Strategic Peace Culture in Times of Turbulence: Educational and Communicative Pathways for Conflict Transformation in Fragile Contexts

The resurgence of violent conflicts across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East underscores the fragility of existing peace infrastructures and the need to reconceptualize approaches to conflict transformation. This paper addresses this challenge by examining strategic peace culture as both a theoretical framework and a practical tool for building sustainable peace. Focusing on the role of education and communication, the study explores how pedagogical practices, dialogic platforms, and institutional narratives shape resilience, vulnerability, and agency in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. The paper employs a qualitative-comparative design supported by content analysis and introduces and applies the Strategic Peace Culture Index as a heuristic tool integrating dialogic density, inclusivity of narratives, and transformative capacity. The analysis covers the period 2010-2025 and draws on a diverse range of academic, policy, and programmatic sources. The findings demonstrate that peace cultures are neither static nor neutral but actively produced through communicative visibility, educational strategies, and institutional feedback loops. While European contexts reveal relatively dense dialogue infrastructures but limited inclusivity, Middle Eastern cases remain constrained across all dimensions, and African contexts present uneven yet promising transformative pathways. The paper concludes that institutionalizing dialogue, ensuring inclusivity, and fostering structural transformation are key factors for sustainable peace. It contributes to peace research and recommendations for policymakers, educators, and peacebuilding practitioners seeking to strengthen participatory and context-sensitive strategies for long-term stability.