Dr. Christine Schweitzer (* 1959 in Hamburg) is a German ethnologist (Ph. D.), pacifist and peace researcher. In 2009, she completed her doctorate on interventions in the space of the former Yugoslavia at Coventry University with Andrew Rigby. In addition to her work as a peace researcher, she is active as a practitioner in the field of civil conflict transformation and in the peace movement.
Schweitzer studied ethnology and prehistory and early history in Göttingen and Cologne from 1978 to 1987 and graduated with a Master’s degree in 1987. Afterwards she was politically active in the Federation of Nonviolent Action Groups (FöGA) and worked in the Graswurzelwerkstatt Cologne until 1992.
In 1988 and 1989, she was involved in the founding of the Federation for Social Defence (BSV). In the 1990s, she dealt with the conflicts in the area of former Yugoslavia within the framework of various projects, including as a co-founder of the international Balkan Peace Team. From 1995 to 1998, she was employed as a scientific advisor on a service contract at the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia (deparmtnet of Foreign Relations) and supported the state government, among other things, in the development of training to become a peace specialist within the framework of the emerging Civil Peace Service.
Schweitzer was the first executive director at BSV (from 1998 to 2000) and was also employed by the Institute for Peace Work and Nonviolent Conflict Resolution (IFGK) from 2001. In parallel, she began her work (2000 to 2008) as Research Director, then Programme Director for the international NGO Nonviolent Peaceforce. From 2010 to 2012, she primarily conducted commissioned studies and also worked twice for Nonviolent Peaceforce as Interim Programme Director. Since October 2012, she has been working in parallel as a research assistant for IFGK and as Managing Director for BSV. She is also a long-standing editor of the Peace Forum published by Network Peace Cooperative.
Various voluntary activities in the peace movement and peace research have included board positions with War Resisters’ International, the journal ‘Wissenschaft und Frieden’ (Science and Peace), the Working Group on Peace and Conflict Studies (AGFK) and BSV. She is also involved in the Platform for Civil Conflict Transformation and Archive aktive (Hamburg). From 2014 to 2019, she was Chair of War Resisters’ International (WRI). (From Wikipedia Germany, translated with deepL and revised)
At the ‘Not Our War’-event Christine will summarize her vast experience on Nonviolent Alternatives to War and show ways to go for a Future Without War.
Christine Schweitzer’s presentation at the event
English Publications of Dr. Christine Schweitzer
(2020) Good Practices in Nonviolent, Unarmed, Civilian to Civilian Protection. Documentation of the Workshop in Bogotá (Colombia), 13-15 January 2020. Editor: Nonviolent Peaceforce
(2020) Good Practices in Nonviolent, Unarmed, Civilian to Civilian Protection. Documentation of the Workshop in Paynesville (US-MN), 21-23 October 2019. Editor: Nonviolent Peaceforce
(2020) ‚The Potential of Civil Intervention.‘ Contribution to: International Peace Centre: Nonviolence Works – Make Peace Possible!, in: Julia Helmke and Stefanie Rentsch (Eds.). Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag 2019. Dokumente. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, pp 387-390.
(2019) Good Practices in Nonviolent, Unarmed, Civilian to Civilian Protection. Documentation of the Workshop in Nairobi, 12-14 November, 2018.
(2018) Good Practices in Nonviolent, Unarmed, Civilian to Civilian Protection. Documentation of the Workshop in Beirut, 18-20 June, 2018. Editor: Nonviolent Peaceforce
(2017) Good Practices in Nonviolent, Unarmed, Civilian to Civilian Protection. Documentation of the Workshop in Manila, 7-9 December, 2017. Editor: Nonviolent Peaceforce
(2016) with Jörgen Johansen: To Prevent or to Stop Wars: What Can Peace Movements Do? Irene Publishing.
(2016) Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping: Effectively Protecting Civilians Without Threat of Violence. Ellen Furnari, Rachel Julian and Christine Schweitzer, Editor: Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, Background and Discussion Paper, No. 52, September 2016.
(2014) A European Anti-War Movement: The Response of European Civil Society to the Conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia. In: Bettina Gruber (Ed.): The Yugoslav Example. Violence, War and Difficult Ways Towards Peace, Münster / New York: Waxmann ISBN 978-3-8309-2844-7, S. 63–77.
(2001) Nonviolent Peaceforce Feasibility Study, Ed.: Christine Schweitzer, with contributions by Donna Howard, Mareike Junge, Corey Levine, Christine Schweitzer, Carl Stieren and Tim Wallis, Hamburg / St. Paul, September 2001.
(2000) Mir Sada – The Story of a Nonviolent Intervention that Failed. In: Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Thomas Weber (eds): Nonviolent Intervention Across Borders. A Recurrent Vision. Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace, Honolulu, ISBN 978-1-880309-11-7.