Exploring Peace Dynamics through Conscious Interactions: An Innovative Methodological Proposal in Action Research

The article takes up, and expands on, part of the work presented by IRCrES at the DSU peace conference in December 2024. It deals in particular with an innovative methodology, in the context of action research, as an approach to developing social interactions in a progressively conscious manner, a key element in overcoming conflicts. The proposed methodology (Metodology for horizontal leadership and integrated organizations) focuses on non-conflictual dynamics and social well–being in the context of organisational and local development and can be extended to broader social contexts. It was developed in a CNR project, with a wide stakeholder participation, to respond to critical issues that emerged in the international action research community. It is based on a multi and transdisciplinary approach and Morin's complex systemic view of social systems. In the context of action research and the proposed methodology, peace dynamics are considered to be a consequence of respect for individuals’ social identity, in the perception of being co-creators of the contexts in which they themselves define their evolving identity. Where, even in a situation of peace at the macro-systems level, these dynamics do not move in the right direction in the micro-systems, tensions and malaise are created at various levels, resulting in growing social unease, inevitably leading to conflictual situations that spread. In this sense, the methodology aims to contribute to the creation of what is defined as “positive peace”. The challenge, which the methodology takes up, is to initiate systemic cultural growth in which people’s social individualities become generators of an ecological awareness of self, contexts and self as co-creators of contexts. The methodology has been tested in various profit, non-profit and public contexts, in local development, in youth employment and for university teaching innovation. To extend and enhance its application, in 2024, the writer set up a spin-off company of the CNR, named International Institute for Human and Organizational Development (IMO).

Keywords: peace dynamics; action research; personal and social identity; transdisciplinarity; transformative learning; generative dialogue; new horizontal leadership competencies; systemic-evolutionary development.

Erica Rizziato, Le dinamiche della pace, verso interazioni consapevoli: la proposta di una metodologia innovativa nel contesto della ricerca-azione in "WELFARE E ERGONOMIA" 1/2026, pp 155-171, DOI: 10.3280/WE2026-001009