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24 May 2017 (Waterloo, Canada) — A new book from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) sheds new light on often-overlooked groups that shape social attitudes toward peace and conflict management in Africa.

The second of two volumes, The Fabric of Peace in Africa: Looking beyond the State, brings together some of the sharpest minds on African conflict resolution and offers an African-led look into the institutions and groups that are rarely considered in formal conflict management activities, such as schools, universities, religious institutions, media, youth and women.

Edited by CIGI Senior Fellow and Senior Advisor at the United States Institute of Peace Pamela Aall, and former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1981 to 1989 and CIGI Distinguished Fellow Chester A. Crocker, this volume opens new doors of understanding for strengthening peace in Africa.

“At the centre of this journey is the idea that strengthening the fabric of peace in Africa, requires one to look beyond the state to understand how various social actors weave the tapestry,” said Aall. “This book provides an important starting point in asking how societies can benefit from these social actors and institutions to build greater capacity in managing conflicts and building peace.”

With a foreword by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan, Fabric of Peace features chapters from scholars such as Allan Ngari, Reesah Cachalia, Stephen Mogaka, Mathurin Houngnikpo, Eghosa Osaghae, Charles Olungah, Mariama Awumbilia, Princeton Lyman and Akinyi Walender.

“The social environment of conflict is an open-ended universe of peoples, institutions and resources that carries the potential to help societies become resilient in the face of risks of conflict onset or recurrence,” said Crocker. “Through a more thorough exploration of this realm and the actors that inhabit it, a series of new approaches emerge on how to build greater conflict management capacity and resilience within societies.”

The Fabric of Peace in Africa is now available through CIGI Press. For more information, or to purchase the book, please visit: www.cigionline.org/publications/fabric-peace-africa-looking-beyond-state.