Understanding of Building Peace and Social Justice

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Reflection paper
Power, social justice and peace are three philosophical phenomena that are interconnected and proper understanding one phenomenon require basic knowledge on the other. There are three key ways in which the three phenomena can be easily understood. Studying political science, theology and philosophy presents an effective way into understanding their relationship and interconnectedness. These are the major influences into understanding peace, social justices and power. For instance, in political discourse power is entirely conflictual and adversarial (Michael 17). In fact, power tend to be in form competition at best and dominance at worse. Going to the assumption that the way humanity think and talk about a given subject influences their perception of the matter, the conflictual discourses of power may turn problematic because they hinder the mutualistic scope of power (Ibrahim et al 116).
According Ibrahim et al (102), a combination of politics and theology is another prudent way of understanding power and social justice. Social justice challenges all forms of injustices and upholds diversity which is one of the problematic discourses of power (Michael 7). As argued earlier, power hinders mutualism at its worse whereas social justice seek to value diversity and mutualism. Power at its best tend to be competitive, a discourse that is social justice seeks to fulfil by ensuring the competition is fair (Michael 15). Social justice seeks to uphold fairness rather than equality.
Taking a combination of politics, theology and philosophy create a platform into understanding peace, not as phenomenon but a result of conflicting views from religion and politics (Tyler 123). As argued by Michael (13) politics and religion are powerful tools that shape a society’s perception, identity and theorizing the meaning of injustice and suffering as a culmination of peace. It is through this that community is able to develop codes of morality, defining the responsibility of each member of a society and drawing limits in people’s actions. By abiding to such limits as define by morality codes peace is realized (Ibrahim 175). Given the power of politics and religion systems it is arguably impossible to achieve peace without understanding the philosophical network work among the three phenomena.
Several activities have really shaped and given me a new understanding of peace building and social justice. Deep involvement is religious activities has made me view peace building is Godly. In fact it was ordained by God during creation when he created humanity in his image and likeness. Additionally, seeking philosophical understanding of the three phenomena has made me dispute equality as peace building mechanism (Biggar, 66). In fact treating people equally creates unfairness and consequently conflicts. Fairness is indeed the sole fact that can change people’s ill-thinking helping them shun conflictual avenues that eventually uphold peace. Most importantly, I have realized the power of talk in peace-making process (Biggar 115). Talk coupled with fair treatment of other is the powerful path in to achieving peace.
I derive much strength from the power of talk in peace building process, with weakest point being the strong instinct of self-protection. In the process of conflict resolution my desire to achieve fairness. My understanding of conflict resolution is that it a diverse and multifaceted scenario that requires one to consider other people’s desires as they seek to enforce their wants. People seeking to succeed in peace-building and conflict resolution must be willing to sacrifice as they would want others to do.

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Biggar, Nigel. Burying the past: Making peace and doing justice after civil conflict. Georgetown University Press, 2003.
Ibrahim, Farah A, and Jianna R. Heuer. Cultural and Social Justice Counseling: Client-specific Interventions. , 2016. Internet resource.
Michael Karlberg. The power of discourse and the discourse of power:
Pursuing peace through discourse intervention. 2005.
Tyler, Tom R. “Social justice: Outcome and procedure.” International journal of psychology 35.2 (2000): 117-125.