Chapter 11: Educating all for Peace: Educating No One for (Physical or Structural) Violence

The new millennium—as with any previous period—provides major challenges for those who value and are committed to peace. These challenges include armed conflict, environmental degradation, economic inequality, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS. Our task is to face these challenges and construct human society at local, national, and global levels in which peace (rather than violence) reigns.

In this chapter, we examine how the Culture of Peace Program (CPP), initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was conceptualized and implemented globally and, specifically, in the context of two nations: India and Japan. In the national case studies we identify the organizations that were involved, the activities they implemented, and the level of citizen participation in CPP initiatives. While these case studies of implementing CPP can be of interest in their own right, we engage in this analysis also to explore more general issues about how educational policies and practices are or are not diffused on a global level. We develop our analysis based on data available on the International Year of the Culture of Peace (IYCP) Web site as well as an interviews with the former director of the CPP and one of the author’s experiences working for UNESCO during that period.