but with specific attention to how issues of violence and conflict are treated.
Other areas of university study outside the traditional Islamic sciences that would also need to be incorporated into an IPS program are: law, international law, international relations, political science, arbitration and conflict studies, sociology, military history, and economics. Here too, the aim would not be to gain an expertise in all of these fields, but to make available the resources in each of them for the study of the causes and prevention of illegitimate violence by individuals, groups and the state, including terrorism, civil unrest, and wars of aggression.
Ideally, IPS should aim to include approaches used in fields such as Islamic human rights, development and environmental education, security and disarmament, conflict resolution/transformation, critical media awareness, and international relations, but with an understanding of how these issues relate to the teachings of Islam derived from the Qur’an and hadiths.
Training for peace is sometimes seen as little more than the acquisition of arbitration skills. It should not be assumed, however, that to avoid violence compromise between both sides of any conflict should be sought through neutral arbitration. Where there is injustice and oppression, IPS should investigate the means to peace that is achieved with the removal of the injustice and oppression in accordance with Islamic norms.
In order to develop an IPS curriculum, it is necessary to integrate Islamic religious teachings into every phase of the curriculum, for otherwise, the religious character of the program will be in danger of being overwhelmed by secular components. The curriculum envisaged here is for university study, since our focus in this paper is on proposals for Islamic states; however, it is also hoped that suitably modified programs in IPS would also find a place in Islamic seminaries.
By way of a provisional outline for an IPS curriculum, consider the following three phase program. Each phase should involve both theoretical and practical training.

Phase 1: The Inner Peace of Iman
Here we should examine Islamic teachings in the Qur’an and hadiths, in ethics and ‘irfan and in ‘ilm al-nafs regarding the inner causes of haram violence, anger, hatred and jealousy, and methods for controlling them. This phase of IPS is notably absent from most Western peace studies curricula, although it is fundamental to an Islamic approach to the issue. On the other hand, non-traditional areas of study to be pursued in this phase include methods of healing and recovery from trauma and how to deal with stress and aggression as well as personal psychological hygiene.

Phase 2: The Peace in Community of Islam
The examples of the Prophet and of his Ahl al-Bayt provide ample resources to examine cases in which violent conflict threatened the Muslim community from within or plunged it into civil strife. These cases need to be reviewed in order to understand the measures that were proposed by the divine guides to avert or end such internal strife. At the same time, students of IPS should acquaint themselves with sociological and anthropological studies about Islamic communities and the conflicts that have arisen in them. Students should also study the different sects within Islam, and the history of the conflicts among them and efforts that have been made to promote their mutual understanding.
On the practical level, students should learn conflict analysis and transformation skills,8 conciliation techniques, and the various methods by which Islam fosters reconciliation. Violent conflict within the umma is by no means limited to sectarian violence, but includes violence within families, between tribes, ethnic groups, and nations, and so, skill need to be developed for the analysis and treatment of all of these various types of conflict.

Phase 3: Ihsan: Promoting Peace as a Mulim Neighbor
In the third phase we should consider relations between Muslims and non- Muslims. This phase can be divided into four sorts of cases: (1) Muslim minorities in non-Muslim lands, the paradigm of which is to be found in the group of Muslims sent by the Prophet (s) to Ethiopia to avoid persecution; (2) Muslim relations with non- Muslim minorities living among them (the paradigm for which is the protection offered by the Prophet (s) for the Peoples of the Book); (3) relations between Muslims and non-Muslims under different governments (the paradigm of which is to be found in the treaty agreements offered by the Prophet (s) to many non-Muslim tribes and states); and finally, (4) relations of Muslims to non-Muslims among whom there are conflicts.
Here political analysis is needed and some understanding of international relations and its theory, international law and legal studies, and an acquaintance with institutions for international justice and security. An understanding is needed of how natural resources, land and water can figure in conflicts and their resolutions. The practical level should include the development of skills to deal with media, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
There are numerous organizations that specialize in the practical skills needed for conflict resolution and transformation and conciliation, as well as peace studies programs that can assist those who wish to work for the development of IPS. The three phase program suggested above is merely to stimulate thought. There are many other ways in which IPS curricula might be developed. For this purpose, it is essential to get an overview of the different types of approaches others have taken toward peace studies so that we can achieve a vision of the similarities and differences to be found between such programs and IPS.9
In this regard, faith based programs by various Christian organizations can be especially useful. Attached as an appendix to this paper is a list of web links to organizations and universities that have developed peace studies curricula, as well as a list of academic journals in this field of research. These lists are by no means comprehensive, but serve to give an indication of the sorts of educational program and academic research that are being done. In addition to what has been provided in such lists, also worthy of mention are a number of research institutes dedicated to peace studies.10
Graduates of university programs in IPS should be employed by Islamic states as diplomats, civil servants, policy researchers and advisors to government agencies and the media, and as civilian peace service professionals (described below). They can also go on to careers in the private sector in journalism, research and education and in national and international organizations and institutions concerned with the promotion of peace and development.11

Islamic Peace Development
The term “peace building” has been used in different ways by various writers and groups involved in peace activism and study. Sometimes the term “peace making” is used for bringing violent conflict to an end; “peace-keeping” for the measures taken to prevent violent conflict from reigniting; and “peace-building” for the long-term rebuilding of a society after a violent conflict.12 Others, however, use the term “peace building” comprehensively for all the practical measures taken to bring about, maintain, and support the continuation of peace.13
In what follows, we will use the term conflict recovery for the work of healing and restoration following conflict, peace building for the constructive work of establishing peaceful relations in a society at a grass roots level with procedures to avoid further conflicts, and Islamic peace development will be used in a comprehensive sense to include conflict transformation, conflict recovery and peace building in accordance with Islamic norms. The term development should serve as a reminder of the need to cooperate with other organizations involved in the economic recovery and development of societies that have fallen victim to or are threatened by violent conflicts.
In the West, there are a number of governmental agencies, religious organizations, and international NGO’s that take on limited projects related to peace building. It is time that Muslim nations unite in their own efforts to end the violence that plagues too much of the Muslim world. Muslim states should create an Islamic Peace Organization (IPO) for the sake of putting into practice what can be learned through IPS. The programs undertaken by IPO should include conflict transformation and resolution efforts, conciliation and arbitration, recovery and post-traumatic aid, and long term peace building, which in some cases will overlap with development efforts.
Islamic states in this globalized world need to cooperate to form a civilian peace service (IPO) comprised of Muslim clerics, diplomats and other Muslim men and women trained in conflict transformation. The IPO might be coordinated through the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Its aims should be to develop grass roots support and networking for peace development: (1) conciliation and conflict transformation; (2) restorative justice and healing; and (3) peace building.
The tasks of IPO will involve cooperation with governmental agencies, national and international NGO’s, and local groups, focusing of the role that religious leadership, instruction, and faith can play to promote Islamic peace development. The role of IPO should be to facilitate Islamic peace development by making its services available, not by dictating policies or competing with local authorities. All activities of IPO should be undertaken in compliance with the legal rulings governing the project areas, and in full cooperation with host governmental agencies.
IPO is not to be an armed peace-keeping force, but a civilian service whose activities will be:
I. Conflict Transformation, through conciliation and arbitration services to prevent the outbreak or spread of violence, and to help bring about an end to armed conflict where it exists by offering mediation based on Islamic norms. Services to be provided as a part of conflict transformation may also come to include finding methods to protect those in danger, advice during conflict, measures to deescalate conflict and provide various forms of conciliation.
II. Conflict Recovery, by providing support and counseling.
III. Peace Building, by working with local groups and individuals to nurture peace and to set up procedures for the avoidance of future violence by fostering respect for Islamic norms, principles, values and precepts.
IPO should cooperate with other international agencies and NGO’s with more experience in providing this sort of service, but it should seek to develop its own techniques based on the common Islamic faith of the parties to mediated disputes.
IPO should assist in the placement and qualification of local Muslim activists through training in IPS, and in the deployment of those trained in IPS to take part in projects.
IPO should also develop assessment tools to evaluate its own work in various projects. Assessments should be made in cooperation with local community leaders and government agencies.
In addition to IPS training, IPO professionals should be mature, have experience with conflict transformation, have knowledge of the culture and languages of the disputants, be in good health, and should be of sound character in accordance with Islamic ethics, and recognized for their justice and good judgment.
IPO should not attempt to maintain neutrality in all conflict situations. Rather, conflicts should be evaluated in accordance with Islamic standards, so that IPO may help wronged parties in conflict situations to achieve their rights in accordance with Islamic law through non-violent means. Islam is not a neutral factor—it is hope for the oppressed.
IPO workers should seek to cooperate with other peace building efforts whose aims and methods are in harmony with those of Islam. In this regard the work of Christian Peace Maker Teams and Muslim Peace Maker Teams is exemplary.
IPO workers should appeal to the rationality of obedience to Islamic precepts as non-violent alternatives to armed conflict. IPO workers differ from other peace building efforts insofar as they rely on the faith of those involved in conflict situations. The reliance on faith is also an invitation to understanding. To some extent, of course, all peace development efforts require some appeal to the understanding. Even the military enforcement of peace is designed, in part, to get potentially warring factions to understand that continuation of hostilities will not lead to desirable consequences. However, the focus of what I am calling “practical approaches” is not on the understanding, per se, but on behavior and relationships, or on the ways in which different groups of people interact.
I do not mean to suggest that IPO should approach peace development solely through an intellectual appeal, which would be unrealistic. However, if practical means are integrated with approaches toward peace that focus on understanding, especially on the understanding of Islamic precepts and ideals, understanding may prove to be a key to the achievement of lasting peace, in sha’ Allah.

References
Abu-Nimer, Mohammed (2003) Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam: Theory and Practice, Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Bovard, James (2006) “The Farcical Definition at the Heart of the War on Terrorism,” January 30, 2006.
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0601j.asp
Chomsky, Noam (2001) “The New War Against Terror,” transcribed from audio recorded at The Technology & Culture Forum at MIT, October 18, 2001: http://www.zmag.org/GlobalWatch/chomskymit.htm.
Chomsky, Noam (2006) “Grievances and Consequences: The Terrorist in the Mirror,” Amnesty International Annual Lecture hosted by TCD, delivered at Shelbourne Hall, the Royal Dublin Society, January 18, 2006.
http://www.counterpunch.com/chomsky01242006.html
Harris, Ian M. (2006) “Peace Studies at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century,” in PJSA and IPRAF (2006):
http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/globaldirectory/GD7intro.pdf
Hocking, William Ernest (1926) Man and the State, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Klare, Michael (1996) Guide to Careers and Graduate Education in Peace Studies, Amherst: PAWSS.
Klare, Michael, ed. (1994) Peace and World Security Studies: A Curriculum Guide, 6th ed., Amherst: PAWSS and Lynn Rienner.
Lederach, John Paul (2003) The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, Intercourse: Good Books.
PJSA and IPRAF (2006) Global Directory of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Programs, 7th ed., Peace and Justice Studies Association and the International Peace Research Association Foundation http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/globaldirectory/
Sahnoun, Mohamed (1996) "Managing Conflicts in the Post-Cold War Era," in Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: The Role of Intervention. Report of the Aspen Institute Conference, August 2-6, 1995, Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Institute, 89-96.
Said, Abdul Aziz, Nathan C. Funk, and Ayse S. Kadayifci, eds. (2001) Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam: Precept and Practice, Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.
Sampson, Cynthia and John Paul Lederach (2000) From the Ground Up: Mennonite Contributions to International Peacebuilding, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Satha-Anand, Chaiwat (Qader Muheideen) (2001) “The Nonviolent Crescent: Eight Theses on Muslim Nonviolent Actions,” in Islam and Nonviolence, edited by Glenn D. Paige, Chaiwat Satha-Anand (Qader Muheideen), and Sara Gilliatt, Honolulu: Center for Global Nonviolence, 2001. http://www.globalnonviolence.org/islam.htm
Schirch, Lisa and J. Daryl Byler (2005) “Effective and Faithful Security Strategies,” in At Peace and Unafraid, edited by Duane K. Friesen and Gerald W. Schlabach, Scottdale and Waterloo: Herald Press, 423-442.
Zehr, Howard (2002) The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Intercourse: Good Books.

Appendix A: Links to Peace Studies Programs
The Academy for Conflict Transformation in the Forum Civil Peace Service (forumZFD), Germany
http://www.forumzfd.de/academy_home.html http://www.conflict-prevention.net/
Center for International Conflict Resolution, Columbia University, US
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/cicr/education/index.html
Center for Peace Studies, McMaster University, Canada
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~peace/
Centre for Conflict Studies, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands
http://www.uu.nl/conflictstudies/
Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, US
http://www.emu.edu/ctp/
Center for Peace and Human Rights, Central University of Venezuela http://www.ucv.ve
Cornell University, US http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/PeaceProgram/default.asp
Earlham College, US http://www.earlham.edu/pags/
The Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Seoul, Korea
http://gip.khu.ac.kr/default.asp
Goshen College, US
http://www.goshen.edu/peace/Home http://www.goshen.edu/peace/Courses#pea_maj
Indianapolis Peace Institute, US
http://www.plowsharesproject.org/php/peacehouse/about.php
Institut Frieden und Demokratie, FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/FRIEDEN/
The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, US
http://www.nd.edu/~krocinst/
The Martin Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict resolution, University of Idaho, US
http://www.martin.uidaho.edu/
Peace Studies Institute, Manchester College, US
http://www.manchester.edu/Academics/departments/Peace_Studies/index.htm
Plowshares, US http://www.plowsharesproject.org/index.php
The Research and Education for Peace (REP), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
http://www.soc.usm.my/research/repusm/courses.html
Responding to Conflict, UK http://www.respond.org/
Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Toronto, Canada
http://www.trudeaucentre.ca/
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México http://www.uaemex.mx/mpaz/
Universität Innsbruck, Austria
http://www.uibk.ac.at/studium/weiterbildung/ulg/details/frieden.html
University of Bradford, Dept. of Peace Studies, UK
http://www.brad.ac.uk/university/ugpros/peace.php
University of Missouri-Columbia, US http://peacestudies.missouri.edu/
The University for Peace, Costa Rica http://www.upeace.org

Appendix B: Links to Peace Building Programs
Christian Peace Maker Teams (CPT), Canada and US http://www.cpt.org
Civil Peace Service, Germany
http://www.ziviler-friedensdienst.org/english/main.html http://www.wfd.de/wfd/
EIRENE International Christian Service for Peace, Germany http://www.eirene.org/eng/
The European Center for Conflict Prevention http://www.conflict-prevention.net/
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), US http://www.forusa.org/
Forum Civil Peace Service (forum ZFD), Germany http://www.forumzfd.de/382.html
Friends Peace Teams http://www.friendspeaceteams.org/
Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict http://www.gppac.net/index.html
Mennonite Conciliation Service, US
http://conciliationserv.mennonite.net/ http://mcc.org/us/peacebuilding/
Peace Brigades International, UK http://www.peacebrigades.org/index.html

Appendix C: Peace Studies Journals
ACResolution Magazine
http://www.acrnet.org/publications/acresolution.htm
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
http://www.accord.org.za/ajcr/intro.htm
The Canadian Journal of Peace Studies
http://www.msvu.ca/PAX/cprea/Journal/
Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution
http://www.cojcr.org/
Conflict & Communication Online
http://www.cco.regener-online.de/
Conflict Management and Peace Science
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07388942.asp
Cooperation and Conflict
http://cac.sagepub.com/
Hiroshima Peace Science
http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/heiwa/ejnl.html
International Journal of Peace Studies
http://www.gmu.edu/academic/ijps/index.htm
Journal of Peace Research
http://www.upeace.org
Negotiation and Conflict Management Research
http://www.iacm-conflict.org/ncmr/
Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution
http://trinstitute.org/ojpcr/
Peace and Change
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0149-0508
Peace and Conflict
http://www.ipcs.org/newIpcsPublications.jsp?status=publications&status1=... d=b
Peace, Conflict and Development
http://www.peacestudiesjournal.org.uk/index.asp
Peace and Conflict Review
http://www.review.upeace.org/
Peace Review
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10402659.asp
Peace Studies Review
http://peacestudiesreview.missouri.edu/people.shtml
Security Dialogue
http://www.prio.no/page/Project_detail/Jounal_programme_detail_PRIO/9244....html

Notes
1. See http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php, accessed 29-3-07.
2. See Abu-Nimer (2003). I take it that all of these points may be verified without too much difficulty if due attention is given to work already done in peace studies on the effects of armed conflict and on conciliation, in addition to a thorough reading of the Islamic sources with an eye to such issues. A scholarly defense of these points, however, is beyond the scope of this paper.
3. See Chaiwat (2001); and Said (2001).
4. Sahnoun (1996) argues for the promotion of what UNESCO has called a “culture of peace,” and the proposals given below can be seen as steps that can be taken in order to realize this goal. In this regard see the UNESCO site: http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/uk/uk_sum_ethicalcharter.htm.
5. See Bovard (2006), Chomsky (2001), and Chomsky (2006) who reports: “The British government's definition is about the same: ‘Terrorism is the use, or threat, of action which is violent, damaging or disrupting, and is intended to influence the government or intimidate the public and is for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, or ideological cause.’”
6. Hocking (1926), 422.
7. See PJSA and IPRAF (2006) for a directory of programs, and the introduction, Harris (2006), for a history of the academic field.
8. See Lederach (2003).
9. See Klare (1994); and http://pawss.hampshire.edu/faculty/curriculum/index.html.
10. There are many institutions for academic research in peace studies that should be mentioned, and listing just a few seems to be unfair to those omitted. However, here, as a mere sample we may list the following:
The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/
International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) http://www.prio.no/
The University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium: http://conflict.colorado.edu/
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) http://www.sipri.org/
The International Association for Conflict Management http://www.iacm-conflict.org
11. See Klare (1996).
12. This terminology is used, for instance, in the German Ziviler Friedens Dienst (See Appendix B).
13. The term is used in this sense in some of the essays in Sampson and Lederach (2000).

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