This research started aiming to deeply understand the current situation in Asian and Pacific conflict areas focusing on local context and to develop materials of peace education for settling the conflicts by examining campaigns for reconciliation and ...
This research started aiming to deeply understand the current situation in Asian and Pacific conflict areas focusing on local context and to develop materials of peace education for settling the conflicts by examining campaigns for reconciliation and peace education projects in the conflict region. Field research with collecting and analyzing data was conducted to build peace to settle the conflicts caused by social, political, and economic reasons in the subject regions including the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Kashmir, and Sri Lanka.
Field research on the conflict zone was carried out along with research on related literatures and reports published in English. Due to limited number of research team and time and for the purpose of maximizing the outcome of the research, an international symposiums and a workshop attended by international experts, a presentation workshop in which domestic experts who had conducted the regional field investigation twice participated to report the findings, and other workshops and seminars on the their own brought about an efficacious research work.
A reason for deciding 5 subject regions is because Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Kashmir are representative examples of the worst conflicts in East and West-South Asia, and because East Timor is building new national identities after its conflicts. In addition with 2 detailed field researches on Philippines and Indonesia another methodological paper came out to analyze systemized violence of religious and cultural ideology in those two countries and suggest the application of conflict transforming theory in settling the conflicts.
The research has shown that as different historical background and various political conditions had made different structures and phases of the conflicts, there are diverse endeavors to settle the conflicts in every region. Nevertheless, some similarities could be found in the religio-ethnic conflicts of many ethnic groups and countries. Firstly, the religious, cultural, and ethnic conflicts in Asia are closely related to the long history as colonies of western countries, political oppression, and dominating systems. Secondly, the conflicts are generated again because of the absurd political and social system that creates discrimination and estrangement resulting from differences in religions and cultures.
There is all the difference in the phase and degree of the conflicts and disputes according to what kind of political system and structure function to govern the ethnic groups and the region, and what kind of social and economic conditions are given there. conflicts are less related with cultural and religious differences, but it is more related to the historical situation and the governing system.
More detailed significances of the findings of the research are these. First, unusual synthetic result of the research on the regional study could come out by the in-depth investigation of the phase of current armed conflicts in the region, second, it formed a network among international organizations, NGOs, academic associations, and research institutions related to the regional conflict settlement, as well as attaining empirical information about peace education programs. Third, it offers basic data and materials for teaching peace educators and leaders of civil societies to understand conflict situation and prepare for the peace education through the case study on disputes in the Asian countries.-the end-