Children and Peace

This open access book brings together discourse on children and peace from the 15^th International Symposium on the Contributions of Psychology to Peace, covering issues pertinent to children and peace and approaches to making their world safer, fairer and more sustainable.  The book is divided into nine sections that examine traditional themes (social construction and deconstruction of diversity, intergenerational transitions and memories of war, and multiculturalism), as well as contemporary issues such as Europe’s “migration crisis”, radicalization and violent extremism, and violence in families, schools and communities. Chapters contextualize each issue within specific social ecological frameworks in order to reflect on the multiplicity of influences that affect different outcomes and to discuss how the findings can be applied in different contexts. The volume also provides solutions and hope through its focus on youth empowerment and peacebuilding programs for children and families. This forward-thinking volume offers a multitude of views, approaches, and strategies for research and activism drawn from peace psychology scholars and United Nations researchers and practitioners.

This book's multi-layered emphasis on context, structural determinants of peace and conflict, and use of research for action towards social cohesion for children and youth has not been brought together in other peace psychology literature to the same extent. Children and Peace: From Research to Action will be a useful resource for peace psychology academics and students, as well as social and developmental psychology academics and students, peace and development practitioners and activists, policy makers who need to make decisions about the matters covered in the book, child rights advocates and members of multilateral organizations such as the UN.

• Peace psychology
• Social psychology
• Child-oriented policies and programs
• Youth-oriented policies and programs
• UNICEF
• Social diversity and identity
• Memory
• youth resilience
• Multiculturalism
• Effects of migration on youth
• Effects of violence on youth
• Radicalization of youth
• Youth empowerment and resilience
• Peacebuilding
• Human rights
• Activism and integration of refugees
• effects of climate change on adolescents
• Evidence-based solutions for conflict
• Civic engagement
• Open Access

• UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, Florence, Italy

  Nikola Balvin

• Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Delaware, USA

  Daniel J. Christie

Nikola Balvin, PsyD, is a peace psychologist who works in international development. She has held several research and evaluation roles with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) since 2010. Currently she is the Research & Evaluation Specialist at the UNICEF Country Office in India, where she manages a large portfolio of studies spanning a range of sectors/disciplines. Prior to joining the India office, she was the Knowledge Management Specialist at UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti from 2013-2018, ad prior to that she worked as a Research Officer on UNICEF’s flagship publication 'The State of the World's Children' at the New York headquarters. Before joining UNICEF, Nikola held a number of research positions in peace and conflict centres in Australia, including the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (ACPACS) at the University of Queensland and the International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne. In 2011, she edited – with Di Bretherton – her first volume in the Peace psychology Series, titled ‘Peace Psychology in Australia’.

Daniel J. Christie is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Ohio State University. His scholarship and activism focuses on peace psychology with emphasis on initiatives and social movements that create a more just and humane world.  He is the Editor and founder of the Peace Psychology Book Series and Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology.