Wicked Problems: The Ethics of Action for Peace, Rights, and Justice

The ethics of changemaking and peacebuilding may appear straightforward: advance dignity, promote well-being, minimize suffering. Sounds simple, right? Actually acting ethically when it really matters is rarely straightforward. If someone engaged in change-oriented work sets out to "do good," how should we prioritize and evaluate whose good counts? And, how ought we act once we have decided whose good counts? Practitioners frequently confront dilemmas where dire situations may demand some form of response, but each of the options may have undesirable consequences of one form or another. Dilemmas are not merely ordinary problems, they are wicked problems: that is to say, they are defined by circumstances that only allow for suboptimal outcomes and are based on profound and sometimes troubling trade-offs.

Wicked Problems argues that the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation needs a stronger and more practical sense of its ethical obligations. For example, it argues against posing false binaries between domestic and international issues and against viewing violence and conflict as equivalents. It holds strategic nonviolence up to critical scrutiny and shows that "do no harm" approaches may in fact do harm.

The contributors include scholars, scholar practitioners in the field, and activists on the streets, and the chapters cover the role of violence in conflict; conflict and violence prevention and resolution; humanitarianism; community organizing and racial justice; social movements; human rights advocacy; transitional justice; political reconciliation; and peace education and pedagogy, among other topics. Drawing on the lived experiences and expertise of activists, educators, and researchers, Wicked Problems equips readers to ask--and answer--difficult questions about social change work.

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is University Professor at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace Studies. Austin's teaching, scholarship, and public engagement lies at the intersection of social movements, human rights, and new technology. He is the author of What Slaveholders Think and The Good Drone, and has written articles in Slate, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Conversation, MIT Reader, Medium, and Aeon. His commentary on current events includes appearances on BBC and Fox News, and his work on drones has been profiled in Science and Fast Company and by NBC, among others.

Douglas Irvin-Erickson is Assistant Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University. He is the author of Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide, and many articles on human rights, international criminal law and legal history, genocide, and peace. Irvin-Erickson directs the Raphaël Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program at the Carter School, is a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a Board Member of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, and a member of the editorial board of Genocide Studies and Prevention. He lectures widely and works with governments, international organizations, and NGOs around the world.

Ernesto Verdeja is Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. He researches contemporary genocide and mass atrocities, and political justice and reconciliation after violence. He has worked for a variety of human rights organizations and is the Executive Director of the non-profit Institute for the Study of Genocide. Ernesto regularly consults with governments and non-governmental organizations on mass atrocity prevention and reconciliation efforts.