ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Peace and Democracy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1650027
This article is part of the Research TopicLearning for DemocracyView all 8 articles
The Role of Peace Education in Promoting Social Justice and Sustainable Peace in Post-Conflict Societies: A 4Rs Framework Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Mogadishu University, Mogadishu, Somalia
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This paper examines the role of peace education in promoting social justice and sustainable peace in post-conflict societies, with a particular focus on Somalia. Although Somalia does not have a formal peace education subject within its national curriculum, themes related to peace, tolerance, reconciliation, and civic responsibility are interwoven into existing subjects such as Social Studies, History, Islamic Education, and university-level Conflict Resolution. Using the 4Rs framework, Redistribution, Recognition, Representation, and Reconciliation, this study analyzes how educational content and policy in Somalia support or fall short in addressing the root causes of conflict and social division. The study employs a qualitative comparative case study method, drawing on secondary data from Somalia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone to assess how different postconflict countries have integrated peace education into their national systems.Findings reveal that while Somalia has made notable efforts to embed peace-related concepts in education, the approach remains fragmented and lacks a unified strategic framework. Disparities in access to education, limited representation of marginalized voices in curriculum development, and inadequate engagement with historical grievances constrain the transformative potential of education. By contrast, the cases of Rwanda and Sierra Leone demonstrate how structured and coordinated peace education initiatives can contribute to national reconciliation and civic rebuilding. The study concludes with practical recommendations for Somali policymakers, educators, and international partners to enhance the role of education in peacebuilding through curriculum reform, teacher training, and community participation. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on peace education in fragile contexts and underscores the importance of justice-oriented education in sustaining peace in divided societies.
Keywords: peace education, Social Justice, Post-conflict societies, sustainable peace, 4Rs Framework, Curriculum reform, Civic engagement, Somalia
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Adan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohamed Yusuf Adan, Mogadishu University, Mogadishu, Somalia
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