The impact of Rosenberg's nonviolent communication approach on peace education

The motivation to write this dissertation comes from the dream of a violent free, peaceful and compassionate world from the perspective of social, economical, political, technological, scientific, legal and environmental. This dissertation seeks and presents whether acknowledging and adopting Rosenberg's simple, practical, sustainable and robust approach of Nonviolent Communication may contribute to peace education or not only from the intrapersonal level to the international level. It may serve the continuous development of conflict transformers, peace educators, peace workers, international mediators, and all who aim to contribute to peace and social change. To achieve an understanding of the Nonviolent Communication approach and its impact, this thesis first presents its potential impact on peace education by reviewing existing knowledge. Then, it presents the analysis and findings of the field study conducted by using participant observation method and one-on-one interviews with sixteen 3rd, and 4th-year of undergraduate international NVC trained students studying in the field of International Relations and Political Science, coming from nine different nations in the Peace and Conflict Studies class at Üsküdar University, Istanbul, Turkey. The results demonstrate that Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication approach has a positive impact on peace education. Key Words: Peace Education, Conflict Transformation, Nonviolent Communication