ABSTRACT
In this final chapter of the book we introduce Ernst Bloch’s “principle of hope” framework after reflecting on the material presented and analysed in the three case-studies, with a particular focus on the complex and challenging nature of interventionist practice and the further development of critical pragmatism into our model of critical pro-activism. Here we bring together the key findings of the case studies with the theoretical, methodological and epistemological discussions presented in Chapter 6; with these foundations and ingredients in place we are able to blend theory and practice and present a distinctive interpretive model and accompanying modus operandi that we hope will be useful to those individuals and organisations undertaking sport-based peace-building work in deeply divided societies. This model we have labelled ‘the Ripple Effect’ with the associated modus operandi termed ‘critical pro-activism’. Of acute importance to this model is the fact that it prioritises children and youth, who are placed at its centre as the potential agents of a hopeful and better future, leading us to make the following concluding observation: “while sport alone may not change the world, children playing with their enemies just might”.
