Scienza e Pace
Science and Peace
This article examines the complex realities of international mobility along the Balkan routes, focusing on the consequences of the European Union’s border externalisation policies for the lived experiences of people on the move. Drawing on an ethnographic approach grounded in participant observation and fieldwork conducted with an independent movement in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the study explores how borders function not merely as geographic demarcations but also as political, social, and class constructs. Firsthand testimonies reveal systematic pushbacks and border violence, including the widespread use of torture and dehumanising practices on the Croatian- Bosnian border. The article further offers sociological reflections on the concept of state and border violence, alongside political considerations regarding accountability in the management of the EU’s external borders.
This article explores the complex relationship between the appropriation of cultural heritage manifestations – such as cultural objects – and the preservation of a people’s identity, addressing the challenges posed both in periods of armed conflicts and in peacetime scenarios. It examines the historical evolution of international legal frameworks designed to protect cultural heritage, focusing on key instruments pertinent to the UNESCO legal regime and with emphasis to cultural objects. The paper highlights how the looting and the destruction of these assets during wartime, particularly during the World Wars, have left a lasting legacy of cultural loss. It also investigates the continuing challenges of protecting cultural heritage expressions in peacetime, where illicit trafficking and the illegal appropriation of cultural objects persist. Through this analysis, the article sheds light on the ethical and legal dilemmas surrounding restitution, emphasising the importance of recognising diverse cultural heritage expressions as fundamental aspects of identity and reparation. It concludes by addressing the role of international organisations such as UNESCO in fostering a global dialogue on cultural restitution, highlighting the need for a balanced approach to preserving both the physical and cultural integrity of heritage in an increasingly globalised world. The study maintains a primarily legal character and rests on a firm theoretical standpoint, based on the analysis of bibliography and international documents.
In this paper, I present Stories that Reconnect (StR), an emerging methodology designed to sustain cultures of peace in times of polycrisis. Taking an autobiographical approach, I offer a reflective account of the birth of StR during my work as facilitator and trainer. StR emerged from the need for connection, the call to be honoring pain, and the commitment of making hope—even amidst increasing violence and polarization. First, I situate StR within the current polycrisis through the lens of Theory U and frame peace as envisioned by Johan Galtung and Elise Boulding. I illustrate the three key frameworks—Focusing, the Work That Reconnects, and Theory U—that shape StR’s approach, language, map, and matrix. StR unfolds within an aesthetic space, where social arts enable the co-sensing of present reality and its highest future potential. At the heart of the process lies a call to connection, compassion, and courage—enhancing the capacities for empathy, self-empathy, staying-with, imagination, and creativity; through practices such as grounding, storylistening (deep listening), and collective story creation. This paper lays the groundwork for peace education training, and reconciliation processes, acknowledging that this work—like a motion-blurred photograph—is fluid, ever-evolving, and deeply rooted in lived experience.
Climate change (CC) is a triggering factor for several environmental disasters and extreme phenomena, which progressively intensify as the planet’s temperature rises. The consequences of these events impact populations differently, highlighting a series of injustices and inequalities, in addition to potentiating the occurrence of violent conflicts. CC, therefore, in addition to a widespread environmental crisis, appears – as well – as a matter of international (and national) security. The analysis proposed, hence, traces the relationship between climate, justice, and conflict, arguing that for achieving a climate neutral future, it is necessary to promote a peace-oriented transition. In this scenario, the legal order emerges as a fundamental instrument, especially through climate litigation actions – such as the Brazilian “green agenda”, which is examined as a case study. The article argues that the path towards a more adaptive society must be approached from a climate justice perspective: to ensure resilience and to promote environmental peace, all peoples need to be included as a part of the transformation.
The present work analyses the interconnections between economic, social, and environmental risks, identifying capacitating pathways to anticipate, address, manage, recover from, and adapt to adverse repercussions resulting from environmental risks. To identify capacitating pathways, a methodological approach based on a case study has been adopted, focusing on the specificities of the Emilia-Romagna region, chosen due to the environmental risk of the May 2023 flood. The methodology integrates the analysis of secondary statistical data with five semi-structured interviews conducted with qualified informants. This allows for an in-depth exploration of economic, social, and environmental risks, as well as the resources available to individuals and communities. The analysis of testimonies has highlighted the fundamental role of active participation through organized groups in increasing social capacities to counter risks from extreme weather events. The examined citizen committees not only provide immediate and tangible support but also play a crucial role in reaffirming social cohesion during periods of crisis.
The 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (with Annex) established an international system covering maritime search and rescue operations. Frontex is the European Border and Coast Guard Agency which nowadays plays a significant role also in European Union maritime search and rescue activities. For such reasons, this paper surveys if and how far the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (with Annex) is applicable to Frontex maritime search and rescue activities. Firstly, the origins and the following amendments of such Convention will be reviewed, along with the key role and tasks of Frontex in the maritime search and rescue fields. Secondly, the European Union Regulations about Frontex will be analysed in relation to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue. Lastly, the ‘Adriana’ case will be considered, in order to see the surveyed issues in praxis.
This article reconstructs and analyses the origins of the European policy of externalizing border control, understood as a strategy of involving countries of origin and transit in the management of flows of migrants and asylum seekers and in counteracting irregular immigration, understood as the entry or stay of foreign nationals in violation of the rules set by the country of arrival. While the legal and political literature has mainly focused on the relationship with non-EU countries and the developments that have taken place over the last quarter of a century, this study shows how current European externalization practices began in the mid-1980s and how the countries on the southern periphery of the European Community (EC) have led the way in this process. Moreover, this research shows how the Schengen and Dublin systems, which still form the basis of European migration and asylum policy, were essentially driven by a logic of 'internal externalization', which then expanded to include European, Asian and, above all, African countries increasingly external to the EC and, later, the European Union (EU).
In this article, peace is conceptualised in a dynamic way. This new perspective requires radically new actions that do not focus on the opposition to war and violence, but aim to remove "the ground under the feet" of violence by imagining different worlds capable of achieving peace understood not as an end to war or to violence but as fullness of life for all. Alongside a process characterised by opposition and struggle against existing powers, albeit with non-violent methods, there is, in fact, another possibility: building the new reality from below without explicitly opposing the old one. This is what happens with the first Christian communities, in particular the Pauline communities which, without explicitly opposing the existing order, in their daily actions, they ignore it by building a new and completely alternative reality to the existing one. This new look involves the replacement of rigid binary classifications with classifications based on so-called "fuzzy" sets, not only with two values (peace/war, peace/nonviolence), but also capable of including zones of uncertainty through which to pass gradually. The proposed examples of the construction of "new worlds", taken from radically different contexts linked to the conflicts of the last century, will serve to illustrate this new perspective.
Enrico Berlinguer, La pace al primo posto. Scritti e discorsi di politica internazionale (1972-1984)
The collection of Enrico Berlinguer's writings and speeches on the subject of peace, edited by Alessandro Höbel, comes out in a timely manner when another war is being fought in Europe. Reading the texts makes it clear that in Berlinguer’s thought and action the link between foreign and domestic policy was central, and peace was seen as the condition for a new model of development on a global scale. Starting from the claim of autonomy from USSR in regard to the construction of an 'Italian way to socialism', to the elaboration of an idea of austerity understood as social justice in the relationship between North and South of the world, to the battle against the installation of the Euro-missiles, we can well say that for Berlinguer peace came first. The collection is opened by a skilful introduction by the editor, who also intervenes in the foreword to each chapter to historically frame the moment in which the speech or article was delivered or written.
Does a comparative approach to genocide in modern history make sense? Taking the Holocaust as a starting point, in this paper I analyse the use that has been made of the term 'Holocaust' and references to it - also as a moral and political category - in the international media and in the proceedings of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) where, for the first time, 'genocide' for the events in Srebrenica appeared among the charges. I first search for references to the Nuremberg Trial in the ICTY proceedings, in the press and in the words of politicians. I also highlight the use of a comparison with the holocaust in the ICTY proceedings and in official speeches. Secondly, I highlight in the media debate that has developed around the war in Bosnia references to what happened in Europe between 1943 and 1945, both to the establishment of concentration camps in northern Bosnia from 1992, and to the genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995. I therefore analyse images, headlines and articles from newspapers, mainly British and American, in which the holocaust is explicitly referred to. In conclusion, I intend to emphasise the influence of the holocaust in interpreting the events surrounding the Bosnian war and the extermination of Srebrenica not only in the public debate but also as a legal category.