Capabilities for Peace? A Critical Realist Study of International Scholarships Impact in Palestine

This doctoral study investigates the potential impact of international postgraduate scholarships on peace in Palestine. It challenges the predominant explanation of scholarships' relevance to peace on account of advancing human and global capitals and fostering liberal-democratic socialisation. Within a critical realist paradigm, interview and documentary data from 32 Palestinian scholarship alumni were analysed in a three-stage process. First, descriptive findings showed the participants perceive drawing significant gains from scholarships in their academic, career, and multidimensional identity development. Second, inferential findings demonstrate how these gains represent increased effective ability of the participants to conduct themselves in (re)constructive ways that counteract the disciplining effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Finally, dispositional findings clarify how scholarships' potential contribution to peace in Palestine may arise from positive interaction between effective freedoms extended by scholarships and pro-peace forces embraced by Palestinians. These findings demonstrate the story of education abroad impact (on peace) may not be so complete or truthful if told in terms foreign to the home-country context.