From the Foreward to the translated version
This book has already fulfilled its purpose. Just by reading this forward you have become a potential ally (collaborator) in peacebuilding in this region. This translation is pioneering in lighting the way, I hope, for books from the field of peacebuilding which will follow to be published in the language understood by 80 million people, whatever they call it.
The "Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding" challenges us just by its title. Even though it is a handbook in scope, it deals with something that is not common, at least in our societies. Peace is dealt with in different ways "from Vardar, Macedonia to Triglav, Slovenia" (it is interesting how that expression warms some of us and freezes others, a good sign that this book is needed, isn't it?). We are at the same time the victims of its absence, witnesses of its disappearance and reappearance and as active participants, with guns or without them. Still, only a few hundred of us are engaged in building peace. Fortunately for peace, many more people contribute to it and build it than the small community of those who do so intentionally, with planning and - as Lisa Schirch would say - strategically. Publishing this book will increase this community and delight and empower those of us who belong to it. In the same way that the inclusion of war veterans into peacebuilidng empowered us, the demanding, long, hard, but fruitful and worthwhile process will enrich us.
Goran Božičević,
Miramida Centar – Regionalne razmjene mirovnih iskustava
