As the world population continues to grow, it’s tempting to focus on what divides us. But the truth is that we’re witnessing a gradual unification of humanity into a single interdependent community. This community holds within it the nucleus of peace as well as the seeds of war, and provides not only the possibility of factional strife, but also the opportunity for mutually shared security.

For each step on the continuum from peace to war there is an appropriate intervention, ranging from economic incentives to diplomatic efforts to economic sanctions and armed restraint. The United Nations employs a variety of preventive tools, including diplomacy (using Special Envoys); deployment (of military observers); disarmament (reducing small arms); and peace building and peacekeeping (national reconciliation). Once the UN has exhausted all of its preventive efforts it can still resort to economic sanctions to enforce its decisions.

The period following violent conflict offers an opportunity to the international community to become peacekeepers by helping to rebuild war-torn societies and remove the causes of future wars. Steps in this process include armistice and treaty negotiation and monitoring, truth and reconciliation commissions, and prosecution through international tribunals of war criminals. The last is particularly important to provide a potential deterrent to those who use violence as a political tool.

Addressing the root causes of violence must occur in parallel with intervention and resolution efforts, but is much more difficult. As with all other major world problems, treating isolated symptoms won’t cure the disease – a holistic approach is essential. Each of the “solutions” supports the others in a mutually reinforcing program of change.

Addressing economic inequality within nations and among nations could reduce conflict at all levels. One international conference after another has called on nations to reprioritize their budgets, reduce military spending, and increase funding for education and anti-poverty programs. For this to occur, however, the industrialized nations, with their powerful economies and technical expertise, must help finance and facilitate such a transition.

Internationally, the Least Developed Countries and other major debtor nations of the developing world could be given concrete debt relief. International financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund can also create and strengthen social safety nets in their determination to make national economies more fiscally responsible.

Health care, education and the provision of adequate food and potable water are key steps in the search for a stable, peaceful world. The World Health Organization, in cooperation with numerous international NGOs, is making great strides in immunization and the prevention of deadly diseases. A similar campaign mentality is called for in the fight against HIV-AIDS, malaria, and other highly communicable diseases that especially plague the developing world, and are highly destabilizing to societies and their economies.

Education is crucially important in reducing violence. Education – especially for girls and women – is a vital component of economic development, population stabilization, and civic participation. From basic human rights lessons in primary grades, to law school, the educational process should also lead to increased social capacity, tolerance, and a willingness to seek peaceful rather than violent solutions to conflicts.

There are many ways to encourage the development of responsive governance. Recognition and removal of corrupt practices is an important first step in building the kind of civil society in which non-violent solutions are chosen over violent ones. Numerous organizations, both private and public, can play an even more active role in monitoring elections, nurturing the democratic process, and training effective leaders and administrators, especially at the local level.

The UN Commission of Human Rights and all of its Declarations and Covenants and the International Criminal Court are essential elements in conflict prevention. Local human rights organizations linked to a national constitution and trustworthy court system complete the picture. All of these links in the human rights protection network assure that citizens have the freedom to organize and voice their opinions without fearing violent retribution or intimidation from unscrupulous leaders.

Because environmental destruction and scarcity are drivers of conflict, protection and restoration efforts are essential. These may include fostering reforestation, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, eco-tourism, and technology transfers of environmentally sound products and processes.

Arms control is also essential to lasting peace. Since World War II, numerous treaties limiting the production and use of weapons have been drafted and signed, including the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Agreement. These international agreements, as well as the United Nations Charter itself, have set a high standard for the nations of the world. But they are only as effective as the will of signatories to adhere to and enforce their provisions. Citizens in signatory nations must demand that their own governments conform to treaty provisions.

Conclusion

Creating a culture of peace is possible. It requires the commitment of individuals and governments to understand the nature of conflict and to build societies that promote peace rather than war. The fact that we have avoided nuclear war and an international conflagration for the past 55 years must inspire confidence in us to make a concerted effort to erase the causes of the small-scale conflicts which threaten to plague the world in the 21st century.

Just as equity, justice, and good governance are necessary to foster peace, it is possible to fully develop those conditions only in the absence of violent conflict. Because this is akin to the “chicken or the egg” syndrome, a holistic, “multi-tasking” approach is necessary. This means simultaneously easing tensions through “honest brokers” before violence erupts, intervening at “flashpoints” to deescalate or contain open conflict, and phasing in structural reforms to mitigate the underlying causes of war.
Undertaking such a course of action will require awareness and political will, diplomatic and military efforts, and a large increase in funding for sustainable development. As those efforts bear fruit, a reallocation of spending will become possible, promoting further sustainable economic development, environmental protection and restoration, population stabilization, and poverty alleviation.

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