Cover of Journal for Peace and Justice Studies
Already a subscriber? - Login here
Not yet a subscriber? - Subscribe here

Browse by:



Displaying: 1-20 of 31 documents


1. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Kurtis Hagen Conspiracy Theories and Stylized Facts
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
In an article published in the Journal of Political Philosophy, Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that the government and its allies ought to activelyundermine groups that espouse conspiracy theories deemed “demonstrably false.” They propose infiltrating such groups in order to “cure” conspiracy theorists by treating their “crippled epistemology” with “cognitive diversity.” They base their proposal on an analysis of the “causes” of such conspiracy theories, which emphasizes informational and reputational cascades. Some may regard their proposal as outrageous and anti-democratic. I agree. However, in this article I merely argue that their argument is flawed in at least the following ways: (1) their account of the popularity of conspiracy theories is implausible, and (2) their proposal relies on misleading “stylized facts,” including a caricature of those who doubt official narratives and a deceptive depiction of the relevant history.
2. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Immaculée Harushimana Mutilated Dreams: African-Born Refugees in US Secondary Schools
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This article argues that the US school system is partly to blame for the mutilated educational dreams among African-born war refugee students resettled in the United States. Feeling mistreated, unprotected, and unsupported, these students have slim chances to integrate successfully in the public school system. Evidence from research and first-hand refugee testimonies provide an insight into the factors that blockade the educational success for “multiple-stop” refugeechildren, that is, refugees who move from one camp to another before reaching final destination. Included among these factors are: overlooked interruptedschooling, social/peer rejection, and unmet special needs. Recommendations stress the need for a reform in school policy and administration to ensure thatrefugee children receive the dignity they crave and the support they need in order to progress educationally, and eventually achieve their utmost dreams.
3. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M. Why Is Torture Wrong?
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Roman Catholic teaching on torture has undergone evolution. At one time the Church endorsed the use of torture in trials and investigations. Today theproscription of torture is absolute, according to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. What accounts for this development? This essaymaintains that Catholicism’s increased appreciation for the centrality of freedom to the experience of human dignity provides the rationale for the church’steaching on torture. While utilitarian and other forms of argument may be used by opponents to torture, the Catholic argument is fundamentally deontological.Contemporary forms of torture have as their aim the breakdown of a victim’s inner freedom. For that reason torture, as it is practiced today, is judged to beespecially antithetical to the Catholic understanding of the image of God within the person, the exercise of freedom as self-determination.
4. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
David Pasick Education for Some: The Inadequacy of Educational Programs Offered to Youth Offenders in Adult and Juvenile Correctional Facilities
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
As an adherent to the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United States has made a commitment to social justice. As a part of this commitment, the U.S. maintains that the right to an education is both innate and compulsory. This paper addresses U.S. government’s failure to uphold its citizens’ educational rights, made clear by the inadequacy of the educational programs currently offered to juvenile offenders. Based on the findings of recent scholarly literature, this paper argues that both juvenile and adult correctional institutions lack the resources necessary to provide proper educational instruction and adequately address the special educational needs of juvenile offenders. To help the U.S. maintain its commitment to social justice, alternatives to juvenile incarceration are proposed.
5. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
John P. Reeder, Jr. Terrorism, Secularism, and the Deaths of Innocents
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The “moral equivalence” objector—appealing only to certain moral considerations, e.g., wellbeing and consent—argues that no inherent moral significanceattaches to the distinction between intended means and foreseen side-effects: If an act of direct killing is wrong, then a morally comparable act of indirect killingis wrong as well; if an act of indirect killing is right, then so is a morally comparable act of direct killing. One secular version of double effect is vulnerable to the objection unless it can provide a principle of justice which prohibits direct but justifies indirect killing. Both the secular version and the moral equivalence view depart (in different ways) from a theological interpretation of double effect as “delegated dominion.”
book reviews
6. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Stéphanie Vieille Brian Grodsky, The Costs of Justice: How Leaders Respond to Previous Rights Abuses
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
7. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Laurie Calhoun Ann Jones, War is Not Over When It's Over: Women Speak Out from the Ruins of War
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
8. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Dr. Tim Horner We Cannot Forget: Interviews with Survivors of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. Eds. Samual Totten and Rafiki Ubaldo
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
9. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
John-Patrick Schultz Vincent Harding, Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
10. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Samuel Oluoch Imbo Why Africa Matters. Cedric Mayson
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
11. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Stephen D. Fahrig, OMV Jesus of Galilee: Contextual Christology for the 21st Century. Ed. Robert Lassalle-Klein
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
12. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Laurie Gagne, Ph.D. Catholic Social Teaching in Global Perspective. Edited by Daniel McDonald, S.J. Maryknoll
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
13. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Cabrini Pak J. Milburn Thompson, Introducing Catholic Social Thought
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
14. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
Notes On Contributors
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
15. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Editor’s Note
view |  rights & permissions | cited by
16. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Maureen H. O’Connell Jus Ante Bellum: Faith-Based Diplomacy and Catholic Traditions on War and Peace
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Several aspects of our post-9/11 reality challenge the relevance, practicality, and international viability of the two primary trajectories of the Christian tradition on war and peace (just war theory and pacifism): the rise of strong religion around the world, the privatization of first-world faith, and an American preference for autonomous reason. This article proposes “faith-based diplomacy” as a constructive middle or third way between what have become dichotomous Christian responses to war and violent conflict, and a response that attends to the challenges of our post-9/11 “signs of the times.” After reviewing recent developments in each trajectory, I suggest that faith-based diplomacy cultivates a series of intentional dispositions and actions that foster peace and seek justice even in the absence of armed conflict. It offers a model of “justice before war” or jus ante bellum that complements the growing edges of both the just war theory and peacemaking by offering several as yet unexplored dispositions and commitments necessary for effective responses to violent conflict.
17. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Andrew J. Pierce Formal Democracy, Structural Violence, and the Possibility of “Perpetual Peace”
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
In this paper, I revisit and evaluate Kant’s prerequisites for “perpetual peace,” including the claim, central to contemporary political rhetoric, that formal democracy produces peace. I argue that formal democracy alone is insufficient to address the kinds of deep-rooted structural violence that ultimately manifest interrorism and other forms of direct violence. I claim that the attempt to eliminate structural violence, and so achieve real “perpetual peace,” requires a moresubstantive sort of democracy, of which the United States and the West remain poor examples. It requires a political critique that goes deeper than just thecritique of state power and government action. This paper tries to develop that critique through a conception of structural violence, and of participatory parity asan overarching standard of redress for this type of violence in all of its forms.
focus: education as a human right, part ii
18. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Angela Johnson, Lin Muilenburg, Katy Arnett, Lois Thomas Stover Combating Symbolic Violence in Public Schools
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
A decent education is a basic human right. The provision of free, compulsory education in the US attests to a national commitment to this right. However, thecurrent school system is plagued by inequities, including spending less money on schools serving predominantly poor and non-White populations, subjectingstudents of color to harsher punishments, putting non-White students in special education tracks at higher rates, and neglecting students who are not fluent inEnglish. These inequities are taken for granted within the school system, making the inevitable outcome, achievement gaps between White and non-Whitestudents, seem natural and inevitable. Bourdieu calls this process of making arbitrary differences seem natural “symbolic violence.” Two recent federalinterventions, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, have the potential to provide tools for combating this symbolic violence. However, each is designedaround flawed premises which inhibit that potential, which we explore in the context of teacher education.
19. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Laurie Brands Gagne The Narrative Approach to Teaching Peace and Justice
abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The narrative approach to teaching Peace and Justice attempts to address the division between activists and church-goers that is often found on Catholiccampuses. The former, who advocate for social change, tend to regard religious faith as self-serving, while the latter, who emphasize community service, tend toregard activism as “radical.” By studying the life-stories of individuals whose contributions to the struggle for justice reflect the unfolding of a spiritual journey, students come to see that religious faith can be integral to a life dedicated to social change. Barack Obama’s autobiography exemplifies the youth’s journey to self-acceptance which the theologian John Dunne identifies as the second of the four great tasks of an individual’s life. The stages of this journey involve breaking free of narcissism and what theologian Miroslav Volf calls “embracing” the other.
book reviews
20. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies: Volume > 21 > Issue: 1
Mark Shiffman E. Jane Doering, Simone Weil and the Specter of Self-perpetuating Force
view |  rights & permissions | cited by