Description
The ethics of changemaking and peacebuilding may appear straightforward: advance dignity, promote well-being, minimize suffering. Sounds simple, right? Actually acting ethically when it really matters is rarely straightforward. If someone engaged in change-oriented work sets out to "do good," how should we prioritize and evaluate whose good counts? And, how ought we act once we have decided whose good counts? Practitioners frequently confront dilemmas where dire situations may demand some form of response, but each of the options may have undesirable consequences of one form or another. Dilemmas are not merely ordinary problems, they are wicked problems: that is to say, they are defined by circumstances that only allow for suboptimal outcomes and are based on profound and sometimes troubling trade-offs. Wicked Problems argues that the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation needs a stronger and more practical sense of its ethical obligations. For example, it argues against posing false binaries between domestic and international issues and against viewing violence and conflict as equivalents. It holds strategic nonviolence up to critical scrutiny and shows that "do no harm" approaches may in fact do harm. The contributors include scholars, scholar practitioners in the field, and activists on the streets, and the chapters cover the role of violence in conflict; conflict and violence prevention and resolution; humanitarianism; community organizing and racial justice; social movements; human rights advocacy; transitional justice; political reconciliation; and peace education and pedagogy, among other topics. Drawing on the lived experiences and expertise of activists, educators, and researchers, Wicked Problems equips readers to ask--and answer--difficult questions about social change work.
About the Author
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is University Professor at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace Studies. Austin's teaching, scholarship, and public engagement lies at the intersection of social movements, human rights, and new technology. He is the author of What Slaveholders Think and The Good Drone, and has written articles in Slate, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Conversation, MIT Reader, Medium, and Aeon. His commentary on current events includes appearances on BBC and Fox News, and his work on drones has been profiled in Science and Fast Company and by NBC, among others. Douglas Irvin-Erickson is Assistant Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University. He is the author of Raphael Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide, and many articles on human rights, international criminal law and legal history, genocide, and peace. Irvin-Erickson directs the Raphael Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program at the Carter School, is a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a Board Member of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, and a member of the editorial board of Genocide Studies and Prevention. He lectures widely and works with governments, international organizations, and NGOs around the world. Ernesto Verdeja is Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. He researches contemporary genocide and mass atrocities, and political justice and reconciliation after violence. He has worked for a variety of human rights organizations and is the Executive Director of the non-profit Institute for the Study of Genocide. Ernesto regularly consults with governments and non-governmental organizations on mass atrocity prevention and reconciliation efforts.
Reviews
Underexplored are the ethics of such approaches and whose interests are served by their successes. This edited collection of 17 short essays, along with an introduction, begins filling this lacuna. Readers will encounter a highly diverse set of chapters covering subject matter that touches on American Black nationalism, LGBTQ+ issues, human trafficking, sanctions, transitional justice, and more...The book is best used for individual chapters for scholarly and teaching purposes. * Choice *
This comprehensive survey of the wicked ethical problems created by struggles for peace, rights, and justice is elegant and fast-paced. It weaves together different perspectives, contexts, and dilemmas to provide readers with a vivid, diverse, and sometimes provocative set of insights. This collection will surely become the go-to text for all those wanting to better understand the moral complexities of movements for peace and justice. * Alex J. Bellamy, The University of Queensland, Australia *
Wicked Problems is refreshing, forward looking, and engaging. It pushes the peace and conflict studies field into new directions and frames many of its most difficult challenges around the ethical implications for the various areas of this vast field of practice. * Pamina Firchow, Associate Professor of Coexistence and Conflict, Brandeis University, and author of Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation After War *
Peace, rights, and justice advocacy has a wicked problem: an aspiration for the good that demands change and therefore entails conflict small, large, and sometimes even violent. Bringing together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners who have thought deeply about and grappled with such ethical dilemmas, this volume offers important insights, lessons learned, and possible paths forward. As such, Wicked Problems is a must-read for anyone involved in normative fields like peace studies, transitional justice, human rights, atrocity prevention, and social justice. * Alex Hinton, Rutgers University, and author of It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US *
A really valuable volume full of real-world dilemmas, rich personal experience, and practical advice from a wide range of activists. Wicked Problems is a major addition to the reading list of students studying human rights activism, social movements, political resistance, conflict transformation, and the struggle for peace. * Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow, Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford *
Although other books examine ethics in changemaking, this one stands out in the diversity of the contributors' backgrounds, experiences, and assumptions about changemaking... [It collects] a stunning array of authors write short, punchy chapters that offer a visceral kick in the gut by describing the trade-offs and tensions involved in addressing these problems outside the realm of normative academic posturing. * Perspectives on Politics *
Book Information
ISBN 9780197632826
Author Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 463g
Dimensions(mm) 153mm * 233mm * 19mm
About the Author
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is University Professor at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace Studies. Austin's teaching, scholarship, and public engagement lies at the intersection of social movements, human rights, and new technology. He is the author of What Slaveholders Think and The Good Drone, and has written articles in Slate, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Conversation, MIT Reader, Medium, and Aeon. His commentary on current events includes appearances on BBC and Fox News, and his work on drones has been profiled in Science and Fast Company and by NBC, among others. Douglas Irvin-Erickson is Assistant Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University. He is the author of Raphael Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide, and many articles on human rights, international criminal law and legal history, genocide, and peace. Irvin-Erickson directs the Raphael Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program at the Carter School, is a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a Board Member of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, and a member of the editorial board of Genocide Studies and Prevention. He lectures widely and works with governments, international organizations, and NGOs around the world. Ernesto Verdeja is Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. He researches contemporary genocide and mass atrocities, and political justice and reconciliation after violence. He has worked for a variety of human rights organizations and is the Executive Director of the non-profit Institute for the Study of Genocide. Ernesto regularly consults with governments and non-governmental organizations on mass atrocity prevention and reconciliation efforts.
Reviews
Underexplored are the ethics of such approaches and whose interests are served by their successes. This edited collection of 17 short essays, along with an introduction, begins filling this lacuna. Readers will encounter a highly diverse set of chapters covering subject matter that touches on American Black nationalism, LGBTQ+ issues, human trafficking, sanctions, transitional justice, and more...The book is best used for individual chapters for scholarly and teaching purposes. * Choice *
This comprehensive survey of the wicked ethical problems created by struggles for peace, rights, and justice is elegant and fast-paced. It weaves together different perspectives, contexts, and dilemmas to provide readers with a vivid, diverse, and sometimes provocative set of insights. This collection will surely become the go-to text for all those wanting to better understand the moral complexities of movements for peace and justice. * Alex J. Bellamy, The University of Queensland, Australia *
Wicked Problems is refreshing, forward looking, and engaging. It pushes the peace and conflict studies field into new directions and frames many of its most difficult challenges around the ethical implications for the various areas of this vast field of practice. * Pamina Firchow, Associate Professor of Coexistence and Conflict, Brandeis University, and author of Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation After War *
Peace, rights, and justice advocacy has a wicked problem: an aspiration for the good that demands change and therefore entails conflict small, large, and sometimes even violent. Bringing together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners who have thought deeply about and grappled with such ethical dilemmas, this volume offers important insights, lessons learned, and possible paths forward. As such, Wicked Problems is a must-read for anyone involved in normative fields like peace studies, transitional justice, human rights, atrocity prevention, and social justice. * Alex Hinton, Rutgers University, and author of It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US *
A really valuable volume full of real-world dilemmas, rich personal experience, and practical advice from a wide range of activists. Wicked Problems is a major addition to the reading list of students studying human rights activism, social movements, political resistance, conflict transformation, and the struggle for peace. * Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow, Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford *
Although other books examine ethics in changemaking, this one stands out in the diversity of the contributors' backgrounds, experiences, and assumptions about changemaking... [It collects] a stunning array of authors write short, punchy chapters that offer a visceral kick in the gut by describing the trade-offs and tensions involved in addressing these problems outside the realm of normative academic posturing. * Perspectives on Politics *
Book Information
ISBN 9780197632826
Author Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 463g
Dimensions(mm) 153mm * 233mm * 19mm
