Abstract
The idea of a book of readings about peace came out of the very successful Rotary Peace Communities International Conference Peace in Action, held in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in September 2012. The conference was dedicated to Rotary World President's theme Peace through service and Rotary's Peace Fellowship Program. The papers given at that conference represented perspectives and policies that were worldwide in their focus and often very specific in their practice. They provided a unique range of perspectives on the causes and reconciliation of global conflict, on peace building at the local level and on the development of inner peace. The practice of peace presented in this book encompasses all those intentional activities which make a positive difference in the lives of others. This broad definition allowed us to include larger scale cross-national programs such as the life saving Rotary funded work with the Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the exciting challenge of adopting a peace perspective in policing.