Chasing peace in a modern world

Imagine a world where trained, unarmed people can put an end to armed violence in their own communities. That’s what Dr Rachel Julian – a Reader in Leeds Beckett’s School of Social Sciences – is striving to achieve. Putting an end to violence and resolving conflict peacefully is not a task to be taken lightly, and Rachel’s work in international peace and conflict resolution reflects a commitment that spans 25 years.

A passionate advocate of Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping, Rachel is committed to establishing how non-governmental organisations around the world show that unarmed, trained people can put an end to violence from people with weapons. She has been working in Myanmar, empowering local people who make peaceful interventions through her project, ‘Raising Silent Voices.’

Rachel says: “The ‘Just War’ theory, which justifies the use of violence to protect innocent human life, dominates the way we go to war and deal with international conflicts and makes assumptions about the nature of the state and humanity. “Theories and practice in non-violence dispute this, showing that non-violence and non-violent action can create long lasting and transformative changes in our lives and in the world.”