The value and practicality of in bello discrimination in the context of “modern war” has been the subject of much scholarly debate. This essay analyzes in bello discrimination within the framework of the just war ethic in conversation with these contemporary concerns. In addition to analyzing objections frequently brought to bear on the feasibility of practicing in bello discrimination, this essay emphasizes the role of empathy as a corrective to pseudospeciation if violations of noncombatant immunity are to be reduced.

The gender perspective theory is a framework that assists Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) scholars and practitioners to develop less violent and more equal societies. In Colombia, this theory is under attack from Protestant Christian churches that have produced the category of gender ideology to delegitimize the gender perspective. In this article, we analyse the narratives used by members of the Protestant Christian churches and conservative political leaders in Colombia to create the category of gender ideology. This new concept became a central element both in forging the identity of Protestant Christian congregations and in opposing the peace agreement reached by the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas. We discuss how family plays a significant role in the development of the gender ideology. Finally, we contend that gender ideology is a social category that is gaining ground in legal and academic circles in Colombia, forming an identity for Christian conservatives centered in a Manichean world that excludes people who traditionally have been marginalized in Colombian society.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) brought an end to conflict in Northern Ireland (NI). However, the peace process has not brought about the reconciliation which many had hoped for. The purpose of this article is to consider the role of ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’ in fostering reconciliation in Northern Ireland. My research contains the views of primary school and secondary school principals and head teachers to ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’ in Northern Ireland. The research is positioned in the tradition of previous research literature and contemporary concerns relating to integrated education and the Shared Education Bill that was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly on the 8th March 2016. My research adds to the emerging knowledge in the area and offers an insight on the attitudes of educators in Northern Ireland to ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’. It also engages with ‘interventionist research’. This paper is written from the point of view that genuine and effective ‘peace education’ requires ‘integrated education’ where children from diverse backgrounds are educated together every day in the same classrooms.

Applied linguists and anthropologists tend to agree on the interplay between language and culture in the study of society; yet, language and culture are seldom evoked to understand crises in human relations, such as interethnic wars. Drawing from some examples of naming practices and proverbs, this paper will analyze Burundians’ perceptions of peace (amahoro) or peace-related concepts, such as calm (umutekano), or unity (ubumwe). Two major theories, i.e., Galtung’s theory of negative and positive peace, and Danesh’s Integrative Theory of Peace, provide the framework for the discussion. Critical discourse analysis is applied to the content of folkloric genres, namely proverbial uses and (children) name choices to demonstrate that: (1) Burundians as a society do not have a culturally grounded peace expectation, (2) Rather, Burundian society has been built on the core principle of sharing and hospitality, which are also at the core of harmony and peace; and (3) a climate of mutual distrust and suspicion has always prevailed in Burundi regardless of ethnic rivalries. The conclusion supports the proposition that, as predicted in the nation’s folkloric literature, the restoration of peace and harmony cannot happen unless the practices of sharing and hospitality are reinstated and respected.

This discussion paper draws on previous literature, and new primary research into human trafficking and sexual exploitation, outlining how the discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) has evolved over the past fifty years. The discipline has moved through the following six distinct schools of thought: (1) Peace Studies (disarmament, nonviolence), (2) Conflict Management (ADR), (3) Conflict Resolution (problem solving, human needs), (4) Conflict Transformation (reconciliation, local people’s culture), (5) Peace and Conflict Studies (peacebuilding), and (6) Critical and Emancipatory Peacebuilding (the local people’s resiliency, and social justice). While these PACS eras can be distinguished, there is also considerable overlap between them. This paper explores some of those definable periods.

The concept of wrongful birth, which is based on the premise that a person would have been better off never having been born, is a serious mat­ter for Catholic obstetricians, especially in the context of prenatal screening. This principle, in conjuncture with the belief that individuals with disabilities have a decreased quality of life, has been used to promote a eugenic mentality. Consequently, prenatal screening tests often are used to identify fetuses with disabilities, who subsequently are aborted. Not only is this practice ethically reprehensible, but its presuppositions about quality of life find little support in the medical literature. In fact, in the case of Down syndrome, there is consider­able evidence to the contrary: individuals living with Down syndrome have a high quality of life and are accepted by their families. These data illuminate the discrepancy between how physicians portray Down syndrome to expect­ant parents and what the literature shows regarding this condition.