ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses an approach to building peace communities that reflects a theory of critical caring, and that enacts the value and methods of “Peace and Power” group processes. The concepts, processes, and methods of “Peace and Power” grew out of Peggy’s initial experience as a member of the Emma Women’s Bookstore Collective in Buffalo, New York in the 1980s. From the earliest experiences with the process, feminist philosophies and the work of Paulo Freire provided an important theoretical and practical cornerstone in forming Peace and Power approaches that would overcome the dynamics that Freire identified as oppression. Leadership and followership are equally essential in creating change/peace, but the crucial nature of the relationship between leaders and followers has all-too-often been missing in theories and approaches to leadership. A breakthrough in “leadership” thinking occurred in 1978 with the introduction of Burns’ revolutionary approach of transformational leadership.
