Resilience, Peacebuilding, and Preventing Violent Extremism

“To build future stability and security in a polarised and a fragmented world, we need not only warfighters but peacemakers. At the heart of effective governance is educating and training far reaching leaders to harness smart power, the integration of hard and soft power. To secure nations, this invaluable and timely book calls governments and partners to invest in social harmony, political stability, and economic prosperity.” Rohan Gunaratna, Chairman, Global Peace Institute UK “In an age where the focus is on great power rivalries and geopolitics, this book serves as an excellent reminder that there are other tools and remedies to conflicts than militarization and military interventions, studying how local resilience and conflict-specific strategies can be an alternative to outright violence, this is a very important book!” Stig Jarle Hansen, International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences “In a world that is increasingly afflicted by the scourge of violent extremism this is a timely and relevant book that interrogates the complexity of the phenomenon, and contributes significantly to enhancing our understanding of the transformative role of peacebuilding process in deeply divided societies.” Tim Murithi, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and University of Cape Town, author of The Ethics of Peacebuilding “Violent extremism continues to spread amongst fragile polities in a fractured world. Traditional counter-terrorism efforts are too narrow, to effectively respond to the challenge. Theoretically anchored, empirically sound, this compelling book makes the case for a more comprehensive approach towards violent extremism. Given the multiple factors fuelling extremism, this is much needed. The chapters reflect this comprehensive approach covering such diverse topics as gender, climate change and social cohesion. A must read for academics and policy makers as they seek to respond to extremism.” Hussein Solomon, Senior Professor at the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of the Free State, South Africa