Campbell, Jim, Ioakimidis, Vassilios and Maglajlic, Reima Ana (2018) Social work for critical peace: A comparative approach to understanding social work and political conflict. European Journal of Social Work. ISSN 1369-1457

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Abstract

In the last few decades there has been a growing interest in exploring the way in which political conflicts impact upon social work policy and practice. An early edited text by Ramon (2008) used a wide ranging approach to capture the nature of social work engagement with conflicts and disasters across a number of continents. More recently, two leading social work journals have focused on these and other related topics (Spalek & McDonald, 2012; Ramon & Zavirsek, 2012). To date, however, there have been few attempts to compare and contrast social work experience in these circumstances.
This paper is the product of a discussion that took place between the authors, built upon our lived and academic experiences of social work and political conflict, during an European Association of Schools of Social Work funded project. To address the lack of comparative analysis in relation to social work and political conflict, it begins with a summary of the literature on this topic and then then identifies a number of methodological challenges in carrying out comparative analysis. At the core of the paper is the analysis of three case studies: Northern Ireland, Bosnia Herzogvina (BiH) and Cyprus. It is organised around the themes which emerged from joint analysis of these case studies in relation to social work policy and practice, namely: the impact of colonialism; political systems and identities; and neoliberalism and new social movements. The paper concludes with an appeal for a nuanced approach to social work and political conflict, described as 'social work for critical peace'.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	social work, political conflict, comparative research, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Schools and Departments:	School of Education and Social Work > Social Work and Social Care
Research Centres and Groups:	Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV0040 Social service. Social work. Charity organization and practice Including social case work, private and public relief, institutional care, rural social work, work relief H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV0544.5 International social work
Depositing User:	Reima Ana Maglajlic
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2018 14:56
Last Modified:	01 Jul 2019 16:00
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/73254

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