Moving Out of Conflict: Negotiating Social Identity in Response to Segregation in Northern Ireland

This paper examines the impact of territoriality on young people’s everyday experiences in Northern Ireland’s segregated communities. It shows how urban encounters are reproduced through negotiating differences and the ways in which living in divided communities escalates moods of social inequality and spatial imbalances. The empirical study undertaken in the city of Derry shows how individuals and community groups position and identify themselves under the impact of social segregation. Building on Gordon Allport’s (1954) theories of contact, I explain how people in Derry have established their own sense of belonging, of who they are, based on their group memberships which eventually became an important source of pride and selfesteem. They also presented their own intertextual references as a cause of routine survival and belonging, allowing them to be more constructive about their future. Under deeply rooted segregation in Northern Ireland, the young generations are sought to provide lasting change to foster peace and integration between the two communities.

Integrated techno-economic and environmental assessments of sixty scenarios for co-firing biomass with coal and natural gas

Displacement of fossil fuel-based power through biomass co-firing could reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels. In this study, data-intensive techno-economic models were developed to evaluate different co-firing technologies as well as the configurations of these technologies. The models were developed to study 60 different scenarios involving various biomass feedstocks (wood chips, wheat straw, and forest residues) co-fired either with coal in a 500 MW subcritical pulverized coal (PC) plant or with natural gas in a 500 MW natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plant to determine their technical potential and costs, as well as to determine environmental benefits. The results obtained reveal that the fully paid-off coal-fired power plant co-fired with forest residues is the most attractive option, having levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) of $53.12–$54.50/MW h and CO2 abatement costs of $27.41–$31.15/tCO2. When whole forest chips are co-fired with coal in a fully paid-off plant, the LCOE and CO2 abatement costs range from $54.68 to $56.41/MW h and $35.60 to $41.78/tCO2, respectively. The LCOE and CO2 abatement costs for straw range from $54.62 to $57.35/MW h and $35.07 to $38.48/tCO2, respectively.

Thanking the Greeks: The Crisis of the Rule of Law in EU Enlargement Regulation

This paper showcases the weaknesses of EU enlargement law and demonstrates how one Member State – namely, Greece – is notable for abusing this weakness, for harming the candidate countries, the EU, and the institutions alike, for stripping the EU position of its predictability, and for undermining the EU Commission’s efforts. Accordingly, Greece has severely incapacitated the key procedural rule of law component of the EU’s enlargement regulation, turning it into a randomised political game and ignoring any long-term goals of stability, prosperity, and peace that the process is to stand for. Following a walk through Greece’s engagement throughout a number of enlargement rounds, the paper concludes that the duty of loyalty – which is presumably able to discipline Member States that undermine the common effort – should find a new meaning in the context of EU enlargement.

Ultra-High-Resolution Observations of MHD Waves in Photospheric Magnetic Structures

This chapter reviews the recent observations of waves and oscillations manifesting in fine-scale magnetic structures in the solar photosphere, which are often interpreted as the "building blocks' of the magnetic Sun. The authors found, through phase relationships between the various waveforms, that small-scale magnetic bright points (MBPs) in the photosphere demonstrated signatures of specific magnetoacoustic waves, in particular the sausage and kink modes. Modern magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the lower solar atmosphere clearly show how torsional motions can easily be induced in magnetic elements in the photosphere through the processes of vortical motions and/or buffeting by neighboring granules. The authors detected significant power associated with high-frequency horizontal motions, and suggested that these cases may be especially important in the creation of a turbulent environment that efficiently promotes Alfvén wave dissipation.

Research by Peaceful Means: Methodologies in Peace Psychology

Methodologies in Peace Psychology (Bretherton & Law, 2016) offers a multidisciplinary perspective on the relation between research and methodologies, making it a useful read not only for those interested in peace psychology, but also for all researchers and practitioners interested in mixed and participative methods. The edited volume offers a multifaceted approach to the topic, incorporating global authors with different backgrounds and perspectives who are at diverse stages of their academic careers. Thus, it complements a traditional Western-focused approach, making a unique contribution to the literature.

Reconciliation's Contributions to Quality Peace

In this chapter we ask what unique contributions reconciliation can make toward building quality peace. We begin by briefly reviewing some of the diverse approaches to understanding the term reconciliation, and settle on a formulation consistent with the emerging perspective of a quality of peace. We then identify three levels – international, state-citizen, intergroup – at which reconciliation can impact peace. We explore how reconciliation may function at each level and how specific factors may advance a more robust and lasting peace process. We synthesize this analysis by identifying key aspects of reconciliation that advance our understanding of a quality of peace: inclusive participation, balancing symbolic and material actions, integrating psychosocial processes, and emphasizing generational approaches. The chapter concludes with suggestions of possible indicators and future research that may support the links between reconciliation and peace processes.

Why Putin has pulled Russia out of Syria

By formally quitting during a ceasefire he himself masterminded – and on the back of significant military gains – Putin can leave with his head held high. Having proven his critics wrong and demonstrated the capability of Russia’s military (and its new weapons – a splendid advert to any buyers of Russian arms), Putin can now concentrate on the diplomatic aspect of the peace process, something at which Moscow usually excels.

Peace by Piece: (Re) imagining Division in Belfast’s Contested Spaces through Memory

This paper investigates processes and actions of diversifying memories of division in Northern Ireland’s political conflict known as the Troubles. Societal division is manifested in its built fabric and territories that have been adopted by predominant discourses of a fragmented society in Belfast; the unionist east and the nationalist west. The aim of the paper is to explore current approaches in planning contested spaces that have changed over time, leading to success in many cases. The argument is that divided cities, like Belfast, feature spatial images and memories of division that range from physical, clear-cut segregation to manifested actions of violence and have become influential representations in the community’s associative memory. While promoting notions of ‘re-imaging’ by current councils demonstrates a total erasure of the Troubles through cleansing its local collective memory, there yet remains an attempt to communicate a different tale of the city’s socio-economic past, to elaborate its supremacy for shaping future lived memories. Yet, planning Belfast’s contested areas is still suffering from a poor understanding of the context and its complexity against overambitious visions. 

Bringing down the walls: Is the notion of ‘promoting shared space’ commensurate with effective transformation of contested places in Belfast?

This article is a reflexive and critical examination of recent empirical research on effective practice in the management and ‘transformation’ of contested urban space at sectarian interfaces in Belfast. By considering the development of interfaces, the areas around them and policy responses to their persistence, the reality of contested space in the context of ‘peace building’ is apparent; with implications for local government as central to the statutory response. Belfast has developed an inbuilt absence of connectivity; where freedom of movement is particularly restricted and separation of contested space is the policy default position. Empirical research findings focus attention on the significance of social and economic regeneration and fall into three specific areas that reflect both long-term concerns within neighbourhoods and the need for adequate policy responses and action ‘on the ground’. Drawing on Elden and Sassen we reconfigure the analytical framework by which interfaces are defined, with implications for policy and practice in post-conflict Belfast. Past and current policy for peace-building in Northern Ireland, and transforming the most contested space, at interfaces in Belfast, is deliberately ambiguous and offers little substance having failed to advance from funding-led linguistic compliance to a sustainable peace-building methodology.

Queering Memories of the Troubles: Performing LGBTQ testimonies in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, decades of religious and political unrest led to the marginalization not only of rights but also the experiences and voices of those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and/or Queer (LGBTQ). The peace process has arguably created space in which sexual minorities can voice their experiences and articulate counter-memories to those that tend to dominate ethno-nationalist commemorations of the conflict. This essay explores two productions of Northern Ireland’s first publicly funded gay theatre company, TheatreofplucK, led by artistic director Niall Rea: D.R.A.G (Divided, Radical and Gorgeous) was first performed in 2011 and explores the personal experiences of a Belfast drag queen in the form of personal testimonial monologue. The forthcoming (November 2015) performed archive installation, Tr<uble, by Shannon Yee, assembles true-life testimonies of the LGBTQ community in Northern Ireland during and after the Troubles. I will explore how performed and performative memories have the potential to ‘queer’ remembrance of the Troubles.

‘Is there a right time for gender just peace? Feminist anti-war organising revisited’

This paper addresses the question of totalising gender power relations that have led to and shaped the wars of the 1990s in Yugoslavia and the emerging ethno-national states on the ‘periphery’ of Europe. I argue that the same type of gender power relations continue to dominate the region, notably Serbia, and to perpetuate gender inequalities and gender based violence in its many everyday and structural forms, causing profound levels of human insecurity. My analysis aims to set in motion a debate on how to tackle these continuing gender inequalities and GBV in post-war societies. In so doing, I propose a shift from focusing on the hierarchy of victimisation that has characterised much of the feminist analyses, activism and scholarly work in relation to these (and other) conflicts, to a relational understanding of the gendered processes of victimisation in war and peace, that is - of both women and men. Such an approach holds a potential to undermine the power systems that engender these varied types of victimisation by ultimately reshaping the notions of masculinity and femininity, which are central to the gender power systems that generate gender unjust peace.

The South Carolina handbook of the war

This handbook issued by the South Carolina State Council of Defense provides a listing of contacts for the Council and 36 essays about the history of the war, current events, the role of America in the war, and peace efforts. The handbook concludes with essays and quotes from South Carolinians and with reports on how citizens can help with the war effort.

Pope as media star: a long career full of reinvention

On the whole, a man who is elected as Pope is well on in years. Some, despite this, have managed to reign for a long time, Leo XIII for instance who came to the throne when he was already seventy in 1878, reigned for twenty five years. Wojtyla was elected when he was only fifty eight, in 1978. In the last century or so, the papacy has become visible worldwide through the mass media. On his accession, Wojtyla was presented as a man's man, a sportsman - according to Professor Eamon Duffy of Cambridge University - as a Bishop with balls. Like other media stars who have stayed the test of time, e.g. Madonna, David Bowie, it seems that he has been able to reinvent his media image to some extent; from the active sportsman to the benevolent grandfather to the ailing figure we see today. He has taken on the aspect of a media star, a world traveller, a spiritual leader, a politician, a mediator and a peace leader. He has been described as the most-photographed person on the planet. This paper will attempt to trace these changes and to ascertain, using Vatican and media sources to discover how much of this continual change is driven by the personality of John Paul himself and how much is a deliberate policy on the part of the Vatican.

Interoperability on e-learning 2.0: the PEACE case study

The confluence of education with the evolution of technology boosted the paradigm shift of the face-to-face learning to distance learning. In this scenario e-Learning plays an essential role as a facilitator of the teaching/learning process. However new demands associated with the new Web paradigm require that existent e-Learning environments characterized mostly by monolithic systems begin interacting with new specialized services. In this decentralized scenario the definition of a strategy of interoperability is the cornerstone to ensure the standardization communication among systems. This paper presents a definition of an interoperability strategy for an e-Learning environment at our School (ESEIG) called PEACE – Project for ESEIG Academic Content Environment. This new interoperability model relies on the application of several coordination and integration standards on several services, controlled by teachers and students, and included in the PEACE environment such as social networks, repositories, libraries, e-portfolios, intelligent tutors, recommendation systems and virtual classrooms.