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After dealing with the question of the political scientific background and peace and conflict research in Basic Course 2 and the theoretical background and peace education in Basic Course 3, Basic Courses No. 4 and 5 deal with the question of What Do Peace Educators Do?
Of course, it is impossible to even come close to painting a complete picture of the wealth of activity in peace education. For this reason, we have selected two significant core areas to concentrate on: Dealing with Conflicts Constructively (Basic Course No. 4) and the Peace Education and Fair Play (Basic Course 5). Both basic courses rely on material from the Institute for Peace Education Tübingen, which we would like to thank at this point.
"Dealing with conflicts constructively is one of the core elements of dealing with war and peace. Peace education argues that based on human rights, conflicts needs to be settled without violence or the threat of it. The attempt to establish legal norms and conciliatory and mediatory procedures plays a central role in this.
Irrespective of whether one considers conflict to be a facility of mankind’s social disposition, or rather the consequence of varying social interests, the method in which conflicts are settled will continue to be a decisive criterium for the art of peace. Peace researcher Johan Galtung characterizes this relation perfectly with the comment, 'Tell me, how you behave in a conflict, and I'll tell you how much peace culture you have.'
However, the way and form in which conflicts are settled depends on other factors: in the manner in which the 'essence' of conflict is understood and the functions ascribed to it within mankind’s cohesive existence. If conflict is considered to be an essential driving force in social change, it fulfills an important and positive role - and its dynamics should be used for positive change. If conflict is seen rather as disruptive to the existing order of things or even felt to be a threat, it is more likely to be suppressed and approached as a disruptive factor.
New methods of thought and action are necessary and called for today, which take several truths into consideration, namely that of 'yours, mine and something else,' which draw up a balance between everyone involved winning in a conflict. It is also possible that all will lose, and that the dignity of the other continually needs to be maintained, even in conflict.
Dealing with conflicts and learning from and through them can make you more sensitive to the conflicts, and contribute to a broader understanding of the dynamics of conflicts and help to comprehend the way we react to them. Peace education can help children and young people (and also adults) lose their fear of conflict. Furthermore, it can also contribute to stopping the dynamics of conflict from escalating to the point of violence being used in human relationships and between groups. Finally, it can also transfer basic methods of constructively settling conflicts to common knowledge.
However, peace education cannot create the conditions needed by society to raise violence to a taboo and to stop its competition that is so clearly out of hand. It depends on a variety of supporting and safeguarding initiatives to achieve this."
[Günther Gugel, Tübingen Institute for Peace Education]