Grappling with Peace Education in Serbia

Gra ppling with Peace Education in Serbia

Ruzica Rosandic

United States Institute of Pea c e Peaceworks No. 33. First published April 2000.

The views expressed in this report are those of the author alone. They do not necessarily reflect views of the United States Institute of Peace.

UNI T E D STA T E S INS T I T U T EO F PEA C E 1200 17th Street NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036-3011

Phone: 202-457-1700 Fax: 202-429-6063 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.usip.org Co n t e n t s

Su m m a r y 5

Ack n ow l e d g m e n t s 7

Part I: Fac t o rs Confronting Pea c e Ed u c ation Efforts in Serbia 1. Introduction: Why Peace Education 9

2. The Ecology of Peace Education in Serbia 12

3. The Setting of a Closer Encounter: The Serbian School System 15

Part II: A Look at Peace Educati o n Pro g rams in Serbia 4. An Overview of Peace Education Programs 23

5. Evaluations 33

6. Prospects for Continued Peace Education in Serbia 38

No t e s 40

About the Aut h o r 45

About the Institute 46

Su m m a r y

in ce the vio l ent breakup of the Federal Repu blic of Yugo s l av ia began in 1991, the chi l d ren of Serbia have suf f ered the debil i t a ting eff ects of wa rtime cond i- Stion s . These include vari ous forms and degrees of deprivati on :s oc i a l , emo ti on- a l ,m oral , and intellectu a l .A comm i t ted group of Serbian psycho l ogists and educ a t ors so u ght to ameli ora te the effects of war on chi l d ren throu gh initia t ing more or less sys- tema tic and exten s ive peace educ a ti on programs in 1992–98. Some of these were introduced into Serbian schoo ls in 1996, with the approval of the Serbian Min i s try of Edu c a ti on ,a s part of a Uni ted Nati ons Intern a ti onal Chi l d ren ’s Emergenc y Fun d (UNICEF) project on educ a ti on for peace . One of the program s , “The Goodwill Cla s s room :E l em en t a ry School Programs in Cons tru ct ive Conf l i ct Res o luti on (1993–97),”was headed by the auth or of this report, Ruzica Ros a n d i c , and her coll e a g u e ,Tu n de Kovac- Cerovi c ,bo th profes s ors of educ a ti on a l ps ych o l ogy at the Univers i ty of Belgrade . Rosandic was a seni or fellow in the Jenn i n gs Ran do l ph Program for Intern a ti onal Peace at the Uni ted States Ins ti t ute of Peace in 19 9 7 – 9 8 ,du ring whi ch time she comp l eted the res e a r ch for this report. The report pres ents seven of the peace educ a ti on programs in Serbia ,mos t for pres ch ool and elem en t a ry school studen t s , and shows how they fit into the field of peace educ a ti on more genera lly. Rosandic discusses the meth odo l o gy and content of the programs and pres ents evalu a ti ons of the program s’ effect s . She notes that pea ce educ a ti on can be approached in two ways:a more narrow, fact - orien ted approach and a broader approach orien ted to informal learning of at ti tu de s , valu e s ,a nd behavi or. The programs discussed here belo ng to the latter category.“Serbia n ps ych o l ogists and educ a to rs gave priori ty to programs that enco u ra ge and incorporate acti on ,d i a l og u e ,i nvolvem en t ,coo perati on , and partic i p a ti on ,” Rosandic write s . “This is because such an approach is more congru ent with the message of peace and nonvio l en ce and because it is, in itself ,a way of tea ching both about peace and for peace .” Because the social and pol i tical environ m ent has such an important impact on peace educ a ti on ,R osandic discusses the general mise-en-scène of contem pora ry Serbian soci ety as well as the cha ract eris tics of the Serbian educ a ti onal system ,b efore looking at the programs thems elve s . Part I,“Factor s Conf ron ti ng Peace Educ a ti on Efforts in Serbia ,” loo ks at the broad social and pol i tical factors in Serbia affecting peace educ a ti on program s .Ch a pter 1 exa m- ines the trauma of recent wars on the popu l a ti on ,e s pec i a l ly chi l d ren .Ch a pter 2 exp l ore s the environ m ent in whi ch peace educ a ti on was taugh t ,l ooking speci f i c a lly at the soci a l and pol i tical turm oil in Serbia in the 1990s, a time when “the public sphere was satura ted by threa t s ,ru m ors , and pois onous propa ga n d a .” Rosandic des c ri bes how state paterna l- is m ,c ru de popu l i s m ,a nd a cli en tist system prevai l ed .E du c a tors had to grap ple with the 5 6 Summary

st a te ’s implicit argument that the dominant culture of vio l en ce was someh ow “na tu ra l ” and “un avoi d a bl e .” Cha pt er 3 examines the Serbian school system ,i n s tructi on meth od s ,and teach er atti- tudes and expect a ti on s .R osandic introduc es the reader to the schoo l s’ tradi ti onal auth ori- ta rian instructi on met h od s ,l eft over from the days of communist rul e ,in whi ch the teach er transmits his or her special knowled ge ,wh i ch the students then repeat back by rote ,a process that soci a l i z es them to accept auth ori ty, to conform , and to obey. Thi s cha pter also pres en ts the findings of a study of Serbian textboo k s ,wh i ch analyzed strategies taught for handling interperson al and intergroup conf l i ct s .T he texts offe red an argu- men t a t ive strate gy for dealing with out- gro u p s ,b acked up by vio l en ce and armed stru ggl e .R etreat from a conf l i ct with outs i ders was not cons i dered .In deed ,n o te s Ros a n d i c ,h i s tory textbooks cont a i n ed only two explicit references to a third- p a r ty medi- ating rol e . A study of the teach e rs thems elves showed an inabil i ty to ela bora te on the nature of conf l i ct and an inabil i ty to manage conf l i ct “due to a tradi ti onal (aggres s ive - a r g u m en t a- tive) understanding of conf l i ct situa ti on s and the use of wit h d ra wal and conf l i ct avoid- an ce as res erve mecha n i s m s .” The social rea l i ty of the school syste m was found to be es s en ti a ll y similar to that of the larger soci et y, Rosandic conclu de s . Part II,“A Look at Peace Educ a ti on Programs in Serbia ,” pres ents seven peace educ a- tion programs implemen t ed prim a ri ly in Serbian pres ch ools and elem en t a ry schoo l s .Th e programs were develop ed based on insights from emp i r ical studies seeking to assess the im p act of the war atmo s ph ere in Serbia on chi l d re n ,i n cluding refu gee s .Ch a pter 4 gives an overview of the progra m s ,i n cluding their goals and meth od .The meth od itself — a n eli c i tive approach to teac hing—was perhaps the most pot ent aspect of the program s ,ad- dressing the core problems of soc i a l i z a ti on in the Serbian school setti n g, Rosandic notes . Among other things,the meth od tran s form ed the teach er ’s role from a domi n a ting to a fac i l i t a ting one and the studen t’ s role from a passive to an active one .Ch a pter 4 also provide s an example of an eli c i tive exerc i s e ,i n tended to help participants expre s s ,i denti f y, and name feeli n gs . Cha p ter 5 discusses the evalu a ti ons of eac h of the program s .G en era lly, both teach ers and students expre s s ed strong ent hu siasm for the pea ce educ a ti on programs because of th eir conte nt and their active ,p a rtic i p a tory meth od s . The evalu a ti ons found that in many cases students showed more pos i tive social behavi or after partic i p a ti ng in the program s , or at the least, less negative social behavi or. Cha pt er 6 looks at the pros pe cts for conti nu ed peace educ a ti on in Serbia . The recent war in Kos ov o and the uncerta i n ty about furth er erupti ons of vio l en ce have resu l ted in a renewed social crisis in Serbia . The governm ent condemns paci f i s t s ,wh i ch would cer- ta i n ly include peace educ a tors , as “un p a tri o ti c” and strict ly controls any devia ti on from the promo ted patrio tic discou rs e . However, Rosandic note s ,t h ere is some hope that participants in the peace educ a ti on programs may find new ways to conti nu e the process of social cha n ge by finding new venues for commu n i c a ti on ,a m ong other measure s .Fu rt h er, Serbian teach ers of peace educ a ti on will not likely give up their hopes for tran s form i n g th eir soci et y. Rosandic proposes an instituti onal res po nse to the crisis in Serbia and in the Balkans more genera lly: cre a ti on of a Balkan Ins ti t ute for Textbook Res e a rch ,wh ere dif- Acknowledgments 7

ferent ethnic groups might join t ly ident ify the differing views of hi s tory and moderate tales of victi m h ood ,bl a m e , and glory. A more tempera te telling of the regio n’s history th ro u gh textbooks would help upcoming genera ti ons to deal with the traumas of the past and forge a more livable future .

Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to the Uni ted States Ins ti tute of Pea ce for ena b ling me to work on this project duri ng my fellow ship in 1997–98. It was my great privil ege to cooperate wit h the Ins ti tu te’s expert s ,t o partic i p a te in lively discussions with the staff and other seni or fellow s of the Jenn i n gs Ran do l ph program , and to bene fit from the Ins ti t ute’s service s . I owe much to Sally Bla i r, program off i cer in the Jenn i n gs Ran do l ph fello wship program ; she stead f a s t ly provided enco u ra gem e nt and astute comm en t a ry throu gh o ut this project’s ges t a ti on .F or their insightful and cons tru cti ve comm ents on this manus c ri pt I would also like to thank Lauren Van Metre,Un i ted States Ins ti tute of Peace program off i cer; Theodore Herm a n ,d i rector emeri tus of the pea ce study program at Col ga te Univers i ty; Mich a el Wes s ell s , profes s or of ps ych o l ogy at Ran do l ph - M acon Coll ege ;a n d Gavri el Sol om on , dean of the School of Edu c a ti on at Haifa Univer si ty. Thanks also to my res e a rc h assistants, Omar Bart os and Sara Sim on ,who worked assiduo u s ly to move this project forwa rd . A Telling An e c d o t e

In 1994,Yugo s l av film director Zelimir Zilnik made a film that vividly illus tra ted the extent to whi ch some Serbians lost tou ch with rea l i ty under the autocra t ic rule of Slobod a n Mil o s evi c .T he making of the film, Tito: For the Second Time among the Serbs , was one of the stran gest events to have taken place in Belg rade.An actor dres s ed up as Marshal Tito, who reun i ted Yugo s l av ia in 1945 and rul ed the cou n try until his death in 1980. While the actor wandered around Belgrad e, Zilnik filmed peopl e’s reacti on s . Ama z i n gly, in s te ad of seeing the funny side of Zil n i k’s pran k ,p eople reacted as though the actor were the real Tito. In the film,“Tito” says he has come back to see “wh a t’s goin g on.” He strolls around the city greeted by both adoring and angry citizen s , who accu s e him of being res pon s i ble for the misfortunes that befell the cou n try after his dea t h .As “Tito” tou rs Belg rade,wom en crowd around the dead pres i dent to give him flowers .O n e tells him that she cried when he died,a nd he answers,“So did I.” “Tito” is wea ri ng a military uniform and looks none the worse for his dea t h .Ma ny en- gage their former leader in conversa ti on . “I am a Serb, and you are a Croat ,” says one man, “but I used to adm i re you .” Ano t h er man says that after “Tito’s” dea t h ,t he man had been part of the honor guard. “Yes ,I remem ber you ,” replies “Tito” enco u ra gi n gly.The man says,“You have been every- thing to us.You used to warm us like the sun .” Ano t h er disagrees , telling the former communist leader that he is “gu i l ty, a bandit,”an d accuses him of ha ting Serbs . “I used to be one of your soldiers,” say s yet another, “but now th ere is no bread in the shops ! ”An o t h er says that during his time there was only one Tito, but “now there are fifty- f ive .” The film’s writers thought it was a joke,b ut as one can see,i t became rat h er serio u s .In front of a Belgr ade train station ,a Gypsy accordi onist strikes up a Tito - era tune and the cro wd grows so large that the pol i ce have to intervene .Th ey first tell the cameraman to move ,t h en Zil n i k .Wh en Zilnik asks them to tell “Tito” the same, th ey say, “No, le ave him out of it .” One man explains to “Tito” th a t ,n ow ad ays ,“ everyone has a flag, a state, and a coat of arm s ;f or only one hill ,t wo to three hun d r ed boys must die.”An old man accu s e s “Tito” of being pro- Am eri c a n . In the most pathetic scene in the movie ,“Ti to” finds himselfb y the monum ent to his comrade s .Th eir busts have been removed .“Who was bot h ered by them? ”ask s “Tito.” “Those who don’t like order, those who don’t res pect the past. . . . Those who are irre- spon s i bl e ,” says an elderly man. He does not look up.“Tito ” asks where he is from.Th e man replies that he is a refu gee from the war in Bos n i a . “When will it end ? ”asks “Tito.” The eld erly man repl i e s ,“Th ere is no end ,my frien d .’ ”

—R uzica Ros a n d i c

8 Part I: Factors Confronting Peace Education Efforts in Serbia

On e

In t r oduction: Why Peace Educati o n ?

n November 1991, prompted by feeli n gs of perso nal and profes s i onal res pon s i bi l i ty, an informal group of ps ych o l ogists from Serbia signed a petiti on they hoped wou l d Iat t ract the attenti on of all the Yugo s l av governing bodies still in power. Their petiti on poin ted to the “i n con te s t a ble fact that chi l d h ood is sacri f i ced in advan ce in any war, es peci a lly a civil war, regard less of the purposes for whi ch that war is waged.” 1 In this appea l , th ey poin ted out that Yugo s l avia had signed the Conventi on on the Rights of the Chi l d , adopted by the Uni ted Nati ons (UN) in 1989. Thus ,Yu go s l av ia assum ed certain comm i t- men t s ,wh i ch are flagran t ly vio l a t ed in wartim e .T he psycho l ogists stres s ed that “chi l d ren living in a cou n tr y torn by war are the most end a n g ered category of the popu l a ti on .” The group exp l a i n ed that, in add i ti on to the fact that chi l d ren’s lives are directly imperil ed , “not a single vital aspect of th e ir developm en t is spared;in war, chi l d r en are expo s ed to various forms and degrees of deprivati on :s oc i a l , emo ti on a l ,m ora l , and intellectu a l .” The appeal listed the foll owing antic i p a ted cons equ en ce s :

Dra s ti c ,v ital deprivati on caused by the death or wounding of perso ns close to the chi l d ,s ep a ra ti on from the family, refu gee status ,a nd other forced cha n g es of envi- ronm en t . Less cons p i c u o u s — but just as serio u s — d eprivati on inflicted by the sub s t a n ti a l im po veris h m ent in the neces s a ry daily cont acts between chi l d r en and adul t s ,re su l t- ing from the adul t s’ constant preoccu p a ti on with war. An adverse environ m ent for the chi l d ’s normal emo ti onal developm ent resu l ti n g from the negative emo ti ons adults experi en ce in a war situa ti on ,su ch as feeli n gs of hel p l e s s n e s s ,con cern , depres s i on ,gri ef ,de s p a i r, an x i ety, fea r, p a n i c ,f u ry, ha tred ,a n d rela ted emo ti on s . Imp a i red developm ent based on a threa ten i n g, im poveri s h ed ,a nd highly simplified pi ctu re of the world , and the forma ti on of belli geren t ,w a r- i n du ced values about civi l i z a ti on and hum a n i ty promo t ed in the media and in adult commu n i c a ti on . Unfort un a tely, these warni n gs later became bit ter rea l i ti es that then requi red profes s i on a l at ten ti on . 2 Those psycho l ogists who had signed the appeal were often the ones implemen ti ng various postwar interventi on s . Helping chi l d ren overcome the psycho s ocial effects of the trauma of war accomp l i s h e s a kind of nece s s a ry “sa n i ti z a ti on .” It is worth noting that some psycho l ogists and educ a- 9 10 Introduction: Why Peace Education?

tors took add i ti onal steps to introduce programs that would help lay the grou n dwork for soc i ety to move from hatred to tol era n ce and return to peac e ,h a rm ony, and amicable rela ti on s .Su ch tran s form a ti ons are pos s i ble not only, and not prim a ri ly,t h ro u gh individu a l trea tm ents but rat h er throu gh more or less system a tic and exten s ive educ a ti onal activiti e s . In their cont ent and meth od s ,s ome of the educ a ti o nal programs educ a ted for peace .My in ten ti on is to pres en t these programs and show how they fit into the field of peace educ a ti on . Li ke the concept of peace itself ,the conc ept of peace educ a ti on is a conte s ted one , whose meaning varies throu gh time and across culture s . 3 Ea rl y ideas of peace educ a ti on , whi ch grew out of World War I, spec u l a ted about the benef icial outcomes of “i n tern a- tional coll ege s ,” where by being togeth er, former ene mies could learn how to live in har- mony and peace . 4 These ideas have been supers eded by theories of peace educ a ti on as “pl a n et a ry ,conscious educ a ti on for global res pon s i bi l i ty,” 5 thus refl e cting cha n ges in the world and warfa re ,i n the causes of vio l en ce , and in tea ching practice s . The new concept of an isolated instituti on as, in fact,a“ web” of peace educ a ti on has exp a n ded to global dimens i on s .“Th ere are no clear and precise limits to, nor standards for, what should be includ ed in peace educ a ti on ,” points out Betty Rea rdon ,a leadi n g Americ an peace educ a tor. 6 Neverth el e s s , she orga n i z es the vas t ,com p l ex field of peace educ a ti on into topical area s ,su ch as conf l i ct res o luti on ,c oopera ti on ,n onvio l en ce ,mu l ti - cu l tu ral underst a n d i n g, human ri gh t s ,s ocial jus ti ce , world res o u rce s ,a nd the global envi- ronm en t . 7 An analysis of these topical areas sugg ests two underlying approache s : (1) a more cogni tive ,f act- ori en ted educ a ti on ab ou t peace ; and (2) a broader approach found in the term educ a tion for pea ce , orien te d to informal learning of at ti tu de s ,va lu e s ,and behavi or. The programs pres en ted here belo ng predomi n a n t ly to the second grou p. The rea s o ns for that are twofol d . On the one hand, more formal learning of subj ect matter requi r es radical cha n ges in the school curric u lu m ,wh i ch were impos s i ble to accomplish in Serbia at the tim e . Al- th o u gh the Serbian Min i s try of Edu c a ti on agreed to accept a Uni ted Nati ons Intern a- tional Chi l d ren’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) project on educ a ti on for peace in the cou n try ’s schoo l s , 8 that did not mean the auth ori ties were ready for radical cha n ges to the sys tem . On the other hand, the auth ors of these programs were convin ced that a cha n ge in the very meth ods of tea ching would be far-re ach i n g. As Bir git Brock- U tne points out ,“ It is of no help if the subj ect matter taught is of a critical nature selec ted to furth er democ ra ti c values and the cha racter forma ti on of in d ivi duals if the meth ods used to convey the sub- ject matter are auth ori t a ri a n ,do not enga ge studen t s , and do not appeal to their emo- tion s .” 9 Serbian psycho l ogists and educ a t ors gave priori ty to programs that enco u ra ge and in c orporate acti on ,d i a l og u e ,i nvolvem en t , cooperati on , and partic i p a ti on .T his is beca u s e such an approach is more congru ent with the message of peace and nonvio l en ce and because it is, in itself ,a way of teaching both about peace and for peace . To ge nera te alterna t ive vis i on s , it was assum ed that the concept of sel f ,a personal sens e of sec u ri ty , and the abil i ty of an individual to cooperate are essent ial ingredi ents in peace educ a ti on ,e s pec i a lly in the initial pha s e s ,a nd were needed to cou n ter the prevailing soci a l Introduction: Why Peace Education? 11

and pol i tical circu m s t a n ce s . The aim was to cha n ge the attitu des not only of stu dents but of teach e rs as well.Th us it was importa n t ,as Bir git Brock- U tne notes , “to induce teach ers to strive to cou n teract the hidden messages devaluing the students and giving them little hope for the future ,” a nd at the same tim e ,to give students the “opportun i ty to develop th ei r own interests and have these ackn owl ed ged in schoo l .” 10 Als o, the specific social and cultural setti n gs in whi ch peace educ a ti on programs are im p l em en t ed shape the ways in whi ch each topic area is taugh t ,s pecific issues are ela bo- rated ,s trategies are foll owed ,a nd target audiences are add re s s ed .E ach specific peace edu- ca ti on program should be des i gn ed for the envir onm e nt in whi ch it is introduced . Thus , the peace educ a ti on programs discussed below need to be evalu a ted vis - à - vi s :( 1 ) the general mise-en-scène of contem pora ry Serbian soci ety, and (2) the cha racteri s tics of the Serbian educ a ti onal system ,wh i ch is the setting in whi ch these programs were im p l em en ted . The many programs developed for pres ch ools and elem en t a ry schoo ls would have been almost impos s i ble wit h o ut the suppo rt of UN I C E F. The educ a ti onal system in Ser- bia is highly centra l i zed and contro ll ed and not much concern ed with pacifist idea s . Various pea ce educ a ti on programs developed for high schools and universi ties have un f ortun a tely rema i n ed marginal to the Serbian educ a ti onal system .Th ey conti n ue to be offer ed in youth club s 11 or in informal semi n a rs for underg radua te or gradua te studen t s , teach ers ,or other educ a ti on profes s i onals willing to partic i p a te . 12 These programs are not in clu ded in this report—not because they are inferior in qua l i ty or influen ce but beca u s e th ey were not system a ti c a ll y implemen ted or obs erved ,so direct comp a ri s on s are difficult. In this report I discuss seven peace educ a ti on program s .Fo ll ow ing a short pres en t a ti on of each program ,m y analysis focuses on two fea tu re s — m et h odo l og y and conten t — a n d in clu des a discussion of the program s’ docu m en ted effect s .M ost programs included some type of evalu a ti on . Some evalu a ti ons focu s ed prim a ri ly on effects of the training on teachers and other adults working with school chi l d ren . However, most used rat h er ela bora te evalu a ti on paradi gms to record the effects on chi l d ren as the ultim a te benef i c i a ries of th e trai n i n g. According to the original manus c ri pt ,the concluding cha pter of this report was to out- line the pros pects for peace educ a ti on in Serbia .A t that tim e ,in the autumn of 19 9 7 ,t h o s e pros pects looked far different than they do now, in the win ter of 19 9 9 . The overall situation in Serbian soci ety has cha n ged from what appea red to be slow progress out of a severe cris i s , to a new decline trig gered by the vio l ent conf l i ct in Kos ovo. The thorou gh deteriora ti on of soc ial and cultura l life in Serbia threa t ens to undo the accomp l i s h m en t s of the previous peace educ a ti on activiti e s .W hat in the autumn of 1997 look ed like promising pros pects now seem qui te utopi a n .But ,i f not optim i s t s ,edu c a t ors are at least persi s t ent in their ende avors .The pros pects for peace educ a ti on in Serbia might best be des c ri bed as initia tives that should be pursu ed ,i fnot in the near futu re ,t h en at some more distant tim e .I t would be helpful if res o u rces were avai l a ble to evalu a te the impact the pres ent crisis is having on past peace educ a ti on effort s .Su ch an ende av or would likely yield the best grounds for determining not only the val i d i ty of these specific effort s ,but perhaps the val i d i ty of peace educ a ti on itself . Two

The Ecology of Peace Education in Serbia

he term ecol o gy is derived from Urie Bronfen bren n er ’s ecol ogical theory of human developm en t . 13 It is used here to stress the importa n ce of social struc- Ttur es in defining the contex ts in whi ch human bein gs develop and act.Every activity and setti n g, in c luding the work of peace educ a ti on , is seen as grou n ded in a set of as su m pti ons about appropria te rol e s ,goa l s , and means used by the participants in that set ti n g. It is difficult to achi eve conc eptual cla ri ty wit h o ut first inqui r ing into what cons ti tute s peace in specific cultura l and social envir onm en t s ,h ow it can be achi eved , and how one can educ a te students to work for it. It seems insuf f i c i ent to rely only on Betty Rea rdon’s hope that “a system a tic discou r se about defi n i ti ons will lead us to a broader and cle a rer no ti on of aut h en tic processes and meth ods and the conceptual tools needed to refine them.” 14 Rat h er, the incorporati on of global ideas into the appl i ed progra m s ,m et h od s ,a n d tool s ,a nd their test in practice could contri bute to the search for cla ri ty. Thro u gh system- atic discou rs e ,a conceptual gap between “actual minds” and “pos s i ble world s” can be ele- gan t ly overarch ed . 15 Sti ll , the practiti on er is the one who must stagger and not fall,try in g in specific setti n gs and throu gh practical actions to contri b ute to what is conc eived of as a culture of peace .Un i ted Nati ons Educ a ti on a l ,S c i en ti f i c ,and Cul tu ral Organ i z a ti on’s (U N E S C O’s) culture - of - pe ace program stresses the need for cultura lly sens i tive models of peace - building mecha n i s m s .The very efforts to cultura lly cons tru ct the meaning of a “cu l tu re of peace” are in thems elve s an essent ial part of building peace , as Mich ael Wes- sells points out. 16 Peace educ a ti on must refl ect diverse valu e s ,a s su m pti on s , and world- views . If, for what Paulo Freire calls “the peda gogy of the oppres s ed ,” 17 a proper setti ng is one in whi ch adult workers learn to read but do not have to pass exa m s ,what would be a proper setti ng for peace educ a ti on? Or, put another way, how does one determine whi ch forms of pea ce educ a ti on are appropria te for specific social and cultural setti n gs? There is a dynamic rela ti onsh ip betwe en the two, whi ch makes practiti on er s’ paths so difficult. It is one kind of cha ll en ge for pea ce educ a t ors to work in a setting where students learn in order to be graded, being part of a competi t ive system .N everth el e s s ,that appea rs to be a un iversal cha ll en ge .Q u i te different and added cha ll en ges conf ro nt peace educ a t ors working in, for exa m p l e ,a centra l i zed ,po l i ti c i zed school syst em that has an evident inves tm en t in perpetua ting a cycle of vio l en ce from one genera ti on to the next .Un der such circu m- st a n ce s ,h ow can peace educ a t ors develop strategies and mechanisms to make peace edu- ca ti on as systemic and mul ti d i m en s i onal as vio l en ce itself ? Again according to Betty Rea rdon ,a num ber of basic topi c s ,f u n d a m ental assum p- 12 tion s ,a nd comm on elem ents remain to be defi n ed .Al s o, ela bora ti on of UN E S C O’s cul- Ecology of Peace Education 13

ture - of - pe ace program is still in its early stages ,as is the work of Mich ael Wes s e lls 18 an d Malve rn Lum s den , 19 who are defining some basic prin c i p l e s 20 and core mecha n i s m s 21 of the teachi ng proces s .

Mise-en-Scène What was it like for a practiti on er trying to des i gn a peace educ a ti on program in Serbia in the early 1990s? Serbia was a conf l i ct - ri d den soci et y, torn apart by pol i tical vio l en ce .Un ti l recent ly , no war was actua lly waged on Serbian territo ry. However, the cons equ en ces of the wars in Croat ia and Bosnia were evide nt in the everyday lives of Serbian citizen s . Many of the conf l i cts ravagi ng the former Yugo s l av soci ety resu l ted directly from state vio l en ce and rela te d gross human rights vio l a ti ons against citizen s .Even tu a lly some of these conf l i cts develo ped into clashes betwe en ethnic groups over access to state power. At the same tim e ,as the former Yugo s l av state was undergoing unavoid a ble social and economic tran s form a ti ons in the pos t - com munist yea rs , it lacked the strength and legiti m ac y to ensu re a minimum level of order and rule of law. Thi s ,ofco u rs e ,i s not to say that eth n i c i ty was unimportant in the developm ent of th e Yugo s l av conf l i ct s .The mere fact that eth n i c i ty plays a part in a conf l i ct makes that con- fl i ct especi a lly difficult to res o lve . Because eth n i c i ty defines one’s identi ty and rela ti on to ot h ers ,i t tends to influen ce a person’s or grou p’s whole way of bein g. In add i ti on ,con f l i ct s wher e people are mobil i ze d along ethnic lines soon cease to be clashes limited to partic u- lar interests concern i n g, for exa m p l e ,po l i tical power. The people involved qui ck ly beli eve that their very exi s ten ce is threa ten ed . The former Yugo s l av governm en t had neit h er the power nor the auth ori ty to medi a te or intervene in these conf l i ct s . Nor could it secu re an impartial public space essent ial for the emer gen ce of civil soci ety—a space wher e different groups could freely express their in terests and opi n i on s ,d iscuss different alterna tives in order to solve their probl em s ,n e- goti a te ,a nd seek comprom i s e s . As a resu l t , the “pu blic spaces” were satura ted by threa t s , rum ors ,poi s o nous propa ga n d a ,c a lls for unity and homogen i z a ti on ,m i su n ders t a n d i n gs , and fea rs ,re su l ting in the extrem e ly vio l ent disintegrati on of the state.A peace educ a t or in the former Yugo s l avia had to add re ss at least some of the cons equ en c es of these proces s e s when they came to be expre s s ed in the schoo l - a ge popu l a ti on . The nature of power rela ti ons in the cou n try furth er comp l i c a te d the picture .No t h i n g in contem pora ry Serbia is more valu ed than state power. Competi ti on for power is perva- sive . The concen tra ti on of power crea tes an almost warli ke situa ti on . With state power as strong and unchecked as it eviden t ly is, competi tors cannot afford to lose. They do every- thing both lawful and unlawful to win .N othing looks worse than losing; nothing look s better than win n i n g. This is the dominant model of conf l i ct manageme nt in Serbia today. The contem pora ry Serbian state does not legiti m i ze its power as a democ racy wou l d , na m ely, th ro u gh public partic i p a ti on in pol i tical dialogu e .Fu rt h er , no mechanisms exi s t for power-s h a ring or for checking the state’s power. Pol i tical leaders coopt poten tial oppo- nents throu gh patron- cl i ent rela ti o nships or throu gh repres s i on and revenge . 22 A pol i ti c a l le ader ’s family and “fri en d s” occu py strategic pos i ti ons in the power hierarchy. Out s i de of this grou p, the leader buys the “fri en d s h i p” of ot h ers who hold important pos i ti ons in soci et y. By the same toke n ,p u blic accou n t a bi l i ty, righ t s , and res pon s i bi l i ties are excha n ged 14 Ecology of Peace Education

for material benef i t s ,f avori tism of di f ferent kinds, and obedi en ce towa rds patrons .Su ch modes of behavi or bear little rela ti on to perso nal autonomy and accou n t a bi l i ty and furth er delay the developm ent of democ ra t ic proces s e s . Paternalism and personal rule have less to do with Serbian tradi ti on s than with the cu r rent ruling eli te’s appa r ent need to cons o l i d a te state power after comm unist rul e .In the cont ext of hi gh ly centra l i zed state power, le adership is partic u l a rly signi f i c a n t .Peop l e are mobil i ze d by their abil i ty to trust and identi fy with pol i tical leaders instead of by their personal and group interes t s .Po l i tical orga n i z a ti ons are usua lly formed around person a l i- ties rat h er than pol i tical program s .N eedless to say, perso nal identi f i c a ti on with leaders and resu l ting feeli n gs of personal loyal ty can most easily enco u ra ge ethnic attachm en t s . Crude populism and insults against other parties are comm on .Su ch behavi or increa s e s soci al intol era n ce . This behavi or also increases pol i ti c i z a ti on of ethnic identi ti e s ,wh i ch ,i n the setting of a repres s ive state ,e a s i ly leads to new kinds of an t a gon i s m s . Serbian leaders cons i der the state to be their perso nal property and use it for perso nal interes t s .T he state is governed throu gh a cli en ti st system :As noted above, the pol i tical eli te builds suppo rt by di s tri buting res o u rces on a personal basis to foll owers .E conom ic and financial management is gea red towa rd this end .Thu s ,corru pti on and kleptocra tic practice s become an almost legiti m a te fea tu re of governa n ce . Against this backgr ound of crisis in governa n ce , an outs i der may conclu de that the ong oing social and ethnic conf l i cts are irrati o nal and sens el e s s ,s temming from prim i tive forces within the nation .S erbian leaders thems elves are keen to promo te such an interpreta ti on .But such exp l a n a ti ons imply that ethnic conf l i cts are someh ow natural and un avoi d a bl e ,a nd that cultural identi ty is essenti al and dura bl e ,ra t h er than a contex t - dep end ent fea tu re of the social system .The governm en t - con tro ll ed Serbian me dia also use, and thus promo te ,su ch overly simplistic and determi n i s tic images of ethnic identi f i c a ti on .Con f ron te d with this cli m a te , peace educ a ti on programs must grapp l e with the argument that the dominant culture of vio l en ce is someh ow “na tu ra l ” and “un avoi d a bl e .” Thre e

The Setting of a Closer Encounter: The Serbian School System

res en t ly Serbia has about 1,800 elem en t a ry schools emp l oy ing approxi m a t ely 53,000 prim a ry school teach er s and more than 2,000 expert associ a te s ,i n clu d- Ping psycho l o gi s t s ,l i brari a n s , and peda g og u e s .( In Serbia ,a peda g ogue superv is- es teach ers and ensu re s that instructi on s from the Min i s try of Edu c a ti on and the rul i n g pol i tical party are implemen ted.) Approxi m a t ely 100,000 pupils enro ll in first grade every year (although this num ber has been falling in the past few yea rs ) . An estim a ted 900,000 stu dents are enro ll ed in prim a ry schools in the cou n try. About 4 percent of the gross natio nal product (GNP) has been earma rked for educ a- tion annua lly in recent yea rs . 23 However, because of the sharp decline in natio nal income , educ a ti on funds are in absolute terms very small (approxi m a t ely $60 to $65 per res i den t ) . 24 Such economic cond i ti ons are refl ec ted acr oss all aspects of the school system , fr om depres s i n gly low teach ers’ sa l a ries to the deteriora ti on of sch ool bui l d i n gs and equi pm en t .F or exa m p l e , less than half of the schools have libra ri e s .O n ly one third have spec i a lly equi pped cla s s room s , with cabin ets and labs. On average ,s ch ools have fewer than one comp uter. Among teach ers ,su ch cond i ti ons lead to insens i tivi ty and apathy, a lack of profes s i o nal motivati on , and frequent strike s . The former communist tradi ti on — n a m ely, to use the school system as a powerful in- stru m ent of propa g anda to keep the system highly centra l i zed—did not end with the formal tran s i ti on to a mul ti p a rty syst em in Serbia . On the contra ry , the same party is still in power, governing the school syste m in the same manner but less smoot h ly and skillf u lly. The new Serbian school system has taken the auth ori ty to make even minor deci s i on s away from schoo l s . It focuses almost exclus ively on implemen ting exten s ive ,pre s c ri bed cu rri c u l a ,l e aving teach ers and students with little time for innovati on or extrac u rri c u l a r activiti e s . Furt h er, no formal syste m is in place to add ress the educ a ti o nal needs of the adult pop- ul a ti on .Ro u gh ly 33 percent of adults have not finished elem en t a ry schoo l .Th o u gh most are elderly, 25 percent are in their fiftie s .L a r ge proportions of un edu c a ted adults are found in rur al and undeveloped regi on s ,a m ong fema l e s , and among nonprofe s s i on a l workers. Gen er al pauperiz a ti on crea te s new probl em s ,i n cluding an increase in the schoo l dropo ut ra te ,u n derachi evem en t , depres s i on , and poor social integrati on .( E con om i c an a lyses show that about 40 percent of urb an families with chi l d ren fall within the impov- eris h ed category.) This national crisis contri b utes to grea ter social pathology among chi l- dren ,s peci f i c a lly, al cohol and drug abus e ,i n c re a s ed aggres s iven e s s , and juveni l e deli n qu en c y. 25 15 16 The Setting of a Closer Encounter

The highly pol i ti c i zed que s ti on of educ a t ing ethnic Albanian chi l d r en in Kos ovo may have to be add re s s ed in bett er tim e s .Me a nwh i l e , the very serious problem of educ a ti n g ethnic Roma (Gypsy) chi l d ren rema i n s .T hese chi l d r en frequen t ly drop out in the first four grade s ,a re underachi evers , and suf fer from social stigma and margin a l i z a ti on .Al s o, more than 45,000 refu gee chi l d r en schoo l ed in Yugo s l av ia demon s tra te severe social and educ a ti on al adju s tm ent problem s ,i n cluding low achi evem ent and psycho l ogical dis- tres s . 26

Instruction Methods The Serbian school system emp l oys extrem e ly tradi ti o nal instructi on meth od s ,wit h the predominant form being “tea ching by tran s m i s s i on .” In this mode of in s tru cti on , the answer to the Bak h ti nian que s ti on ,“ Who is doing the talking?”,is more than eviden t :It’ s the teach er. “Tran s m i s s i on” in s tru cti on allow s for no dialogu e . The peda gogical outcome is well- k n own :S tu dents taught by “tran s m i s s i on” have an inadequa te understanding of th e med i a ted materia l ,wh i ch is memori zed as informa ti on to be reproduced in a manner vir- tua lly identical to the form in whi ch it was received.Kn owl ed ge acqui re d in this way is forgo t ten as soon as the demand to reproduce it disappea rs . Soci a l i z a ti on effects of this kind of in s tru cti on have not been adequa tely discussed: Such instructi on contri bu tes to the homogen i z a ti on of stu den t s’ minds and deprives th em of res pon s i bi l i ty for their action s .Su ch soci a l i z a ti on establishes a clear power difference betw een teach ers’ voic es and studen t s’ voice s :The teach ers’ uttera n c es function as “di rect ives” that students are expected to foll ow. 27 Ofco u rs e ,su ch directives are des i gn ed to get the student to think and act in the “righ t” way. Stu dents are thus soci a l i zed to accept conform i ty as a virtu e ,fo ll ow directives unque s ti on i n gl y, and accept auth ori ty obedi en t ly. Ano t h er fea tu re of this instructi on rela tes to opportun i ties for medi a ti on and negoti a- tion in a domi n a n ce hierarchy. James Werts ch analyzes this in his study on social lan- g u a ge ,s tressing that social privil e ging (domi n a n ce) ensu res that certain medi a ti on a l means appear not only appropria te ,but as the only “na tu ra l ”ch oi ce . 28 Alt h o u gh negoti a- tion is pos s i ble when it concerns who is privil eged for wha t ,opportu n i ties for negoti a ti on are minimal in the context of Serbian school instructi on .Po s s i bi l i ties for negoti a ti on depend on having access to other “zon e s” where patterns of privil eging might be different . But, in prin c i p l e ,su ch vari et y hardly exists in any of the adul t - chi ld rela ti onships in con- tempora ry Serbia . Few studies have been done on adul t - child social interactions in Serbia . One study of mo t h er- child interactions in a learning setting found that mothers did not help their chi l- dren plan, check ,or review problem - s o lving but rat h er intens ely obs erved the chi l d ’s responses (in front of the instructor ) .Al t h o u gh the mothers were tempted to offer the “righ t” an s wer, th ey did not help the child correct his or her mistakes nor explain the er- rors. 29 On the basis of this study and what is known about the Serbian educ a ti onal system,o ne conclu des that chi l d ren have but the most limited fram ew ork for cons c i o u s refl ecti on and, hen ce , for self - gen era ted cha n ge and developm ent of auton omy. Unfortu n a tely, this pattern of rela ti onship prevails not only betwe en adults and chi l- dren , and teach ers and studen t s ,but throu gh o ut the whole soci ety.“ Di r ectives” to homog- eni ze endu re and prevail in Serbia ’s social language.The pres ent Serbian governm ent uses The Setting of a Closer Encounter 17

di re ctives abun d a n t ly in commu n i c a ti ng with its citizen s .T he April 1998 referendum pro- vid es one such exa m p l e .T he referendum gave Serbian citizens yet another cha n ce to dif- ferenti a te “pa tri o t s” from “trai tors” by saying “no” to interna ti o nal medi a ti on in Serbia n - Albanian negoti a ti on s over the status of Kos ovo. Ins tru cti ons on the “righ t” answer were repea t ed profu s ely throu gh propa ga n d a . Aft er a “properly ”i n s tructed citizen ry voted ,po l i tical leaders interpreted the meaning of the inevit a ble “no.” For exa m p l e , the pres i dent of the Serbian governm en t ,Mi rko Mar- jan ovi c ,s aid the “no” meant that the Serbian people “wi ll defend their own sovereign ty and independen ce .” 30 The interna ti o nal commu n i ty “wi ll understand that it is normal for each cou n try to defend its own integrity , and that the problem of human rights among Kos ov ar Albanians is grea t ly conf a bu l a ted .” And ,Ma r ja n ov ic exp l a i n ed ,t he Kos ovar Alb a- nians should understand the vote as saying that “th er e is no need to press anybody to negoti a te ,” because the Kos ovar Albanians “must become awa re that they are citiz ens of Serbia with equal rights like everybody els e .” The pres i dent of the Serbian assembly, Dra gan Tom i c ,i n terpreted the “no” as new proof of the “great unity and homogen ei ty of the pol i tical partie s , the peopl e , and the le aders h i p.” 31 He clo s ed the whole circle of pos s i ble interpreta ti ons by proclaiming that the “no” provide s “the answer to all the que s ti on s .” 32 Ano t h er relevant finding in James Werts ch’s res e a rch was that formal modes of in- stru cti on resist informa ti on from “out s i de” set ti n gs .H is data show that in the Ameri c a n cla s s room ,n on i n s tru cti onal statemen ts are exp l i c i t ly sepa ra ted from formal instructi on a l di s co u rs e . 33 No dou bt similar res e a rch in Serbia would show the same pattern.Two fea- tures of these “out s i de - t h e - form a l - i n s tru cti on ” referenc es make them dangerous to the dominant instructi on model .F i rs t ,t h ey may conf l i ct with formal instructi onal uttera n ce s . Second , because they concern experi en ce and knowled ge to whi ch the spea ker (a studen t ) has privil eged acce s s ,t h ey threa ten to sub vert the teach er ’s domi n a n ce . Ofco u rs e ,e ven though a school may soci a l i ze chi l d ren away from using their own ex- perien ces in the cla s s room ,ch i l d r en are likely to learn from them anyw ay. Furt h er, soc i a l- iz a ti on influen ces cannot be viewed in terms of di rect causality. For exa m p l e ,d i f feren t in d ivi d uals living in the same social context adopt different sur vival strategi e s .Ho wever, the issue of options rema i n s : Do any public social setti n gs exist in whi ch students are al- lowed the “privil ege” of hav ing their own voi ce s ,t hus giving them an opportun i ty to acqui re strate gies and skills neces s a ry for dialogue? Moreover, stu dents are soci a l i z ed to un derstand and res pect a sharp deli n e a ti on betwe en the realm of sch ool and the realm of hom e . 34 The clear sepa ra ti on of le a rn ing and living contex t s ,off ormal instructi on and personal experi en ce , has well- k n own peda gogical cons equ en ce s .Ch i ef am ong these is student s’ in a bi l i ty to tran s f er formal knowled ge to out- of - s ch ool setti n gs .L ess often dis- cu s s ed is the impact on studen t s’ soc i a l i z a ti on :I fnothing els e ,this divis iv e approach orients students towa r ds hypocri s y.

Te a c hing Values Teac hing values conti nues to be a highly pol i ti c i zed issue in Serbia .Af ter 1991 the new regime mecha n i c a l ly graf te d layers of new nation a l i s tic ideol ogy onto the mostly un- tou ch ed Marxist ideol ogy interwoven in many school subj ects in its banal, decla ra tive 18 The Setting of a Closer Encounter

forms . 35 A survey of sch ool textbooks showed,for exa m p l e ,t hat a 1992 fifth-grade textbook ,wh i ch was writ te n after the fall of the Berlin Wall ,pre s er ved the former chron o l ogy of chi ef hi s t orical epochs .Thu s ,t he modern age still began some 70 yea rs ago after the Bol s h evik revolu ti on ,a n d , in this modern age,“ a major part of mankind still lives in a capitalist soci ety, while another part,to whi ch we belon g, is building a socialist soci ety.”To di s pel any dou bts regardi ng the ons et of the “la test age,” the textboo k’s illus tra ti on of evo- lution from prehi s toric times to the pres ent fea tu res a picture of a worker carrying the So- viet flag, with “1 9 1 7 ”wri t ten below. 36 In 1993 the Min i s try of Edu c a ti on issued directives that implied not only termi n o l ogical cha n ge s . 37 For instance,i n s te ad of “SF R J ”( Socialist Federal Repu b lic of Yugo s l avi a ) stu dents were to use “F RY ”( Federal Repu blic of Yugo s l avi a ) ; “Serbian language” repl aced “Serbo- Croa ti an language”;“bo y or girl ”was sub s ti tuted for “pi on eer ”(a member of a youth orga n i z a ti on ) .M ore importa n t ,a form of li tera ry “ethnic cle a n s i n g” was introduced in whi ch almost all literary contri buti ons by non- S erbia n ,form er Yugo s l av writers were eli m i n a ted .F or rea s ons of “i deo l ogical cle a n s i n g,”m a ny essays and cha pters on Tito also were excluded .

Text b o o k s Curr ent Serbian school textbooks promo te five core soci a l i z a ti on patterns : 38

1.Ach i eving comp etence in work (by promo ting perso nal cha racteri s tics like di s c i p l i n e ,t h oro u gh n e s s ,s t a m i n a ,d i l i gen ce ,c re a tivi ty, and readiness for furth er sel f - i m provem en t ) . 2.Pre s e rving commu n i ty identi ty (throu gh struggle against two kinds of enem i e s , na m ely, foreign occu p i ers and internal class or ideol ogical enem i e s ) . 3.S ti mu l a ting social ada pt a bi l i ty within the dominant group (by developing kindness, openn e s s , and res pe ct for others who belong to the in-grou p ) . 4.E n su ring the physical surv ival of the commu n i ty (by promo ti ng the idea that Serbian people will pay any price for the freedom and sovereign ty of th e ir territory ) . 5.S ti mu l a t ing joy of li fe . 39

Sch ool textbooks in any soci ety will avoid certain topi c s ,but it is instruct ive to note whi ch topics former Yugo s l av and pres en t Serbian textb ooks do not menti on .F or exa m- pl e ,the highly cheri s h ed ideal of a “conf l i ct l e s s” soc i ety is never que s ti on ed .No criti c i s m of the exi s ting social system is fou n d , no ackn owl ed gm ent that emp a t hy for “enem i e s” is pos s i bl e ,a nd no menti on that cons tru ctive rela ti onships with other peoples are pos s i bl e . These omi s s i ons have a socializing function of th eir own :S tu dents are soci a l i z ed away fr om these topics because they are cons i dered “extern a l ”to the privil eged worldvi ew. Conf l i cting messages are also a cha ract eris tic of Serbian textboo k s .Som e very signi f i- cant values promo ted by the textb ooks are prai s ed togeth er with their oppos i te s . 40 Thus , while the texts praise personal autonom y and self - tru s t ,t h ey also tea ch that in order to succeed in any ende av or, one must rely on in-groups and subord i n a te personal interests to coll ective one s .W hile advoca ting cooperati on and trus t ,t he texts also promo te competi- The Setting of a Closer Encounter 19

tiveness and teach that others pose a threa t .Al t h o u gh the texts add ress the horrors of wa r, th ey promo te belli cose behavi or as a virtu e .W hile adm i ring and trus ting of yout h ,t h e texts praise paternalism towa rd yout h . These conf l i cting messages are indicative of the decla ra tive nature of aut h ori t a rian soci eti e s . 41 However, th ey also contri bute to conf u s i on over what is real and what is imagin a ry. Thus a fragile hold on rea l i ty resu l t s , 42 a fea tu re of social syst ems based on the beli ef that there is a single truth . Te xtbooks also promo te national senti m en ts that overemph a s i ze the emo ti on a l ,s ac ro- sa n ct compon ents of a patrio tic attitu de . The nation is defi n ed as a commu n i ty with a un i que history of suf fering and hards h i p s , as well as a commu n i ty of comm on territory — the spaces where the Serbian people live,wh e re their forefa t h e rs lived, and throu gh o ut whi ch are scattered the sacred shrines of na ti o nal history. These “sac red shrin e s” are at times mona s teri e s ,s o u rces of sp i ri tual valu e s ,b ut most frequen t ly are graves and crypts , “the cradles of the new forces .” 43 The strong “we” has cha n ged from “we ,the soci a l i s t cla s s” to “we , the memb ers of the Serbian nation .” Tradi ti onal enemies are xenoph obi c a lly des c ri bed as a constant threa t . Needless to say, former Yugo s l av and current Serbian textbooks for elem en t a ry grades endorse and promo te a patria rch al model of gender rol e s . 44 In add i ti on to the cultural meanings textbooks convey, num erous narratives dea l i n g with social conf l i ct also can be identi f i ed . In 1997 an analysi s 45 was made of two types of na rra tives about conf l i ct s ,wh i ch were:( 1) narrat ives that recons tru cted “what happened ,” and (2) narratives that recons tru cted “what might have happened .” 46 Using this distin c- tion ,a somewhat more comp l ex model of conf l i ct management appea red in the schoo l textboo k s . The narrat ives of “what happened ,” fou nd prim a ri ly in history textboo k s , strayed freely from the known fact s .O n ly narratives that actua lly belon ged to the fiction genre offer ed a vari ety of way s to manage conf l i ct . The analysis showed that textbooks distin g u i s h ed cle a r ly between : (1) preferred strategies for dealing with conf l i cts between individu a l s , and (2) strate gies for dealing with con- fl i cts betwe en social grou p s .In conf l i cts involving out- gro u p s ,n o matter what social types were involv ed (eth n i c ,cl a s s ,rel i gi o u s , and so on) ,t he preferred strategy was argument a- tive, 47 backe d up by vio l en ce and armed strug gle . Alt h o u gh no examples exp l i c i t ly stigma tizing an out- group were fou n d ,tex tbooks repea ted the foll ow ing elem ents until they appe a red to be canoni zed “rul e s” :

Rela t ionships between different social groups are, as a rul e , con f l i ctu a l . Te xtbooks sel- dom menti on cooperative rela ti on ships based on mutual interes t ,e xcept for short- term alli a n ces to streng t h en one ’s own pos i ti on when fighting a third party or grou p. Integra tive mechanisms of in - gr oup rela ti onsh ips are built on wariness and ca uti on , and upon enm i ty towa rd other grou p s . Retreat from a con f l i ct is not con s i d e red or expected . One should never yield to another. Yiel ding is a sign of weakness and most often leads to defea t . Con f l i cts are resolved by force ,i n cluding vari ous forms of viol en ce and armed struggl e . Cha n ces for victory are grea ter if one has allies to streng t h en one’s pos i ti on . Alli a n ces are made or brok en according to need and circu m s t a n ce . 20 The Setting of a Closer Encounter

On ly narratives on conf l i cts between individ uals pres en t ed more flexi ble strategies and tacti c s , and hence more num ero u s ,el a bora te examples of in tegra t ive conf l i ct res o luti on .It seems pos s i ble to use “sof ter ”t actics in individual conf l i ct s ,e ven if the conf l i ct is with an out - group member. Not a bly, texts teach that one can yield or retreat from a conf l i ct wit h- out ending up a loser only in the safe haven of a family (especi a lly if the other party is a woman or chi l d ) .T he search for a mutu a l ,i n tegrative solution to conf l i ct is found only in na rra tives in family setti n gs .Aga i n ,on ly in the safe realm of a family group can the medi- ating attempt s of a third party (usua lly some one from the in-group—a mother or wife ) contri bute to the succ essful res o luti on of a conf l i ct . On ly two explicit references to a third- p a rty medi a t ing role were found in history textbook s :(1) The role of the Russian czar in medi a ting between Serbia and Bul ga ria duri n g the Balkan Wars (1912), and (2) the role of the cou rts of reconc i l i a ti on in solving agrari a n di s p u tes in parts of the cou n try under Aus trian rule before the fall of the Hap s b urg emp i re . In both cases, med i a ti on did not prove succ essful as a long - t erm solution .I n the literary reader s ,h owever, th r ee cases include d a third- p a rt y interventi on . One involved the successful interventi on of a mother in a father-s on conf l i ct . In the second , an elderly gen- tl em a n ,a seni or off i cer, succe s s f u lly intervened between a wife who wis h ed to visit her wou n ded husband in a hospital and a warden who refu s ed to let her. The third was from a popular folk story in whi ch a legend a ry figure of Serbian culture , Saint Sava ,a ppea rs as a th i rd party to arbitra te a conf l i ct and adm i n i s t er jus ti ce .Pri n ted below in full,t his story illus tra tes the difference between the role of a medi a tor (a person who attempts to help the di f fering parties reach a volu n t a ry agreement) and the role of an arbitra tor (a person em- powered to make binding recomm en d a ti ons for dispute sett l em en t ) . In this story, Sai n t Sava takes on the role of arbi tra to r after he fails as a medi a to r in the first part of the story.

Saint Sava and the Two Rivals

One peasant takes a plot of land from another; the other peasant goes to Saint Sava to register a complaint. When Saint Sava has heard the complaint, he calls up the offender and politely tells him to return the land to his neighbor, to make peace, and to resume living as good neighbors should. When the offender doesn’t agree, Saint Sava takes him to a fertile part of the land and says, “Since you wish to own so much good land, here it is; go, and whatever you cover on foot in this fertile part today, shall be yours. Just take care and be wary, for at sunset you must return to this very spot where we are now standing, otherwise your life is worth nothing.”

The robber sets about his task. He starts running around the nice estate with all his might. This meadow is nice, and that one is fine, and these woods are good, and the orchard is beautiful, then that vineyard is excellent, and this field fruitful, and that pas- ture plentiful, and this and that . . . . So, the poor devil runs, hungry and thirsty, without rest, all the summer’s day long. The sun starts to descend slowly beyond the hills, but the miserable one still runs around the slopes and thick pine woods. When he finally approaches the starting point, the sun has already set. Completely exhausted, he falls and dies, without reaching the mark he started from.48 The Setting of a Closer Encounter 21

Tea c h e rs A recent study of 256 teach ers from Belgrade ,Su bo tica (in Vojvod i n a ,an eth n i c a lly mixed nort h e rn region ) ,Kru s evac (in central Serbia , an eth n i c a lly homogenous regi on ) ,a n d Niksic (in Monten e gro, an eth n i c a l ly homogenous south ern region with strong attach- ments to tradi ti on and long-standing patria r chal rela ti on ships) comp a re d their implicit as su m pti ons about social conf l i ct s . 49 The study found that teach ers overwhel m i n gly beli eve that: (1) conf l i cts are caused by conf l i ct - prone persons with traits such as stubborn- ne s s ,i n to l era n ce , and rela ted negative attribute s ;( 2) these traits are acqui re d in early chi l d h ood ;and (3) teach ers and schoo ls are incapable of helping these trou bl em a kers cha n ge signi f i c a n t ly. Teach ers see conf l i cts prim a ri ly as a win-lose competi ti on where both participants cannot come out as win n ers .Te ach ers do not beli eve it is pos s i ble to medi a te conf l i c ts nor do th ey beli eve that there might be more than one side to the truth .Th ey view interests only in a negative light .I n managing conf l i ct ,te ach er s seek eit h er to establish who is the guilty pa rty or to avoid or wit h d raw from a conf l i ct .Ma ny of th em beli ev e that retributi on is jus ti f i ed and are not predi s po s ed to accept apol ogies or enga ge in acts of forgiven e s s .In genera l ,the teach ers’ implicit beli efs about conf l i ct are cond i ti on ed by two dimens i on s : (1) rigid norma tivi s m ,ref l e cting a tradi ti on a l ,p a tri a rch a l , and aggres s ive matrix found in teach ers with longer work experi en ce ; and (2) abstract norma tivi s m ,ref l ecti ng soci a lly favorable and conc i l i a tory attitu d es cha ract eris tic of you n ger teach ers . Teach ers from various parts of Yugo s l av ia show a high level of si m i l a ri ty, refl ecting the same genera ti onal differences throu gh o ut the cou n try. Whet h er this is a cons equ en ce of un i form educ a ti on for teach ers or a uniform cultural pattern remains to be determi n ed , most likely by a comp a ri s on with non- te ach ers . All of the teach ers’ convicti ons and behavi or are cha ract erize d by: (1) a failure to suf f i- ci en t ly ela bora te on the nature of conf l i ct , and (2) an inabil i ty to manage conf l i ct , due to a tradi ti onal (aggres s ive - a r g u m en t a tive) understanding of conf l i ct situa ti ons and the use of wit h d ra wal and conf l i ct avoid a n ce as res erve mecha n i s m s . The study also detected several al a rmi ng tenden c i e s ,i n clu d i n g :

1.A failure to understand and res pe ct interests as motivators , 2.A lack of in i ti a tive , 3.An inabil i ty to make a rea s on ed assessment of the other side in a conf l i ct , 4.An inabil i ty to take another’s perspective ,a nd 5.A failure to understand the language of needs and patterns of nonvi o l en t commu n i c a ti on .

Sin ce these results are,ro u gh ly, in accorda n ce with the stereot ype of belli g erence and auth ori t a ri a n i s m ,a nd thus bear a pol i tical conn o t a ti on , it would be useful to make a future comp a ra tive analysis of teach ers in different cultur es and soci eti e s . Not surpri s i n gly, as the des c ri pti ons above indicate,t he Serbian school syst em’s soci a l rea l i ty is essenti a lly similar to that found in the larger soci ety. Factors found in soci ety at la r ge ,su ch as tradi ti on s ,i deo l ogi e s , and pol i ti c s ,a re also found in smaller setti n gs ,su ch as 22 The Setting of a Closer Encounter

sch oo l s ,wh ere they influen ce learning cond i ti on s .I t is thus assum ed that vio l ent culture s produce vio l ent members . Giv en that peace educ a ti on’s goals and programs stand in fundamental oppos i ti on to Serbian soci et y valu e s ,i n cluding those of its schoo l s ,is it pos s i ble to initia te activities at the local level that may cha n ge cond i ti ons in soci ety as a whole? Rela ti ons between the mac ro and micro level are comp l ex ,dy n a m i c , and in ter active in nature .A t least in prin c i- pl e , an interdependen ce between the two levels of soc i ety exi s t s . On this basis, peace edu- ca tors push forwa rd . Part II: A Look at Peace Education Programs in Serbia

Fou r

An Over v i ew of Peace Education Prog ra m s

he analyses above show that the school setting in Serbia cons ti tutes a web of poten tial vio l en ce : The meth od of formal instructi on paves the way for vio l en ce , Tas do the prevailing values and worldvi ew. More compreh en s ive cha n ges than peace educ a ti on programs can initia te are needed to cha n ge such a depressing landscape. Peace educ a ti on is just a start.De s c ri bed below are seven peace educ a ti on program s im p l em en ted in Serbia betw een 1992 and 1998, with short sum m a ries of th e ir main fea- ture s .A later section discusses the program s’ si m i l a ri ties and their strengths and wea k- ne s s e s . Many of the programs are based on insights from emp i rical studies performed in 19 9 1 – 9 2 . 50 Serbian pres ch ool and elem en t a ry school chi l d ren (including refu gees) were obs erved and interviewed to assess the impact of the war atmo s ph e re in the cou n try. These studies provide d the basis for developing the interventi on program s .Bri ef ly, th e studies found that aggres s iveness and intol era n ce had increa s ed signi f i c a n t ly at all age levels .Ch i l d ren’s fea rs ,e s pec i a lly fea rs concerning war, in c re a s ed as well.A ll of the chi l d ren — not just the refu gee s — were obs e s s ed with war. It became a dominant theme in their play, drawi n g, and speech.Wh ereas drawin gs and games are typi c a lly the most imagin a tive forms of a chi l d ’s expre s s i on , these play activities were almost comp l etely lost; in s te ad ,p l ay rigi dly imitated rea l i ty.The chi l d ren saw that adults close to them— p a rents and teachers— h ad become preoccu p i ed with their own feeli n gs and problem s .Th ey had cea s ed to provide support ,l e aving the chi l d r en not knowing how to cope with their new expe ri- ence s . Alt h o u gh the findings were alarmi n g, th ey provided help ful informa ti on for developing the foll owing program s .

Pro g ram Profi l e s Hi Neighbor (1997–98) Sp ons ored by the Uni t ed Nati ons High Comm i s s i on for Refu gees (UNHCR) and Radd a Barn en (Save the Chi l d ren ) .R un by a nong overnm ental orga n i z a ti on (NGO) with the same name. Imp l em en t ed first in coll ective refu ge e camps in Serbia and Repu blika Srp- sk a ,a s well as in elem en t a ry schools in Repu blika Srps k a .Te a mwork headed by Ves n a Ognj en ovi c ,p rofes s or at the Pres ch ool Teach ers Coll ege ,Bel grade . Ini ti a lly, the program sought to solve refu gee s’ problem s in to to :s o lve their exi s ten ti a l proble ms by helping them regain their sense of li fe in a soci a lly distorted contex t .Du ri n g 23 24 Overview of Peace Education Programs

the first yea rs of im p l em en t a ti on , the program cons i s ted of comp l ex psycho l ogical work- sh ops that activated various forms of sym bolic expre s s i on (throu gh movemen t ,wor ds , and painting) conc erning threa te ning war experi en ce s . The works h ops focu s ed on recov- ering normal social interaction s .Th eir cons ti tutive elem ents worked to: (1) increa s e awa reness of the means of expre s s i on (movemen t ,w ord,i m a ge ) , and (2) streng t h en a sense of auton omy in using these means vis - à - vis an actual or imagin ed social contex t . Works h op participants included chi l d r en and their parent s . The core topic was the supp ort and recons tru cti on of the self - con cept . Because the program sought to avoid la- beling refu gees as “trau m a ti zed ”or “perso ns with specific problem s ,” it aimed to bui l d upon partic i p a n t s’ stren g t h s . No attempt was made to suggest specific actions they might ta ke .Ra t h er , the goal was to provide a special fram ework for social interaction , and model the “tool s” with whi ch participants thems elves could discover and build their own and each others’ perso nal res o u rce s . The initial program grew and diversi f i ed as it was being implemen ted .All the sub programs carry a comm on tit l e :“ Child and Cul tu re .” Th e program emph a s i ze d the social and cu l tu ral integrati on of both adults and chi l d r en in local setti n gs .Al t ogeth er more than 4,000 chi l d r en and adults partic i p a ted . 51 There are no data evalu a ting this program .

Smile Kee p e rs (1993–95) Spon s ored by UNICEF. Run by the Ins ti t ute of Psych o l ogy, Uni versi ty of Belgrad e.Te a m- work headed by Nada Ignja tovi c - Savi c ,l ecture r at the depa rtm ent of ps ych o l ogy, Univer - si ty of Belgrade . This program aimed to:

1.Redu ce the negati ve psycho l ogical impacts of war and of ot h er dras tic cha n ges in the environ m en t , 2.Pro tect and promo te studen t s’ person a l i ty developm en t , 3.P revent the developm ent of pos t - tra u m a tic stress disorder (PTSD) and rela ted dis- turb a n ces in chi l d r en and adol e s c ents expo s ed to trau m a tic event s , 4.H elp suf feri ng chi l d r en and adol e s c ents overcome their psycho l ogical problem s , 5.Fac i l i t a te refu gee s’ adju s tm ent to the new envir onm en t , and 6.Su pport and increase the perso nal and profes s i onal competen ce of pres ch ool and sch ool psycho l o gis t s ,ped a gog u e s , and teach ers .

The program strove to help all chi l d ren in Serbia ,b ecause all had been affected by the war. The Smile Keepers program focu s ed on identi ty and conti nu i ty of the sel f ,m em orie s , worrie s ,em o ti on s ,com mu n i c a ti on and cooperati on ,con f l i ct s ,a n ger, fea rs ,s ad n e s s , dre a m s ,l ove ,c hild righ t s , and future aims. Psych o l ogi s t s ,ped a gog u e s , and teach ers were trai n ed to faci l i t a te the works h ops wit h chi l d ren .T raining semi n a rs were orga n i zed in forty- four loca l i ties in Serbia and Monten e- gro for 6,000 trai n ee s .Di re ct benef i c i a ries were pres ch ool chi l d ren ages 5 to 7, prim a ry sch ool stud ents ages 8 to 15, and high school students ages 16 to 17, for a total of 81 , 0 0 0 stu den t s . 52 An evalu a ti on of the program was condu cted . Overview of Peace Education Programs 25

Cognition through Games (1992–94) Sp ons or ed by UNHCR. Run by the Center for Anti - W ar Action , an NGO in Belg rade. Tea mwork headed by Tun de Kovac- Cerovi c ,profe s s or of educ a ti onal psycho l ogy, Univer- si ty of Belgrade . This program was developed initia lly to help refu gee chi l d r en gain social skills and competen ce in learni n g.Work s h o ps were des i gn ed to help partic i p a n t s :(1) artic u l a te and process a series of im portant cogni tive experi en c es (hesitation ,do u bt ,con f u s i on , and so on) ; (2) take part in a cooperat ive learning proces s ; and (3) adjust to their new situa ti on s as refu gees in coll ective camps or in schoo l s .T wo forms of the program were developed : one for ages 7 to 10 and one for ages 11 to 14. The works h ops were des i gn ed for after-cl a s s set ti n gs . The Cogni ti on throu gh Games program was initia lly run in coll ec tive refu gee camps, but trai n ed school psycho l og ists have since implemen ted it in many schools in Serbia (and even in some other former Yugo s l av repu bl i c s ) . 53 There are no qua n ti t a tive data evalu a ting this program .

The Goodwill Classroom: Elementary School Prog rams in Constructive Conflict Resolution (1993–97) UNICEF spons or ed the program throu gh developm en t ,te s ti n g, pu bl i c a ti on of a manua l by vari ous interna ti o nal NGOs, and trai n i n g. Run by the Center for Anti - War Action , Group MOST, Belgrade .Te a mwork headed by Ruzica Rosandic and Tun de Kovac- Cerovic ,profe s s ors of educ a ti o nal psycho l ogy, Uni versi ty of Belgrad e. The program was developed in three form a t s :t wo for elem en t a ry school studen t s ,a ge s 7 to 10 and 11 to 14, and one for high school studen t s . The program included works h op s on cogni tive and behavi oral skills in cons tru ctive commu n i c a ti on ,a n a lysis of in tere s t s and needs ,s el f - con trol and self - a f f i rm a ti on ,to l era n ce of in d ivi d ual difference s ,m a i n te- na n ce of trust between partners ,re s i s t a n ce to group pres su re ,pers onal accou n t a bi l i ty, control of strong emo ti on s ,a n a lysis of conf l i ct s , and techn i ques of nonvi o l ent conf l i ct res- oluti on . Aft er the initial training for teach ers ,s ch ool psycho l o gis t s ,and peda gog u e s ,ef forts were made to establish a network of trai n ed school staff. These individ uals in turn trai n ed others.Twen ty - f ive add i ti on al staff mem bers were trai n ed and led throu gh all the phases of the spons oring proces s . After more than forty semi n a rs and more than 1,000 training hours, 1,150 teach ers , ps ych o l ogi s t s ,a nd peda gogues were trai n ed to faci l i t a te works h ops with studen t s .An evalu a ti on was made of the training and of the program’s effect s on studen t s . 54

Primer on the Rights of the Child (1994–97) Sp ons or ed by UNICEF and Radda Barn en .R un by Friends of Chi l d ren ,a Serbian NGO. The main aim of the program was to promo te the UN Conventi on on the Rights of th e Chi l d .Te a mw ork headed by Mir ja na Pesic and Ivan Ivic ,profe s s ors of ps ych o l ogy, Univer - si ty of Belgrade . This program was based on a publi c a ti on , Prim er on the Rights of the Child, prin t ed as a pi ctu re book with poetry rhymes and chi l d ren ’s comm e nts concerni ng articles of th e 26 Overview of Peace Education Programs

Conventi on . In num er ous semi n a rs , the program acqua i n ted participants (mainly teachers,but also elem en t a ry school students and various profes s i onals working with chi l d ren ) with the UN Conventi on on the Rights of the Chi l d .Pa r ticipants received training in how to orga n i ze mechanisms to moni tor and prot ect chi l d re n’s rights in local commu n i ti e s . Teach ers also learned how to tea ch students to moni t or and prote ct their own righ t s (t h ro u gh solidarity actio ns for chi l d ren whose rights are in some way jeopa rd i zed ,e s t a b- lishing child lobbie s , and rela ted actions by chi l d ren for chi l d ren ) .A special focus was on genuine chi l d re n’s partic i p a ti on in this action . Aft er more than eigh ty semi n a rs with 2,770 partic i p a n t s , the program reach ed about 400 loca l i ties in Serbia .An add i ti onal sixty instructors were trai n ed .An evalu a ti on was made of the training and implemen t a ti on . 55

Mutual Education: Giraffe Language (1995–97) Spon s ored by UNICEF. Run by the Ins ti tu te of Psych o l ogy, Univers i ty of Belg rade.Te a m- work headed by Nada Ignja tovi c - Savi c ,l ecture r at the depa rtm ent of ps ych o l ogy, Univer - si ty of Belg rade. This projec t had two comp l em en t a ry goal s ,wh i ch were to: (1) teach adults worki n g with chi l d r en to use nonvio l en t ,com p a s s i on a te commu n i c a ti on , and (2) train chi l d ren and young people to adopt basic skills in nonvio l e nt commu n i c a ti on .Non vio l ent com- mun i c a ti on skills were pres en t ed as an eff i c i ent tool in: (1) preventing misun ders t a n d i n gs , conf l i ct s , and vio l en ce in interpersonal rela ti on s ; (2) intervening and res o l ving problem s and cris e s ;a nd (3) affirming and developing a nonvio l en t model of in t erpersonal rela- tio nships that implies autonom y (freedom of choi ce and personal res pon s i bi l i ty ) ,mu tua l- ity, and interdependen ce .Work s h o ps for teach ers ,ped a gog u e s ,p s ycho l ogi s t s , and chi l d ren ages 5 to 10 included topics such as commu n i c a ti on skills ,s el f - re s pect and self - a pprova l , perso nal res pon s i bi l i ty, mutua l i ty, comp a s s i on ,em p a t hy, res pe ct for difference s ,equ a l i ty, and cooperati on .T he strategy was, fi rs t ,to teach adults working with chi l d r en to use nonvio l en t ,com p a s s i on a te commu n i c a ti on skills , and second , to develop a mutual educ a ti on model ,wh i ch was then used to teach new students basic commu n i c a ti on skills and active pa rti c i p a ti on in the learning proces s . Altoget h er 552 adults from fifteen loca l i ties in Serbia were trai n ed , and 9,400 studen t s received trai n i n g. Nin ety new instructors also were trai n ed . The training was evalu a ted . 56

Enhancing Preschool Children’s Self-Esteem throu g h Co o p e rative Communication (1993–97) Supported by UNICEF. Run by the Pres ch ool Teach ers Coll ege ,N ovi Sad,a nd the NGO Friends of Chi l d ren of Vojvod i n a ,N ovi Sad.Aut h ors :Ibo l ya Gera and Ljubica Dot l i c ,profes s ors at the Pres ch ool Teach ers Coll ege ,N ovi Sad. This project , an integral part of UN I C E F ’s psycho s ocial program ,foc u s ed on pres ch oo l chi l d ren and their parent s . It trai n ed both chi l d r en and the adults working with them in cooperat ive commu n i c a ti on skills ,s el f - i den ti ty and self - e s teem ,em o ti onal experi en ce s and expre s s i on , and tol era n ce . The topic of chi l d re n’s rights also was part of the program . The project started after a large influx of refu ge es into Vojv odi n a .Tra i n ees were kinder- garten teach ers and speci a l i s t s .Du ri ng 1997 the program began to target chi l d ren wit h Overview of Peace Education Programs 27

speci al needs :ch i l d re n in hospitals and chi l d re n’s wards on territ ory belon ging to Serbia and Monten egro. A total of 550 teach e rs were trai n ed , and more than 19,500 pres ch ool chi l d ren and th ei r parents partic i p a ted . The training and program were evalu a ted . 57

Method as a Grap p l e Peace educ a ti on programs in Serbia are using two grapples to cope with the social situation ,wh i ch suf fers from the exten s ive impact of vio l en ce :edu c a ti o nal meth od and program conten t . Much in the meth odo l o gical approach is inspired by Jean Piaget’s idea that the task of an educ a to r is to mold a spiritu al tool in the hand of a child—not a new habit ,or even a new beli ef ,but rat h er a new meth od ,a tool that will permit the child to understand and find his or her own way. Ano t h er major inspirati on comes from theories of so cial interaction and the importa n ce of cu l tu ral tools developed by L. S.Vi gotski and his foll o wers.Ac- cording to this conceptual fram ework , the most pot ent aspect of the peace educ a ti on programs in Serbia would lie in the meth od of in s tru cti on itself .Ri ch experi en ce in trai n- ing convin c es us that these programs offer “ha n dy ” peace tools for trai n ed teach ers and the students with whom they work,tools throu gh whi ch self - i n i ti a t ed cha n ge s can be made .Wit h a more favorable mise-en- s c è n e ,t hese tools would demon s tra te increa s ed us efulness and success over tim e . The meth od of in s tru cti on that these programs emp l oy add re sses the core problems of soc i a l i z a ti on in the Serbian school setti n g. They do so by means of the foll owing fea tu re s :

1.Th ey medi a te var ious patterns of in terac tive instructi on ,su ch as cooperati ve learn- in g, le a rning by discovery, and learning by problem - s o lvi n g. 2.Th ey tran s form the teach er ’s role from a domi n a ting one—the teach er as “the sole so u rce of kn owl ed ge” — to a faci l i t a ting one . 3.Th ey tran s fo rm the studen t’s role from a passive to an active one . 4.Th ey introduce experi en tial learni n g, whi ch opens doors to “out s i de” in form a ti on , beli e ving that studen t s’ personal experi en ce s and insights provide a legiti m a te basis for knowled ge acqui s i ti on .I n that sen s e ,m a ny programs work intens ively to recover and refine the way stud ents express their perso nal experi en ce s .

Between pres c ri ptive and eli c i tive approaches—as Lederach labels the two oppos i n g types of trai n i n g 58 —the basic cha r acteris t ic of the meth odo l ogy emp l oyed in peace edu- ca ti on programs in Serbia is semi - s tru ctu red n e s s . Lederach labels as pres c ri ptive trai n i n g that whi ch “deli vers the product .” Fo r exa m p l e ,the trai n er acts as an expert who imparts kn ow - h ow and techn i q ues to implement the strat egic approach.Ex perts know what the pa rticipants need.A s Lederach points out, the cultur al and ideol o gical underpi n n i n gs of this model are rarely made exp l i c i t . The trai n er defines the needs ,n ames the model,pro- vid es the conten t ,overs ees the proces s , and provides direction and correction .Pa rti c i p a n t s acqui re the medi a ted knowled ge . The eli c i tive approach,acc ording to Lederach,“s t a rts from the van t a ge point that trai n- ing is an opportun i ty aimed prim a ri ly at discovery, cre a ti on , and solidification of model s 28 Overview of Peace Education Programs

that emer ge from the res o u rces pres ent in a particular setting and res pond to needs in that contex t .” 59 Works h ops used in most of the listed programs—no matter how spont a n eous and “na tu ra l ”t h ey may seem— a re semi - s tru ctu red .Th ey are based on carefu lly des i gn ed ,p re- vio u s ly draf ted script s .The scripts are preci s ely defi n ed in advan ce in order to structu re pa rti c i p a n t s’ activities (frequen t ly gam e s ) . However,the specific knowled ge , the insight that participants are expected to acqui re during the works h op, is not tran s m i t ted as a “ready - m ade product .” Rat h er, it is eli c i ted from participants who co- con s tru ct it throu gh th eir active contri buti on to the proces s . Part icipants work in groups and sub gro u p s .Th ey cha n ge partners in social interaction s ,wh i ch gives them the opportun i ty to ackn owl ed ge and share various perspective s on the same issue—a matter of utmost importa n ce in overcoming the prevailing pattern of one auth ori ty , one truth .

Scenarios That Elicit Personal Experiences Arising from these prin c i p l e s ,t he micro dynamic of an educ a ti o nal works h op implies progres s i on throu gh several stage s .F i rs t ,s cena rios fea tu ri ng certain topics are selecte d to elicit releva nt personal experi en ces (relevant to the participants as well as to the topic to be ela bora ted ) . To accomplish this aim, the works h op has to fit the developm ental cha racteri s tics of the studen t s .Ps ych o l ogical studies of child developm ent show that sometim es an age difference of a mere six months cons i dera bly alters the way a child rea s on s ,a s well as his or her social behavi or and maturi ty. The content (topic) of the works h op, pl ay contex t ,d i f f i- cu l ty of the tasks, dynamics and orga n i z a ti on of activiti e s , as well as type of ma terial used, must be carefu lly adju s ted to differences in age.Als o the volume of sel ected topics should be adju s ted to different age grou p s , with certain ones divided into smaller units for you n ger chi l d ren . These same topics are ela bora ted on in a more compreh en s ive way for ol der chi l d ren .( As menti on ed earli er, the Goodwill Cla s s ro om program has three forma t s :one for you n ge r and one for older elem en t a ry school studen t s ,a nd one for high sch ool studen t s . ) To attract you n ger chi l d ren to partic i p a te in the activiti e s ,the play conte xt must be rich er, cle a rer, and more ela bora te .Sym bolic play is a spont a n eous form of chi l d re n’s activity, and res orti ng to symbolic activiti es is the easiest way to motivate them. This is why we introduce chi l d r en to certain activities by first involving them in the symbolic world of im a gi n a ti on .For exa m p l e ,w e tell them,“ Im a gine you are detectives in a pol i ce station and your job is to solve this case,”or,“Im a gine the object in front of you is a magic wis h i n g well.” The play cont ext is not as crucial for older chi l d ren ,w ho find it more natural to start a new activity by reca l ling some of th eir everyday experi en ce s that might be releva n t ,wi t h- out a dram a ti z ed introducti on . The older studen t s’ grea t er cogni tive maturi ty ena bl e s th em to fulfill the memory request by apply ing more comp l ex intellectual operati ons and grea ter refl ex ivi ty and awa ren e s s . The difficulty of the assignm ents obvio u s ly must coin c i de with the studen t s’ cogni t ive ca p ac i ti e s .I t is important to alway s bear in mind that tasks should be neit h er too easy nor Overview of Peace Education Programs 29

too difficult. If th ey are too easy, stu dents might become bored;t asks that are too difficult will conf r ont students with failure and all the cons equ ent negat ive emo ti on s . Works h op dynamics depend on the qua l i ty of pa rti c i p a n t s’ at ten ti on . This differs wit h age .Work s h ops for you n ger stud ents must contain the grea t est pos s i ble vari ety of activi- tie s .Al s o, works h op s must include a num ber of mo tor activiti e s .I n this way, stu den t s’ na t- ural des i re to move is cha n n el ed throu gh activities that are thema ti c a lly relevant but in clu de movem en t ,d rawin g, and cha n ging seats or pos i ti ons in the room.Work s h ops for ol der students may comprise only a single activity calling for longer mental and physi c a l invo lvem e nt of one kind (for exa m p l e ,re s o lving problems in small grou p s ) . Scen a rios introduced must be cons tru ed so as to evoke partic i p a n t s’ aut h en tic expe ri- ence s , and interaction and ela bora ti on needs to occur so as to make sense to each pa rti c i p a n t . For exa m p l e , the Goodwill Cla s s r oom program works h op s ,wh i ch focus prim a ri ly on the experi en ce of being in a conf l i ct ,a re des i gn ed to elicit rela ted relevant experi en ce s fr om partic i p a n t s . These could include feeli n gs of di s com fort when not listened to, expe- riencing the other party as an enemy, di f f i c u l ty in beginning commu n i c a ti on ,c oping wit h sp i te and the wish to have things one’s own way, avoiding and pos tponing apol ogi z i n g, and so forth . The next step involv es asking participants to find a successful way of overcoming a conf l i ct .Th ey usua lly do so by rea l i z i n g, for exa m p l e , that the other side wants to fulfill his or her very important need,f eeling that the conf l i ct is not irres o lv a bl e ,n o ticing a cha n ge in the other party’s behavi or after an “I ”m e s s a ge is uttered ,or experi encing similar in s i gh t s . 60

“Sculpturing” Feelings and Learning to Resolve Conflict The foll ow ing—an example of I am Sorry and Thank You, a Goodwill Cla s s room work- sh op activity for you n ger students—is taken from the Goodwill Cla s s r oom training manua l .

“Sculpturing” Feelings. In this game students are divided into pairs, and one is asked to “sculpture” a feeling that has been randomly attributed to the other. When the tech- nique of sculpturing is used for the first time, it is essential that the instructor first demonstrate how it is done. For example, the instructor might sculpture how he or she imagines the feeling of fear might look in one child. The child should stand completely relaxed while the instructor sculptures the expression of fear. At the same time, the instructor should provide basic instructions on how to make a figure out of clay. For example: “Now I am going to make her open her eyes wide. I am going to put her hands in this position. I am going to bend her body forward a little.” It is expected that the clay will respond to the sculptor’s intentions.

The children stand in two concentric circles, an inside one and an outside one, so that they may form pairs. The instructor tells them, “Those in the inside circle turn toward your partner in the outside circle.” All those in the outside circle are sculptors, and their task is to sculpt a sad figure of their partner in the inside circle. The sculptors should sculpt a figure in a way they think someone looks when sad. There are no “right” or “wrong” ways to do this. There are no beautiful or ugly figures. It is just important that 30 Overview of Peace Education Programs

the sculptor is satisfied with the way the “clay” is turned into a sculpture. Once the sculptors are finished, they should move slowly around the inside circle looking at the rest of the figures until they get to their partner again.

When this part is over, the children change roles. “Now the children in the inside circle are the sculptors. Your task is to make a happy figure. When you finish your sculpture, move around in a circle to see the other sculptures, and then return to your partner.

“Now we will begin to sculpture in the following way. You will stay in the same pairs, but we won’t stand in a circle any more. Instead, the pairs will take turns standing in front of the rest of us. We will be the audience. We will watch carefully what is happen- ing. I will give the sculptor a slip of paper with a description of a certain situation in which his or her partner may have been at some time in the past. Here is, for example, one such situation. It says, ‘You have accidentally torn your partner’s new jacket.’ But the sculptor will not tell his or her partner or us what is written on the slip of paper. Instead he or she will sculpture a figure of his or her partner that shows how he or she thinks the partner would feel in such a situation.”

Situations on the slips of paper include the following: “You have accidentally spilled dirty water on your partner’s drawing during the art class”; “You have loaned your bicy- cle to your partner for half an hour”; “You have shared a chocolate with your partner”; “You have forgotten about the arrangement to meet your partner in the playground after school, and he waited for a long time”; “You have accidentally told your partner the wrong time of the parents’ meeting, and her mother didn’t arrive until just before the end”; “You have invited your partner to your birthday party,” and so forth.

Once the sculpture is done, the sculptor tells everyone the situation that was described in his or her note. Now that his or her partner knows what the situation was, he or she can, if willing, make changes to the sculpture to illustrate further how he or she might look in such a situation by, for example, changing the position the sculptor has put him or her in or some other changes.

After that, the instructor asks the sculpted child how he or she feels as a result of the situation described and then depicted in the sculpture. The instructor may have to persist in asking questions until the child names and describes the feeling (for example, sad, angry, happy, or grateful) because in this part of the game the children practice expressing, recognizing, and naming feelings.

If a sculpture represents unpleasant feelings as a result of the situation described, the instructor asks the sculptor, “What would you do now that you have heard how your friend is feeling?” After the sculptor replies, the instructor asks the sculpted child how he or she feels. For example, how does the child feel if the sculptor has offered an apology?

When the sculpture represents pleasant feelings, the procedure is repeated. After the per- formance of each pair, the other children (who are holding cards with smiling or frown- ing expressions) are asked to evaluate how each of the “actors” feels at the end of that interaction by raising a happy or unhappy face. Overview of Peace Education Programs 31

An eli c i t ed experi en ce remains inartic u l a te and, th erefore ,i n commu n i c a ble until it is given shape using a symbolic implemen t :a word,a drawin g, or an action .Thu s ,s h a p i n g an experi en ce is the key point of the works h op. The skill of the works h o p’s faci l i t a tor and aut h or is refl ected in the des i gn and pres en t a ti on of the request to shape the experi en ce and in the appropria teness of the form of expre s s i on cho s en (in the above exa m p l e , th ro u gh clay sculpture ) .By brin gi ng “out s i de” experi en ce into the instructi on setti n g, students are no longer pres s ed to produce a des i red res ponse (the “righ t” one ) . On the con- trary , an important goal of these programs is to support the stude nts in integrating into th eir repertoire of everyday behavi or an active role in acqui ring knowled ge . Shaping spon- ta n eo u s ,a ut h en tic experi en ce s ,ach i eved throu gh the works h op’s play structu re ,is the chi ef means towa rd that end . Each participant shapes his or her own experi en ce throu gh the same symbolic means. This ena b les the process of sh a ri n g, of excha n ge among partic i p a n t s .S h a ring is one of th e most frui tful ways of becoming awa re and enri ching one’s own accu mu l a ted experi en ce . Sh a ring has two function s .By expressing and explaining our experi en ce to others, we become more awa re of it and the way it affects our behavi or. Too, ot h er partic i p a n t s’ accu- mul a ted experi en ce s ,p a rti c u l a rly regarding ways of dealing with different—and especi a lly un p l e a s a n t — s i tu a ti ons and the experi en c es they cause, supp l em ent our own and help us gain a ran ge of in s i gh t s . The process of sh a ring helps participants to ela bora te on their experi en ce and, fu rt h er, to genera te new knowled ge from mul tiple tran s form a ti on s that occur when the experience goes from being artic u l a ted as an individual insight to becoming genera l i zed knowl- edge .The se tran s form a ti on s occur when experi en ce passes from the idiosyncratic to the commu n i c a bl e and soc i a l ,f rom the isolated to the integrated ,a nd from the covert to the fu lly cons c i o u s . The degree of ela bora ti on depends on the goal ,top i c ,p u rpos e ,a nd age of the partic i p a n t s . The works h op as a meth od of group work has specific rul e s . It is important that the pa rticipants are sitting in a circle . This rule cle a rl y implies that all are equa l . No one is in a better or worse pos i ti on , in the front or in the back;the faci l i t a t or and participants are ad- dressing everyone ;e veryone sees everyone els e . In a works h op everyone has a cha n ce to speak and be heard— everyone has a voi ce .E ach opi n i on ,n o matter how different or iso- la ted ,has a rig ht to be heard (not only that, such an opi n i on is preci o u s , because it en- rich es our own opi n i on ) .A works h op has no hierarchy res em b ling the school one .Th ere are no obs er vers in the works h op. Everyone is a partic i p a n t ,b ut each participant has the right to hold back his or her experi en ce (namely, to not share with the group somet h i n g he or she does not want to talk about ) . All these are important innovati ons in the cla s s- room setti n g. The works h op brin gs about des i red cha n ges by crea ting cond i ti ons for eff ective interactive learni n g. To this end participants must learn to commu n i c a te with each other in new ways.T hese factors togeth er crea te an environ m e nt in whi ch cha n ge can take place.

Focus of the Peace Education Prog ra m s All the programs pres en ted here seek to educ a te for pos i t ive peace rat h er than to educ a te ab ou t peace ,i f we foll ow Betty Rea rdon’s defi n i ti on of these two aspects of peace educ a- 32 Overview of Peace Education Programs

tion .Re a r don defines the notion of pos i t ive peace as tending to clus t er around three sets of valu e s :com munal and civic valu e s ,l i fe - a f f i rming valu e s ,a nd the value of the hum a n person and pos i tive human rela ti on s h i p s . 61 She offers a conceptual shorthand for these th r ee sets of valu e s :c i ti zen s h i p, stew a rd s h i p, and rela ti on s h i p s . A surv ey of the peace educ a ti on programs des c ri be d herein conf i rms their orien t a ti on : All seek to redr ess the shortcomi n gs of elem en t a ry school educ a ti on in Serbia ,wh i ch soci a l i zes stud ents away from all three sets of valu e s .Ei t h er throu gh the meth od of in s tru c- tion or throu gh the values taught ,t he Serbian system soci a l i zes students (as do the main ag ents of sch ool soci a l i z a ti on — te ach e rs and textbooks ) away from cooperati on and civic valu e s , and away from an appreci a ti on of in d ivi dual and cultural differences and of human digni ty as the essential basis for human rela ti on s ,b oth interpersonal and soci a l .Th e Serbian system soci a l i zes students to obey and to conform , to react rat h er than be active or proactive in life.It cons t rains stud ents to a narrow worldvi ew based on a rigid ideol ogy, whi ch suppo s edly provide s the only answer to dealing with the purported “th re a ten i n g” surro u n d i n gs .I t does not soci a l i ze in favor of nonvi o l ent conf l i ct managemen t . Thu s ,a ll peace educ a ti on programs in Serbia share two fundamental aspect s .F i rs t ,t h ey work to develop the individual and, above all ,s eek to understand individ ual needs and to enco u ra ge self - ex pre s s i on ,s el f - e s teem ,s el f - con f i den ce ,a nd personal accou n t a bi l i ty. Sec- on d ,t h ey work to develop cons tru ctive understanding and assertive rela ti on ships wit h ot h ers ,i n the sense of apprec i a ting individual and group differences as well as social res pon s i bi l i ty. These two fundamental aspects get ela bora te d on according to whi ch of the foll owi n g special problems a program add re s s e s :re cogni ti on of one ’s own needs ;acc epta n ce of an- ot h er person’s needs ;devel opm e nt of nonvi o l e nt commu n i c a ti on strategi e s ;s ti mu l a ti on of sel f - a f f i rm a ti on ,s el f - ex pre s s i on ,to l era n ce , and openn e s s ;or pres en t a ti on and model- ing of ways to res o l ve conf l i ct cons tru ctiv ely.62 In add i ti on ,o ne program—the Prim er on the Righ ts of the Chi l d — foc u s ed on an explicit set of ideas about human (chi l d ren’ s) righ t s .The programs encom p a s s ed a wide area of cogni tive and behavi o ral skills .De - cen teri n g, or learning to “stand in someon e els e’s shoes ,” invo lves learning the language of needs as a pos i tive ,a f f i rm a tive language conce rning what we want and what we need—not what we are expected to do, forced to do, or tricked into doin g. Es t a blishing a partnersh ip rela ti onsh ip involves learning to accept others ,e s peci a lly because deperson a l i z a ti on is one of the most important (and dangerous) fea tu res of sch ool soci a l i z a ti on in Serbia . Many programs focu s ed on learning nonvio l ent commu n i c a ti on strategi e s ,activ e lis- teni n g, and listening to emo ti on s . The list includes many other skills that are well- k n own in nonvio l ent conf l i ct res o luti on program s ,su ch as paraph ra s i n g, I- s peech and refra m i n g, outlining the field of commu n i c a ti on (rea s ons for misun ders t a n d i n gs and cond i ti ons for un ders t a n d i n g ) ,p hysical obs tru cti ons to commu n i c a ti on , and so forth . Some programs dealt with important topics such as perso nal accou n t a bi l i ty or res i s t- ing group pres su re .Su pport of tol era n ce and openness was another basic compon e nt of all program s .The Goodwill Cla s s room ,e s peci a lly, models procedures for cons tru ctive conf l i ct res o luti on and offered exten s ive training in cooperat ive commu n i c a ti on stra tegi e s . Fi ve

Eva l u a tions

uch comp l ex ,l on g - term programs as these call for appropria te models and met h ods of evalu a ti on .Ba s i c a lly, two gene ral forms of evalu a ti on are neces s a ry: S(1) to establish to what degree the programs were implemen ted , and how the res ults comp a red with the orig inal goal s ; and (2) to evalu a te the actual impact of the program s . Sin ce these were rat h er different program s ,d i f ferent criteria were used in assessing the effectiveness of the trai n i n g. Some programs used objective criteri a ,i n cluding psycho l ogical test scores ,ob s erved behavi oral patterns , and interviews .An o t h er set of in d i c a tors included statemen ts about the impact of the programs from trai n ee s ,s tu den t s , and the teach ers of stu dents who had partic i p a t ed in the program . Als o, di f ferent aspects of the training programs were evalu a ted ,su ch as:

1.Ha n d b ook s , 2.T raining and evalu a t ive semi n a rs orga n i zed after the programs had been implemen te d for a determi n ed period , 3.Im p l em en t a ti on superv is i on , 4.Mon i tori n g, 5.App l i c a ti on of acqui red skill s ,a n d 6.Ch i l d ren’s reacti on s to the program s .

An evalu a ti on by UNICEF found the foll owing outcome s : Local experts (the auth ors of the programs) were able to develop crea tive concepts for all of the projects qui ck ly, im p l e- men t them in the form of practical handbook s , and develop the conc ept of sem i n a rs for training teach ers ,ex pert associ a te s , and volu n teers . 63 The teach ers read i ly accepted the projects and their meth ods of im p l em en t a ti on .A serious que s ti on in the initial stages of im p l em en t a ti on was whet h er teach ers and expert as- soc i a tes would agree to enga ge in this proces s ,con s i d ering the depressing circu m s t a n ce s in whi ch they live,c i rc u m s t a n ces that have led to a general apathy and a decrease in profes s i onal motivati on .T he results were enco u ra gi n g :9 0 to 95 percent of the partic i p a n t s — or 10 percent of elem en t a ry school staff—embraced both the contents of the UNICEF- supported projects and the meth odo l ogy. On a five- point scale, accepta n ce of the project s ran ged from 4.5 to 4.9. Ana lyzing the rea s ons for such a high degree of accepta n ce shows that these projects re- spon ded to certain of the school staff’s (partic u l a rly the teach e rs’) important human and profes s i onal needs .Na m ely, the conte nts and instructi on meth ods res tore digni ty to the teaching profes s i on ,re a f f i rm teac hing competen c i e s ,re s tore meaning to teaching (whi ch 33 34 Evaluations

is otherwise almost tot a lly lost), help teach ers improve commu n i c a ti on with other adul t s , and contri bu te to individual and profes s i onal insight and self - aw a reness for both studen t s and teach ers .To reitera te ,the program s’ contents and their active and partic i p a tory methods accou n ted for the wide s pre ad , pos i ti ve res p ons e . The Goodwill Cla s s room program conti nu o u s ly appl i ed this form of evalu a ti on .Fo u r months after the initial trai n i n g, trai n ed teach ers met for a day to discuss their experi en ce s and problems in implemen t a ti on ,g iving and receiving feedb ack and sup port from other teach ers and the original trai n ers ,a nd informing the group about future plans. Thro u gh May 1997 there were twenty - f ive such meetin gs .Te ach ers’ reports pres en ted dur ing these meeti n gs were helpful in evalu a ting the qua l i ties of the program ,its effects on chi l d ren’s behavi or , and its reception by other teach ers ,p a rent s ,a nd school auth ori ti e s . On the basis of these report s ,a n a lysts conclu ded that teach er s were using their new kn owl ed ge and skills not only to faci l i t a te works h ops with stude nts but also to work wit h pa ren t s .F or exa m p l e ,te ach e rs appl i ed the works h op format to orga n i ze parent s’ day meeti n gs and to solve proble ms in the class with parents and student s cooperati vely. The pos i t ive effects on chi l d ren were recogni z a b le on several levels , and even those who had not partic i p a ted in the Goodwill Cla s s room had comm en t ed on them.Te ach ers were satis f i ed with the manua l .T he main barrie rs to implemen t a ti on were techn i c a l ,n a m ely, a lack of sp ace ,t im e ,s t a ti on a ry ,and staff. Teach e rs sugge s te d that school superv is o rs and principals be included in the trai n i n g. Almost 12 percent of the teach ers underwent two- or three- d ay training for at least one of the peace educ a ti on program s .Ne a rly all school expert associ a te s — m ore than 2,000 ps ych o l ogists and peda gogues emp l oyed at schoo l s — p a rti c i p a ted in the trai n i n g. Grou p s of these trai n ees have received add i ti onal training to become trai n ers thems elves so that th ey may condu ct furth er training in their commu n i ti e s . It remains to be seen what percent a ge of the remaining elem en t a ry school teach ers will be receptive to peace educ a ti on program s .It is enco u ra gi ng that these projects have at- tracted teach e rs with good reput a ti ons among their peers.Im provem ents due to peace educ a ti on programs were notice a ble in schools where ten to fifteen teach er s had undergon e some trai n i n g. Chi l d r en who partic i p a ted in the programs also expre s s ed strong ly pos i tive attitu de s towa rd them .( It should be noted that chi l d ren’s attitu des were not evalu a ted in all programs.) The rea s ons for the teach er s’ and chi l d re n’s pos i ti ve attitu des are more or less the sa m e — f or both grou p s , the interactive and partic i p a tory work meth ods proved inviti n g. Chi l d re n’s pos i tive reacti ons to the project affect the teach e rs because they experi en ce the chi l d re n’s reacti ons as a rewa rd for their involvem en t . Han d books and other instruct ive materials were the first objective result s of these program s .M ore than 50,000 copies of rela t ed material were publi s h ed (nearly one per ele- men t a ry school teach er ) . 64 The evalu a ti ons foll ow ed the same logic as the programs thems elve s .T hu s ,i fthe programs aimed to cha n ge the attitu de s and behavi or of each partic i p a n t , the evalu a ti on ,u s- ing a psychom etric approach,foc u s ed on measura ble and stable person a l i ty cha n ge s .Th e ma j ori ty of the programs aimed to cha n ge not only partic i p a n t s’ in d ivi d ual traits but also the cli m a te of the cla s s room and perceptions of the social environ m en t .Co operative and Evaluations 35

experi en ti al learni n g — being the means of acqui ri ng certain cogni tive and behavi ora l sk i ll s — a s sumes that cha n ges in individuals are clo s ely linked to cha n ges in social setti n gs and in rela ti on ships among students and between students and teach ers . From this perspective ,the effe cts of the program should depend on the degree to whi ch these social real i ties coin c i de with newly acqui re d skills and perspect ives .Th erefore ,s ocial rea l i ties and new skills and perspectives can mutua lly sup port or wea ke n each other to the extent that the des i red cha n ges actua lly take place in the immedi a te and broader environ m en t .Th e project should show sens i tivi ty to the gener al cont ext in whi ch the works h ops are con- ducted . This is why tradi ti onal effect - eva lu a ti ons in several programs have been exp a n ded to include an evalu a ti on of the program’s poten t ial to induce cha n ges within the setti n gs . The evalu a ti on of the project on The Righ ts of the Child illus tra te s this approach.Th i s evalu a ti on revea l ed many significant findings. More than 500 local groups advoca ti n g chi l d ren’s rights had been formed . Forty- t h r ee percent of the informed parents had a positive attitu de towa rds the UN Conventi on and were wil ling to partic i p a te in some action . Tw enty - f our percent of pa rents were somewhat interes ted but reluct ant to ackn owl ed ge the chi l d ’s rights (comm en ti n g, for exa m p l e , “What about our righ t s ? ” ) .Th i rty - t h ree percent of pa rents were res erved ,not interes ted ,or oppos ed to the very idea of chi l d ren’s righ t s . Oth er trends obs erve d in prim a ry schools and local commu n i ties belong in the same ca tegory of in d i ce s .For exa m p l e , providing informa ti on about chi l d ren ’s rights was gradua lly becoming an ongoi n g, perma n e nt activity. Sch ool staff better underst ood the specific problems and needs of chi l d ren .In tere s ted individu als and instituti ons outs i de the sch ool started to provide support and to cooperate .S ch ool actions were growing in qua l- ity and ra n ge ,s preading from the school to other schools or to local commu n i ti e s . The Goodwill Cla s s room project appl i ed a tradi ti o nal evalu a ti on of im p act ,wit h tes t- ing before and after implemen t a ti on ,usi ng experi m ental and control grou p s .H owever, the measures of cha n ge involved a combi n a ti on of ps ych om etric and ecol ogical indicators, focusing on cha n ges in the microenviron m ent (the class) as much as on cha n ges in the studen t s’ in d ivi dual attitu de s .Th r ee kinds of eco- i n d i c a tors were used:(1) student responses to the que s ti on n a i re conce rning the qua l i ty of rela ti onships in the cla s s room , both among stude nts and between students and teach ers ; (2) teach ers’ res ponses to the que s ti on n a i re (also on the social cli m a te in the cla s s room ) ; and (3) soci om et ry indicators, such as the ratio of pos i tive res ponses (accepta n ce) to negative res ponses (rejecti o n) to peers for sugge s ted comm on activiti e s . This evalu a ti on was orga n i ze d in seven schools in whi ch eigh te en classes were selected (nine partic i p a ted in the Goodwill Cla s s ro om program , and nine did not). The experi- mental (trai n e d) classes and the control (untrai n ed) classes were similar according to all basic cha ract eris tics other than partic i p a ti on in the program : class size,a verage grades , and discipline. More than 90 percent of the students in the experi m ental group regu l a rly partic i p a ted in the Goodwill Cla s s r oom program (once a week for 90 minutes ) .A lmost the same pro- portion wanted to conti nue with these activities (with somewhat grea ter support among girl s ) .O ut of the list of feeli n gs associ a ted with partic i p a ti on in the Goodwill Cla s s room , the most frequen t ly selected were “ni ce” (94 percent ) ,“del i gh ted ”(72 percent ) ,“gra tef u l ” 36 Evaluations

(58 percent ) ,a nd “enco u ra ged ”( 38 percent ) . The least frequen t ly select ed feeli n gs were “bored,” “fri gh ten ed ,” “mad ,” “an x i o u s ,” or “sad .” B oth boys and girls liked the program for similar rea s on s : the way the works h ops were convened and the resu l ting rela ti on s h i p s (n ew frien d s h i p s ,as they poin t ed out) . The you n g er students liked the play aspect of th e activiti e s . The results showed no significant increase in the num ber of pos i ti ve soci om etri c choi c es after the works h op. However, pa rti c i p a ti on in the Goodwill Cla s s r oom works h op s brou gh t a significant decrea se in negative choi ce s ,su ch as refusal to cooperate with peers in comm on activiti e s ,wh i ch indicates that the effects of the Goodwill Cla s s room were evident throu gh the decrease in negat ive tens i ons among the studen t s . Because of a high dropout rate among older elem en t a ry school stud ents partic i p a ti n g in the Goodwill Cla s s room , it was difficult to get meaningful data. Of 104 older studen t s at the beginning of the experi m ental cla s s e s ,on ly 68 percent rema i n ed at the end of th e sem e s ter. The high dropout rate did not allow comp a ri s ons of the soci om etric indicators. The teach er s received a list of pos s i ble problems to che ck offa s the most perpl ex i n g th ey might enco u n ter in working with a cla s s . The teach ers’ an s wers revea l ed that, for ex- am p l e ,com mu n i c a ti on problems between teach ers and stud ents signi f i c a n t ly decre a s ed af ter implemen t a ti on of the Goodwill Cla s s r oom program in the experi m ental cla s s e s . Furt h er evalu a ti on is requi red to determine how long cha n ges will last. From the data one can determine the attitu de of trai n ees (and of those whom they trai n ed afterwa rd s ) towa rd this new knowled ge (although there are no indices concerni ng how well they le a rn ed it), and how potent the new knowled ge is (how far it “radi a te s” ) .S ti ll ,n one of th e programs offered the opportun i ty for a long - term evalu a ti on . It has been shown that local experts managed to qui ck ly develop origi n a l ,b asic concepts for the program s ,to adjust them to local circu m s t a n ce s , and to add ress the releva n t sh ortcom i n gs of the school system .The prim a ry, avai l a ble educ a ti onal res o u rce s — t h e stron gly motivated teach ers and almost all of the school speci a l i s t s — m a de this pos i tive as s e s s m en t . However, the rigid Serbian school system resists innovati o ns in genera l ,a nd peace edu- ca ti on in partic u l a r. Cur rent events in Serbian soci ety (the policies of the Serbian and Yu- gos l av governm ents towa rd the Albanian popu l a ti on in Kos ovo, for example) will only rein force these tenden c i e s .Al s o, the foreign funds that supported these programs are fad- in g, and internal res o u rces are almost nonex i s ten t .T hese are serious obs t acles to furth er im p l em en t a ti on of peace educ a ti on and to the retenti on of what has already been accom- pl i s h ed . In a study of factors that promo te retenti on of peace educ a ti on trai n i n g, Ian Harris and his coll a bora tors conclu de that, by taking a peace educ a ti on cla s s , profes s i onal educ a tors can become more awa re of problems of vio l en ce ,b ut this does not guaran t ee that they will use what they learned . 65 In the Uni t ed States ,for exa m p l e ,pers onal factors— su ch as fa m i ly support and feeli n gs of ur gency—and profes s i onal factors— su ch as adm i n i s tra t ive support and a pos i t ive school cli m a te — i n f lu en ce whet h er or not teach ers use new knowl- edge .M ore importa n t ,i t is not the abstract formal content of a peace educ a ti on class that mo tiva t es teach ers to apply its meth od s ,but rat h er their personal experi en ces rela ted to vio l en ce and peac e that influen ce this. If it is true that personal factors (suppor t of col- Evaluations 37

le a g u e s ,f ri en d s , and family) are more influen tial than schoo l - rel a ted factors (whet h er a supportive adm i n i s tra ti on enco u ra ges an educ a tor to begin a peace educ a ti on program , for exa m p l e ) , and if this finding can be genera l i ze d to other contex t s ,t h en we can expect that trai n ed peace educ a t ors in Serbia will conti n ue to implement what they have learned . Si x

Pro spects for Continued Peace Education in Serbia

n 1478 in Cetinje Mona s tery, Monten eg ro, the first print shop in Sout h e a s tern Europe was establi s h ed and went on to play an enormous role in the diffusion of Ibooks and literacy, as well as in spreading culture well beyond the local area . The fi rst book prin ted on the Obod press by monk Mak a rije was the Orth odox service book , Octoech o s ,whi ch is the first prin ted Cyrillic book of the South Slavs . The story goes that not long after the book was prin ted ,the leaden lette rs of the Obod print shop were sm el ted into cannonb a ll s . Ther e is fear in pres ent day Serbia that after the North Atl a n t ic Trea ty Organ i z a ti on (NAT O) bombing and a new war in Kos ovo — wh i ch left behind thousands of de ad ,d i s- pl aced , and trau m a ti zed civilians and rene wed nation a l i s tic and militaris t ic propa ga n d a hysteri c a lly spreading fear and false comm i tm ents—the results of peace educ a ti on to date will also melt into the prevailing atmo s ph ere of vio l en ce and des p a i r. And indeed,the re- new ed social crisis poses a big cha ll en ge to work in peace educ a ti on . The governm en t condemns pacifists as “un p a tri o ti c” and strict ly contro ls any devia ti on from the promo ted pa tri o tic discou rs e . This control extends to the schoo l s . But the cha ll en ge could be of an o t h er kind. If what was done in the area of peace edu- ca ti on proved influen t ial and rele vant en o u gh ,t h en such social circu m s t a n ces could pos e a cha ll en ge to redi s c over vigoro u s ,a t tractive ,i n n ovative ,and expre s s ive new ways of peace - bu i l d i n g, perhaps crea t ed by some of the young participants in peace educ a ti on works h op s .Th er e is hope that they will find new ways to conti n ue the process by finding new venues for commu n i c a ti on , and symbols to express their peace comm i tm en t .Al s o, ma ny who have des i gn ed and taught peace educ a ti on programs to date will not easily give up their efforts and the satis f acti ons inherent in pea ce educ a ti on . However, th ey have to ta ke stock of social contrad i cti ons and tens i o ns before they proffer an alterna tive to con- fl i ct .An ongo ing conf ron t a ti on with the cha n gi ng social rea l i ty appea rs neces s a ry. In res ponse to worsen ed cond i ti on s ,tho se dedi c a ted to tran s forming Serbian soci ety could establish an active,a f f i rm a tive network of persons already trai n ed in peace educ a- tion ,r efine the conc epts and program s ,en l a r ge or refocus the scope of the program s , con- ceive new strat egies of grappling with the environ m en t , and endorse new vis i ons of soc i ety. Pea ce educ a tors’ past experi en ce is that such comm i tm ents help overcome des p a i r. If peace educ a ti on is to deal with exi s ting circu m s t a n ces and conf l i cts that include ethnic hostil i ties and recent trau m a tic experi en ce s ,hu m i l i a ti on , and bit tern e s s ,n ew programs will have to be develo ped to add ress the very core of group identi ty and coll ectivi ty. New ideas have to be developed to fit some thing that could be called “educ a ti on for reconc i l i a ti on .” This would not only attempt to cha n ge mind-sets about the “ot h er ( s ) ,” bu t 38 Prospects for Continued Peace Education 39

the dispos i ti on to accept the narratives of the other(s) and to approach both their own hi s tory and the future in a new way. The ways out of these gloomy circu m s t a n ces may even be of a symbolic natu re.O n e such option is a proposal to establish the Balkan Ins ti tute for Textbook Res e a rch .P l ac i n g such an instituti on in Cetin j e ,in Monten eg ro, whi ch is the site of the first Balkan prin t mi ll and of the producti on of the first Cyrillic book of the South Slavs , could add yet more sym bolic weigh t . A parall el instituti o n—the Georg - E ckert - In s ti tute for the Study of Textbooks (Georg - Eckert - In s ti tut für Schul bu ch fors chung) in Germa ny, fou n d ed in 1951 by UNESCO— proved worthy. Two of its most prai s ed projects were the Germa n - Fren ch and Germa n - Polish history textboo k s ,wri t ten cooperatively by historians from the res pect ive cou n tri e s . This report has discussed the role the former Yugo s l av and contem pora ry Serbian textbooks have played in grounding a culture of in to l era n ce .At pres en t ,it is extrem ely hard to im a gine Serbian and Albanian historians sitting in the Serbian Min i s try of Edu c a ti on and writi ng a comm on history textboo k .H owever, perhaps it is pos s i ble to imagine them wit h ot h er Balkan and interna ti o nal experts discussing the problems of hi s tory textbooks at a new instituti on with different and broader goal s . In the spirit of a new instituti on ,re- cou n ting the histories of var ious groups should not be an effort to homogen i ze differin g vie ws and interpreta ti ons of hi s tory, but rat h er to provide an opportun i ty to join t ly iden- tify the different narrative s , and to moderate tales of victi m h ood ,bl a m e , and glory. A new way of weaving history into the fabric of rela ti ons could be a symbo lic as well as a practical way out of the pres ent cris i s . No t e s No t e s No t e s

1. The appeal called “Stop the War,” initiated in November 1991, was signed by sixty-five prominent Serbian psychologists and sent to all federal and republican governmental bodies in the former Yugoslavia, as well as to all the leading dailies and weeklies in the country. 2. Serbian political leaders focused on these problems only later, mainly as a source of argu- ments against the so-called “unprovoked, undeserved, unjust” sanctions. 3. See “Perspectives on Peace Education,” in Ake Bjerstedt (ed.), Educational Information and Debate, 89 (Malmö, Sweden: School of Education, Lund University, vol. 121, 1990), pp. 55–75. 4. M. Lawson, The International People’s College, Helsingor, Denmark: Seven Decades of Peace Ed u c a t i o n , Peace Education Miniprints, no. 71 (Malmö, Sweden: R&D Group, 1995). 5. See Betty Reardon, Comprehensive Peace Education: Educating for Global Responsibility (New York: Teachers College Press, 1988). 6. Reardon, Comprehensive Peace Education, p. 14. 7. Reardon, Comprehensive Peace Education, p. 14. 8. In 1994-95, UNICEF’s Belgrade office launched its Education for Development project. The author, Ruzica Rosandic, directed one of the composite projects, The Goodwill Classroom, during its first two years. The Goodwill Classroom is discussed later in this report. 9. Birgit Brock-Utne, “Peace Education at the End of a Millennium,” in H. Lofgren (ed.), Peace Education and Human Development (Malmö, Sweden: Malmö School of Education, Lund University, 1995), p. 62. 10. Brock-Utne, “Peace Education at the End of the Millennium,” p. 68. 11. Most such clubs are sponsored by the Fund for Open Society in Belgrade. Some (for example, youth training seminars on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, run by the Center for the Protection of Child Rights, Belgrade) are sponsored by Radda Barnen, which is Swedish for Save the Children. Group MOST from the Center for Anti-War Action (CAA) in Belgrade also has organized numerous youth seminars in conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation, and dispute settlement, not only in Serbia but in Kosovo and Montenegro as well. 12. In early 1999 an informal program in peace studies was begun in Belgrade at a summer school sponsored by a private bank. Members of the Group MOST, who belong to academia, offer informal courses in conflict resolution for undergraduate students of psychology or at the Teachers College. However, these are all informal, unsystematic forms of peace education. 13. Urie Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979). 14. Reardon, Comprehensive Peace Education. 40 Notes 41

15. Jerome Bruner is the author of a book with the same title, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (Cambridge, Mass., and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1986). 16. Michael Wessells, The Role of Peace Education in a Culture of Peace: A Social-psychological An a l y s i s . Peace Education Miniprints, No. 65 (Malmö, Sweden: School of Education, 1994), p. 5. 17. Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: The Continuum Publishing Corporation, 1986), pp. 57–58. 18. Wessells, The Role of Peace Education in a Culture of Peace. 19. Malvern Lumsden, “Breaking the Cycle of Violence,” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 34, no. 4 (1997), p. 67. 20. Wessells (1994) stresses that peace education must be integrated across a variety of social levels; that cooperative orientations are essential components of the psychological substrate for a culture of peace; and that there is a need for cooperation on superordinate goals, empathy and multicultural understanding, and a thorough reorientation of the structure, content, and pedagogy of peace education toward positive peace. 21. Lumsden (1997) sees the following leverages as efficient: creativity, healing, education, and communal rites. 22. A recently issued law giving the government control over universities reflects such a policy. In retaliation for the demonstrations in the winter of 1996–97, in which students and university professors took the most prominent part, the Serbian government issued a law that gave it total control of the universities. The government used its new power as an instrument of repression and revenge against the opposition intelligentsia. 23. See Spending for education in the majority of East European countries in transition has exceeded or is approaching the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) mean. The largest increase, related to 1989, was in Hungary (in 1994 it was close to 7 percent). A negative trend is registered only in Albania. See B. Laporte and D. Ringold, Trends in Education Access and Financing during the Transition in Central and Eastern Europe (W a s h i n g t o n , D.C.: World Bank), Technical Paper no. 361, 1997, p. 20. 24. As for comparative military spending, the data show that according to the public expenditures per soldier, Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) ranks 42nd out of 160 countries, while for GNP it ranks 88th. See Ruth Leger Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditures 1996 (Washington, D.C.: World Priorities, 1996), p. 50. 25. Evaluation of the UNICEF-Supported EducationProgram in Yugoslavia: 1995–97 (B e l g r a d e : UNICEF, 1998). 26. Evaluation of the UNICEF-Supported EducationProgram in Yugoslavia. 27. J. V. Wertsch, Voices of Mind: A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action (C a m b r i d g e , Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 112. 28. Instead of “dominant,” Wertsch uses “privileged” as more appropriate for the study of psychological processes. Wertsch, Voices of Mind, p. 124. 29. T. Kovac-Cerovic, “Metakognitivne komponente socijalne interakcije majke I deteta” (“Metacognitive components of mother-child social interaction”), Ph.D. thesis, 1997, defended at the Deptartment of Psychology, University of Belgrade (unpublished). 42 Notes

30. According to the former Serbian newspaper Nasa Borba, April 24, 1998. 31 . Nasa Borba, April 24, 1998. 32. Nasa Borba, April 24, 1998. 33. In an analysis of videotapes of six full days of interaction in a first-grade classroom, Hagstrom and Wertsch found only twelve instances of noninstructional experience statements by students. Three of these days involved a teacher who was generally viewed as quite orderly and strict in her approach to classroom control, and the other three involved a teacher whose classroom was considered more open in style. However, the noninstructional experience statements were so infrequent that a comparison of the two settings was impossible. See Wertsch, Voices of Mi n d , p. 129. 34. A rather common practice in many communist countries, including the former Yugoslavia, was that, out of fear of political consequences, parents were urged to forbid their children to carry information that they had accidentally overheard from home to school. Otherwise, children could be used (and were used) as informers in prosecuting their own parents. 35. One of the basic principles (defined as such at the Tenth Communist Party Congress), the fifth among twelve listed, is, “Marxism as a science and as the ideology and praxis of the working class is basic for all education.” T. Bogavac, Skolstvo u Srbiji na putu do reforme: razvoj skolstva 1945–1975 (Serbian School System on the Way to the Reform: Developments from 1945–1975) (Belgrade: Prosvetni savet Srbije, 1980), p. 316. 36. See D. Stojanovic, “History Textbooks Mirror Their Time,” in R. Rosandic and V. Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Patriarchy: The Analysis of Elementary School Textbooks (B e l g r a d e : Center for Anti-War Action, 1994), p. 88. 37. The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, XLII, August 13, 1993. See more details in Rosandic and Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Patriarchy, pp. 49–50. 38. The availability of pure (these years almost nonexistent) research funds is not the only rea- son for so extensively studying school textbooks as a means of school socialization. School textbooks are a powerful means of socialization in settings with a high percentage of illiterate people and low reading habits, where school textbooks may be the only books available. 39. D. Plut, “Socialization Patterns of Elementary School Textbooks,” in Rosandic and Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Patriarchy, pp. 25–28. 40. Rosandic and Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Patriarchy, p. 23. 41. The following offers a hint of what one can get from a text on peace education, written by a Soviet specialist: “The present stage of development of the socialist world system and the international working-class and youth movement provides convincing proof of the vitality of the idea of socialist internationalism. Public ownership of the means of production, scientific management of socio-economic life, the politically and ideologically unanimous way the workers support the communist and workers’ parties, the comprehensive development of the people’s social activities, the rise in material prosperity and the cultural standard are becoming decisive factors in promoting an almost completely international way of public life for socialism. . . .” (This quotation ends with some quotes from Brezhnev.) See G. N. Filonov, “Educating Young People in the Spirit and Ideas of Internationalism and Peace,” in Ch. Wulf (ed.), Handbook on Peace Education (Frankfurt/Main-Oslo: IPRA, 1974), p. 77. Notes 43

42. See the description in this report of the film Tito for the Second Time among the Serbs, p. v i i i . 43. R. Rosandic, “Patriotic Education,” in Rosandic and Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Pa t r i a r c h y , pp. 41–58. 44. I. Jaric, “Vicious Circle: Images of the Male and the Female,” in Rosandic and Pesic (eds.), Warfare, Patriotism, Patriarchy, pp. 111–124. 45. R. Rosandic, “Culture-Specific Models of Conflict Management Transmitted through the School Textbooks” (Berlin: Berghof Center for Conflict Management, 1997), manuscript. 46. Inspired by Jerome Bruner. See J. Bruner, Acts of Meaning (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990). 47. The conceptual matrix for the analysis of conflict management strategies is defined according to Pruitt’s and Rubin’s classification. See D. G. Pruitt and J. Z. Rubin, Social Conflicts: Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986), pp. 139–164. 48. From the Reader for the Eighth Grade (Belgrade: Zavod za udzbenike I nastavna sredstva, 1992), p. 26. 49. T. Kovac-Cerovic and G. Opacic, “Teachers’ Implicit Theories and Teachers’ Actions in Conflict Management” (Berlin: Berghof Center for Conflict Management, 1997), manuscript. 50. See “We, Children, War,” in Psiholoska istrazivanja, no. 5 (Belgrade: Institut za psihologi- ju, 1994). 51. This overview is based on a 1998 article by Vesna Ognjenovic, “Program psiholoske podrske deci pogodjenoj ratom” (“The Program of Psychological Support to Children Affected by War”) (forthcoming). 52. N. Ignjatovic-Savic, “Programs for Supporting and Promoting Child Development within War Affected Social Context: Smile Keepers” (Belgrade: UNICEF, Education for Development Program, March 1993–December 1995). 53. Based on the leaflet published by the Center for Anti-War Action (CAA), Group MOST, 1997, no. 12. 54. R. Rosandic and T. Kovac-Cerovic, “Goodwill Classroom: School Program for Constructive Conflict Resolution” (Belgrade: UNICEF, Education for Development Program, May 1995–July 1997). 55. Friends of the Children of Serbia: Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights, “Application of the Primer of Children’s Rights in promoting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” (Belgrade: UNICEF, Education for Development, October 1997). 56. N. Ignjatovic-Savic, “Mutual Education: Giraffe Language in Kindergartens and Schools” (Belgrade: UNICEF, Education for Development Program, October 1995–June 1996). 57. G. Ibolya and L. Dotlic, “Enhancing Children’s Self-Esteem” (Belgrade: UNICEF Program of Psycho-Social Assistance within the Republic of Serbia, 1993–1997). 58. J. P. Lederach, Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1995), pp. 39–70. 44 Notes

59. Lederach, Preparing for Peace, p. 55. 60. For an extensive elaboration on this methodology, see S. Jankovic and T. Kovac-Cerovic, “Basic Principles of Workshop Procedure” in T. Kovac-Cerovic, R. Rosandic, and D. Popadic (eds.), The Goodwill Classroom: School Programs for Constructive Conflict Resolution (B e l g r a d e : CAA, Group MOST, 1995), pp. 36–51 in the English manuscript translation. 61. Reardon, Comprehensive Peace Education, pp. 29–37. 62. For an elaborate account of the main topics of intervention programs, see D. Plut, “Basic Principles of Intervention Programs or Conflict Resolution,” in T. Kovac-Cerovic, R. Rosandic, and D. Popadic (eds.), The Goodwill Classroom: School Programs for Constructive Conflict Resolution (Belgrade: CAA, Group MOST, 1995), pp. 15–27 in the English manuscript tr a n s l a t i o n . 63. Evaluation of the UNICEF-Supported Education Programs in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: 1995–1997 (Belgrade: UNICEF, 1998). 64. All of the material was empirically tested, which has increased its value. See the UNICEF report, note 63 above. 65. J. Glowinski, I. M. Harris, and N. Perleberg, “Factors That Promote Retention of Peace Education Training” (Milwaukee, Wis.: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Peace Studies Program, 1998), manuscript. About the Aut h o r

Ruzica Rosandic is a profes s or of ps ych o l ogy at the Univers i ty of Belgrade . In the early 19 9 0 s ,s he became active in the Center for Anti - W ar Action ,wh ere she co- fo u n ded and for several yea rs headed the Group MOST, an agency for training and res e a rch in con- stru ct ive conf l i ct res o luti on .She co- ed i t ed two books publi s h ed by the center: Warf a re , Patri o tis m ,Pa tri a r chy, a critical analysis of Serbian scho ol textboo k s , and The Goodwill Cl a s s roo m , a manual in cons tru ct ive conf l i ct res o luti on for elem en t a ry schoo l s .In 19 9 8 – 9 9 ,s he was a seni or fellow in the Jenn i n gs Ran do l ph Program for Intern a ti on a l Pea ce at the Uni t ed States Ins ti tute of Peace ,Wa s h i n g ton ,D. C .Cu rren t ly, she is a vis i ti n g profes s or teaching gradua te cou rses in alterna tive dispute res o luti on at the School for Social and Systemic Stud i e s ,N ova Sout h e a s te rn Uni versi ty, Fort Lauderda l e ,F l a .

45 About the Institute

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan federal institution created by Congress to promote research, education, and training on the peaceful management and resolution of international conflicts. Established in 1984, the Institute meets its congressional mandate through an array of programs, including research grants, fellowships, professional training, education programs from high school through graduate school, confer- ences and workshops, library services, and publications. The Institute’s Board of Directors is ap- pointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate.

Chairman of the Board: Chester A. Crocker Vice Chairman: Max M. Kampelman President: Richard H. Solomon Executive Vice President: Harriet Hentges

Board of Directors Chester A. Crocker (Chairman), James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Max M. Kampelman, Esq. (Vice Chairman), Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson, Washington, D.C. Dennis L. Bark, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University Stephen J. Hadley, Esq., Shea and Gardner, Washington, D.C. Theodore M. Hesburgh, President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame Zalmay Khalilzad, RAND Corporation, Washington, D.C. Seymour Martin Lipset, Hazel Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University W. Scott Thompson, Professor of International Politics, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Allen Weinstein, President, Center for Democracy, Washington, D.C. Harriet Zimmerman, Vice President, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington, D.C.

Members ex officio J. Stapleton Roy, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Daniel H. Simpson, Vice President, National Defense University Walter B. Slocombe, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Richard H. Solomon, President, United States Institute of Peace (nonvoting)

46 OTHER TITLES IN THE PEACEWORKS SERIES

Three Dimensions of Peacebuilding in Bosnia: Findings from USIP-Sponsored Research and Field Projects, edited by Steven M. Riskin (No. 32, December 1999) Building Security in Post–Cold War Eurasia: The OSCE and U.S. Foreign Policy, by P. Terrence Hopmann (No. 31, September 1999) New Approaches to International Negotiation and Mediation: Findings from USIP-Sponsored Research, edited by Timothy D. Sisk (No. 30, August 1999) Training to Promote Conflict Management: USIP-Assisted Training Projects, edited by David Smock (No. 29, July 1999) The Challenge of Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: Preventing Conflict in the Ferghana Valley, by Anara Tabyshalieva (No. 28, June 1999) Territorial Conflicts and Their Resolution: The Case of Ecuador and Peru, by Beth A. Simmons (No. 27, April 1999) The Quest for Democratic Security: The Role of the Council of Europe and U.S. Foreign Policy, by Heinrich Klebes (No. 26, January 1999) Nagorno-Karabakh: Searching for a Solution, by Patricia Carley (No. 25, December 1998) Removing Barricades in Somalia: Options for Peace and Rehabilitation, by Hussein Adam and Richard Ford, with Ali Jimale Ahmed, Abdinasir Osman Isse, Nur Weheliye, and David Smock (No. 24, October 1998) Muddling toward Democracy: Political Change in Grassroots China, by Anne F. Thurston (No. 23, August 1998) Preventing Genocide in Burundi: Lessons from International Diplomacy, by Stephen R. Weissman (No. 22, July 1998) The China Challenge in the Twenty-First Century: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy, by Chen Jian (No. 21, June 1998) Private Peacemaking: USIP-Assisted Peacemaking Projects of Nonprofit Organizations, edited by David R. Smock (No. 20, June 1998) Sovereignty after Empire: Self-Determination Movements in the Former Soviet Union, by Galina Starovoitova (No. 19, October 1997) Keynote Addresses from the "Virtual Diplomacy" Conference, by Richard H. Solomon, Walter B. Wriston, and George P. Shultz (No. 18, September 1997) Greek-Turkish Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy: Cyprus, the Aegean, and Regional Stability, by Tozun Bahcheli, Theodore A. Couloumbis, and Patricia Carley (No. 17, August 1997) U.S. Responses to Self-Determination Movements: Strategies for Nonviolent Outcomes and Alternatives to Secession, by Patricia Carley (No. 16, July 1997) Creative Approaches to Managing Conflict in Africa: Findings from USIP-Funded Projects, edited by David R. Smock (No. 15, April 1997) OF RELATED INTEREST

Many other publications from the United States Institute of Peace address issues of direct relevance to peacebuilding in the Balkans.

RECENT INSTITUTE REPORTS INCLUDE:

Three Dimensions of Peacebuilding in Bosnia: Findings from USIP-Sponsored Research and Field Projects, edited by Steven M. Riskin (Peaceworks No. 32, December 1999) Training U.S. Army Officers for Peace Operations: Lessons from Bosnia, by Howard Olsen and John Davis (Special Report, October 1999) De-Balkanizing the Balkans: Security and Stability in Southeastern Europe, by Andrew J. Pierre (Special Report, September 1999) “Yugoslavia”: Building Democratic Institutions (Special Report, April 1999) Montenegro—and More—at Risk (Special Report, January 1999) To obtain an Institute report (available free of charge), write United States Institute of Peace, 1200 17th Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-3011; call (202) 429-3832; fax (202) 429-6063; or e-mail: [email protected].

RECENT BOOKS FROM USIP PRESS INCLUDE:

Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World, edited by Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall (November 1999) Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, by John Paul Lederach (1997) Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes (3 vols.), edited by Neil J. Kritz (1995) To order books, call 800-868-8064 (U.S. only) or 703-661-1590, or fax 703-661-1501.

United State s Institute of Pea c e 1200 17th Street NW Pea c ewo rks 33 Washington, DC 20036