The Moral Imagination

John Paul Lederach is one of the world's foremost experts on peacebuilding and reconciliation. He is Professor of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and Distinguished Scholar at Eastern Mennonite University's Conflict Transformation Program. Among his many books are The Journey Toward Reconciliation (1999) and Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (1997).

Today the telecommunications and transport revolution has made the world a smaller place offering both an opportunity and challenge to the major leading countries to come together to shape the world, overcome violence and create a peaceful global community. John Paul Lederach presents a powerful case for the use of the moral imagination in rising to this challenge, thus creating authentic new possibilities. This book provides a valuable contribution to peacebuilding literature and I welcome it wholeheartedly.

• 1. On Stating the Problem and Thesis ; 2. On Touching the Moral Imagination: Four Stories ; 3. On This Moment: Turning Points ; 4. On Simplicity and Complexity: Finding the Essence of Peacebuilding ; 5. On Peace Accords: Image of a Line in Time ; 6. On the Gift of Pessimism: Insights from the Geographies of Violence ; 7. On Aesthetuics: The Art of Social Change ; 8. On Space: Life in the Web ; 9. On Mass and Movement: The Theory of the Critical Yeast ; 10. On Web Watching: Finding the Soul of Place ; 11. On Serendipity: The Gift of Accidental Sagacity ; 12. On Time: The Past That Lies before Us ; 13. On Pied Pipers: Imagination and Creativity ; 14. On Vocation: The Mystery of Risk ; 15. On Conclusions: The Imperative of the Moral Imagination