ABSTRACT
The collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe brought to light suppre ssed national identities and religious, ethnic, and minority issues. In these countries there were no history and practice of looking at conflict as a potential for social change. Conflict was always defined as unacceptable and in most of the former so-called Communist countries, ethnic and minority issues were forbidden themes, transformed into matters of class struggle. If one takes these facts into account, then it becomes clear that the goals of peace education in emerging new democracies are twofold: (1) to develop a climate of acceptance of conflict as a potential for social change, and to promote active and constructive ways of solving it; and (2) to promote the right to diversity as a common interest in order to enable various national, ethnic, and religious groups to live together peacefully.
