International Perspectives on Youth Conflict and Development

International Perspectives on Youth Conflict and Development brings together in one volume essays discussing the social, political, and economic contexts of youth conflict across fourteen countries on seven continents. Distinguished contributors from around the world draw on research and interventions to describe young people's participation in armed conflict, fighting, and social exclusion from the time they enter the public sphere to adulthood, as defined in their local environments.

Case studies include children involved in armed conflict in Mozambique, Angola, the Philippines, and Nigeria; young people exposed to post-war tensions in Bosnia, Croatia, and South Africa, youth in the streets in Brazil and Colombia; Arab and Jewish youth in the ongoing crisis in Israel; children socialized to hate, mistrust, or exclude those of other ethnic, economic, or social identities in the United States, Germany, and Korea; and young people experiencing the dramatic political and economic transition in China. Rather than focusing on character flaws and socio-cognitive deficits or other problems of individual youth, their families, or cultures, the volume examines youth conflict as a social practice embedded in local, national, and international processes.

The volume aims to shift the foundation of youth conflict study from the more typical focus on maturation, behavior, and personality to a characterization of youth as participants in society. It also expands the analysis of youth development to include societal problems such as political instability, unequal access to material resources, racism, and social injustice. Offering new insights about the interdependent spheres of conflict involving young people, this groundbreaking, international compilation describes processes of a violent world rather than of violent youth.

About the Author:
Colette Daiute is Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She conducts research on social and cognitive development in challenging circumstances, such as urban public schools and nations involved in violent conflict. In her research and practice, Dr. Daiute has focused on young people's uses of literacy and media as activities that promote the development of society and the development of their own social skills.
Zeynep F. Beykont conducts research on school language policies and educational programs that support the cultural, linguistic, and academic development of ethnic minority and immigrant youth. Over the past twenty years, she has worked as a researcher and consultant in school-, community-, and museum-based programs designed for language minority youth in a variety of countries including the United States, Greece, Turkey, and Australia.
Craig Higson-Smith is a research psychologist specializing in traumatic stress and violence. He has also worked as an anti-apartheid activist and in civil conflict situations in Southern and Eastern Africa. He is currently a trainer and researcher with the South Africa Institute for Traumatic Stress.
Larry Nucci is Professor of Education and Affiliate Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he is Director of the Office for Studies in Moral Development and Education. His research focuses on children's moral and social development. His recent work has examined the impact of culture on children's concepts of privacy and personal prerogative.