Global peace system

Global Peace System is a concept of global conflict resolution dependent on nonviolent processes to eradicate war. It relies upon a multi-strand approach to conflict resolution, incorporating broad social and political solutions. In contemporary peace and conflict studies, the concept of a global peace system has been evolving since the 1940s around the theory that there is a global infrastructure of peacebuilding and that there is a need for systems thinking in peacebuilding.^[1] The term "global peace system" was coined from the work of Robert Johansen, who explored the concept in 1978's Toward a Dependable Place.^[2]

Origins and evolution

An early use of the term "peace system" occurred in Kirby Page's book National Defense (1931).^[3] In a 1943 pamphlet and a 1966 book, political theorist David Mitrany stated that the prevention of wars required the creation of a peace system which he outlined.^[4] In 1978's Toward a Dependable Place, Johansen coined the term "global peace system",^[2] arguing that, contrary to the advocated and perceived military security in the international system, the peace system provides greater justice, economic well-being and ecological security. In a global peace system, according to Johansen, "conflict is resolved through nonviolent, political, social, and judicial processes. There are no expectations of war and no national military arsenals."^[5] Johansen called for the creation of such a system by a people’s movement.

In 1988, Robert A. Irwin stated that a peace system involves multiple war prevention layers: first, global reforms which reduce the causes of war involve non-threatening defense-policies as well as political, economic, ecological and cultural change; second, conflict resolution mechanisms on the local, regional, national and global level.^[6]

In 1991, Louise Diamond and John W. McDonald authored Multi-track Diplomacy: a Systems Approach to Peace, wherein they identified nine specific tracks to produce a synergy in peacebuilding: public opinion and communication, government, professional conflict resolution, business, private citizens, activism, religion, funding, and research, training and education.^[7][8] In 1992, the pair founded the United States-based non-profit organization Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy with the mission of putting into practice their systems-based approach to peacebuilding.^[9]

In 2003's Instead of War: the Urgency and Promise of the Global Peace System, Timothy McElwee emphasizes three major focal areas in the construction of a global peace system: (1) strengthening international norms and institutions against war; (2) eliminating the conditions that give rise to war and violence; (3) supporting and encouraging alternative means of international conflict transformation.^[10] Other sector-based approaches to peacebuilding link international development, humanitarian assistance, gender, the private sector, religion, environmental change, security, media, health and the rule of law.^[11]

Referring to the global peace system, Kent Shifferd argues that most of what needs to be invented to end war has been invented.^[12] Rob Ricigliano in 2012 stated that "while...difficult to ascribe specific causation to any one group, the positive trends … indicate that the international community, practitioners, and academics have learned important lessons about ending wars and building peace.”^[13]

Writing in 2013, Douglas Fry noted that the creation of a global peace system involves synergistic elements such as a transformative vision that a peace-based global system is possible, the understanding of interdependence and cooperation, an added level of social identity including all human beings, the creation of effective and democratic procedures of international adjudication, and peace-supporting symbols and values.^[14]

Beginning in 2003, peace ethologist Judith Hand approached the subject of a paradigm shift to a global peace system from biological, behavioral, anthropological, and gender perspectives.^{[15][16][17][18]} Based on the biological principles of sexual dimorphism and parental investment theory and the political principle of gender parity in government (which she termed koinoniarchy) she argued that gender parity in governing is a necessary condition, not an option, for establishment and maintenance of a global peace system.^[19]

See also

• World Peace
• Human Rights
• Peace movement
• International security
• Peace and conflict studies
• List of wars between democracies

Notes

1. See Zelizer 2013 and Ricigliano 2013; peacebuilding here is considered as integrated efforts in numerous sectors ranging from humanitarian relief to international development (Zelizer, 2013)
2. McElwee 2007, p. 189.
3. See p. vi (paragraph 4) and pp. 348, 357; p. vi, "Confronted with an ominous world situation, shall we seek security in increased armaments or shall we put our reliance in a peace system?" The book ends (p. 357) by calling on "the individual citizen . . . to dedicate himself to the task of strengthening the peace system."
4. Mitrany 1966
5. Johansen 1978 p. 16
6. Irwin 1988
7. Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy "Building Peace"
8. Diamond and McDonald 1993
9. Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy "Mission"
10. McElwee 2003
11. Zelizer 2013
12. Shifferd 2011
13. Ricigliano 2012, p. 5
14. Fry 2013
15. 2003 Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace. San Diego, CA : Questpath Publishing.
16. 2010 Hand, Judith L. "To Abolish War." Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research 2(4): 44-56.
17. 2014 Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War. San Diego, CA : Questpath Publishing.
18. 2018 War and Sex and Human Destiny. San Diego, CA: Questpath Publishing.
19. Hand 2018

References

• Adebajo, Adekeye (2011). UN peacekeeping Africa: From the Suez crisis to the Sudan conflicts. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
• Diamond, Louise, & McDonald, John W. (1993). Multi-track diplomacy: a systems approach to peace (Rev. ed.). Washington, DC: Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy.
• Chenoweth, Erica, & Stephan, Maria J. (2011). Why civil resistance works: the strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Fry, Douglas P. (2013). War, peace, and human nature: the convergence of evolutionary and cultural views. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Goldstein, Joshua S. (2011). Winning the war on war: the decline of armed conflict worldwide. New York: Penguin Group.
• Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy. "Building Peace and Transforming Conflict: Multi-track Diplomacy in Practice". Retrieved 6 November 2013.
• Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy. "Mission". Retrieved 6 November 2013.
• Hand, Judith. (2003). Women, power, and the biology of peace. San Diego, CA: Questpath Publishing.
• Hand, Judith. (2010). To abolish war. Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research 2(4): 44-56.
• Hand, Judith. (2014). Shift: the beginning of war, the ending of war. San Diego, CA: Questpath Publishing.
• Hand, Judith. (2018). War and sex and human destiny. San Diego, CA: Questpath Publishing.
• Irwin, Robert A. (1988). Building a Peace System. Washington, DC: ExPro Press.
• Johansen, Robert C. (1978). Toward a dependable peace. New York: Institute for World Order.
• McElwee, Timothy A. (2003). Instead of war: the urgency and promise of the global peace system. Cross Currents, 53(2).
• McElwee, Timothy A. (2007). "The Role of UN Police in Nonviolently Countering Terrorism". In Senthil Ram and Ralph Summy (ed.). Nonviolence: An Alternative for Defeating Global Terror(ism). Nova Publishers. pp. 179–210. ISBN 978-1-60021-812-5.
• Mitrany, David. (1966). A working peace system. Chicago: Quadrangle Books.
• Page, Kirby. (1931). National Defense. New York: Farrar & Rinehart.
• Pinker, Steven. (2011). The better angels of our nature: why violence has declined. New York: Viking.
• Ricigliano, Rob. (2012). Making peace last: a toolbox for sustainable peacebuilding. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
• Shifferd, Kent D. (2011). From war to peace: a guide to the next hundred years. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
• Zelizer, Craig. (2013). Integrated peacebuilding: innovative approaches to transforming conflict. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

External links

• War Prevention Initiative
• Text of Universal Declaration of Human Rights