The vow of poverty is essential to many religious orders—as is their relationship to the actual people who are marginalized and poor in their context. This article traces the origin of Ignatius of Loyola’s embrace of poverty and its transferal to the Society of Jesus he founded. It follows the challenge of maintaining that commitment considering the principle ministry of the Society in education. Finally, it notes developments in the past 60 years for how “faith and justice” are framed and understood. Ignatius’ preference for Jesuits to live in proximity to the poor is certainly challenged in the U.S. context of higher education.

This essay describes an undergraduate course, “Christian Ethics of War and Peace,” taught for more than two decades at a Catholic university. I first situate the course within the debate between just war philosophers Michael Walzer and Jeff McMahan on the moral equivalency of soldiers and the right of conscientious objection to unjust war. The development of SCO (selective conscientious objection) in the Catholic tradition is traced from Augustine to John Paul II. The Sic et Non of Abelard is invoked as a precedent for the course pedagogy, in which students are asked to develop and articulate their own personal conscience in light of the long-standing tension between arguments for pacifism and for just war. Borrowing from contemporary cognitive psychology, this task is described as one of “reflective judgment” regarding an “ill-structured problem.” The major writing assignment is described and one student’s testimony on its challenge is offered.

Spinoza’s defense of a dynamic democracy arises from his account of finite beings, and shifts from finite beings to ever more complex bodies, such as the human individual and the artificial individual of the state. In this account, he challenges political authority to be responsive to the insight that our power arises out of rather than in spite of our multiplicity. Spinoza’s conception of social power provides a critical understanding of democratic organization that requires the incorporation of marginalized voices. In this essay, I argue that Spinoza’s defense of democracy sets the framework for political theorizing that rejects hierarchical structures of domination and demands substantial inclusivity in the service of empowered and peaceful social relations. In conceiving autonomy relationally and individual power collectively, Spinoza poses a critical challenge to the contemporary models of democracy and social orders that resist rather than harness the strength of social multiplicity in the preservation of empowered peace.

This article examines the perceptions and experiences of 120 participants interviewed in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties in 2010 regarding community peacebuilding, and the future of community-based projects. The respondents shared their thoughts on the projects and program initiatives funded by the European Union Peace and Reconciliation or Peace III Fund and the International Fund for Ireland. They discussed the impacts of external aid on the community peacebuilding process as well as the long-term sustainability of projects. This study explores the narratives of community leaders and program development officers from Derry and the Border Counties. The findings emphasize that while the participants noted that the external aid contributed to promoting community peacebuilding, there is a lot more to be addressed in terms of cross-community interaction. Additionally, there is an uncertainty regarding the sustainability of many project initiatives once the funds end. As a result of such insecurity, there is a concern regarding the stability of peace in the region.

This article draws on qualitative research to examine Mohajir women’s construction of and understanding of their ethnopolitical Mohajir identity in the port city of Karachi, Pakistan, The Mohajir identity is constructed around a shared language amongst individuals with historically diverse backgrounds, and has proven to be a potent yet divisive ethnopolitical identity. The article argues that in order to assuage the grievances of the Mohajirs, sociopolitical steps such as elimination of the job quota system must be taken by the government in order for sustainable peace to be achieved.

Liberal peacebuilding, a dominant form of peacebuilding since the post-Cold War era, has involved multifaceted approaches, countless resources, multiple actors and significant efforts and yet, because of its standardized model and exclusion of local culture, resources and actors it has failed to achieve sustainable peace and development. Local peacebuilding practices, on the other hand, are mostly inclusive and culturally relevant but are not immune to power abuse, exclusion and inhumane practices. This essay explores the possibility of utilizing hybrid peacebuilding—collaboration of local and international actors and resources—to attain sustainable peace in conflict-ridden countries. It commences with a critique of liberal peacebuilding. It then analyzes the notion of hybridity and hybrid peacebuilding, and seeks to answer why hybrid peacebuilding seems to be an emancipatory alternative to liberal peacebuilding.