Understanding Cypriot youth views on peace: bottom-up experiences of everyday peace

Abstract

Youth views and their engagement within practices of everyday peace(building) are paramount to fostering peace, despite the deadlocks at the elite level negotiations. This article provides a bottom-up approach that recognizes the agency and potency of youth in ‘everyday peace’ by providing a voice to marginalized Cypriot youth. The semi-structured interview findings highlight that the views that Cypriot youth harbour on peace diverge from elite views and focus on societal and practical needs. Accordingly, Cypriot youth’s understanding of peace converges around three interrelated main themes–social cohesion, no discrimination and hatred, and unrestricted freedom of movement–based on frequency in expansive series of youth interviews. This article argues that youth’s priorities and responses bespeak their meaningful contributions to peace through their everyday actions.