ABSTRACT
Nordstrom compares violence and peacemaking in Sri Lanka and Mozambique, noting how local level conflict resolution and peacemaking efforts occurred in both cases. In Mozambique, the government actively encouraged and supported local peacemaking initiatives, whereas in Sri Lanka, the local practices to ameliorate violence went unnoticed and unreinforced. Following the comparison of these two cases, Nordstrom discusses the broader global context of “dirty wars” in which, she notes, unarmed civilians are by far the most numerous victims. She discusses facets of the international system that both allow and augment the outbreak of wars. Finally, Nordstrom argues that in any war zone, the people are engaged not only in reproducing but also in resisting the war and rebuilding some semblance of a peaceful and healthy society.
