can war bring peace essay

December 2, 2021

Peace Is More Than War’s Absence, and New Research Explains How to Build It

A new project measures ways to promote positive social relations among groups

By Peter T. Coleman , Allegra Chen-Carrel & Vincent Hans Michael Stueber

PeopleImages/Getty Images

Today, the misery of war is all too striking in places such as Syria, Yemen, Tigray, Myanmar and Ukraine. It can come as a surprise to learn that there are scores of sustainably peaceful societies around the world, ranging from indigenous people in the Xingu River Basin in Brazil to countries in the European Union. Learning from these societies, and identifying key drivers of harmony, is a vital process that can help promote world peace.

Unfortunately, our current ability to find these peaceful mechanisms is woefully inadequate. The Global Peace Index (GPI) and its complement the Positive Peace Index (PPI) rank 163 nations annually and are currently the leading measures of peacefulness. The GPI, launched in 2007 by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), was designed to measure negative peace , or the absence of violence, destructive conflict, and war. But peace is more than not fighting. The PPI, launched in 2009, was supposed to recognize this and track positive peace , or the promotion of peacefulness through positive interactions like civility, cooperation and care.

Yet the PPI still has many serious drawbacks. To begin with, it continues to emphasize negative peace, despite its name. The components of the PPI were selected and are weighted based on existing national indicators that showed the “strongest correlation with the GPI,” suggesting they are in effect mostly an extension of the GPI. For example, the PPI currently includes measures of factors such as group grievances, dissemination of false information, hostility to foreigners, and bribes.

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The index also lacks an empirical understanding of positive peace. The PPI report claims that it focuses on “positive aspects that create the conditions for a society to flourish.” However, there is little indication of how these aspects were derived (other than their relationships with the GPI). For example, access to the internet is currently a heavily weighted indicator in the PPI. But peace existed long before the internet, so is the number of people who can go online really a valid measure of harmony?

The PPI has a strong probusiness bias, too. Its 2021 report posits that positive peace “is a cross-cutting facilitator of progress, making it easier for businesses to sell.” A prior analysis of the PPI found that almost half the indicators were directly related to the idea of a “Peace Industry,” with less of a focus on factors found to be central to positive peace such as gender inclusiveness, equity and harmony between identity groups.

A big problem is that the index is limited to a top-down, national-level approach. The PPI’s reliance on national-level metrics masks critical differences in community-level peacefulness within nations, and these provide a much more nuanced picture of societal peace . Aggregating peace data at the national level, such as focusing on overall levels of inequality rather than on disparities along specific group divides, can hide negative repercussions of the status quo for minority communities.

To fix these deficiencies, we and our colleagues have been developing an alternative approach under the umbrella of the Sustaining Peace Project . Our effort has various components , and these can provide a way to solve the problems in the current indices. Here are some of the elements:

Evidence-based factors that measure positive and negative peace. The peace project began with a comprehensive review of the empirical studies on peaceful societies, which resulted in identifying 72 variables associated with sustaining peace. Next, we conducted an analysis of ethnographic and case study data comparing “peace systems,” or clusters of societies that maintain peace with one another, with nonpeace systems. This allowed us to identify and measure a set of eight core drivers of peace. These include the prevalence of an overarching social identity among neighboring groups and societies; their interconnections such as through trade or intermarriage; the degree to which they are interdependent upon one another in terms of ecological, economic or security concerns; the extent to which their norms and core values support peace or war; the role that rituals, symbols and ceremonies play in either uniting or dividing societies; the degree to which superordinate institutions exist that span neighboring communities; whether intergroup mechanisms for conflict management and resolution exist; and the presence of political leadership for peace versus war.

A core theory of sustaining peace . We have also worked with a broad group of peace, conflict and sustainability scholars to conceptualize how these many variables operate as a complex system by mapping their relationships in a causal loop diagram and then mathematically modeling their core dynamics This has allowed us to gain a comprehensive understanding of how different constellations of factors can combine to affect the probabilities of sustaining peace.

Bottom-up and top-down assessments . Currently, the Sustaining Peace Project is applying techniques such as natural language processing and machine learning to study markers of peace and conflict speech in the news media. Our preliminary research suggests that linguistic features may be able to distinguish between more and less peaceful societies. These methods offer the potential for new metrics that can be used for more granular analyses than national surveys.

We have also been working with local researchers from peaceful societies to conduct interviews and focus groups to better understand the in situ dynamics they believe contribute to sustaining peace in their communities. For example in Mauritius , a highly multiethnic society that is today one of the most peaceful nations in Africa, we learned of the particular importance of factors like formally addressing legacies of slavery and indentured servitude, taboos against proselytizing outsiders about one’s religion, and conscious efforts by journalists to avoid divisive and inflammatory language in their reporting.

Today, global indices drive funding and program decisions that impact countless lives, making it critical to accurately measure what contributes to socially just, safe and thriving societies. These indices are widely reported in news outlets around the globe, and heads of state often reference them for their own purposes. For example, in 2017 , Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, though he and his country were mired in corruption allegations, referenced his country’s positive increase on the GPI by stating, “Receiving such high praise from an institute that once named this country the most violent in the world is extremely significant.” Although a 2019 report on funding for peace-related projects shows an encouraging shift towards supporting positive peace and building resilient societies, many of these projects are really more about preventing harm, such as grants for bolstering national security and enhancing the rule of law.

The Sustaining Peace Project, in contrast, includes metrics for both positive and negative peace, is enhanced by local community expertise, and is conceptually coherent and based on empirical findings. It encourages policy makers and researchers to refocus attention and resources on initiatives that actually promote harmony, social health and positive reciprocity between groups. It moves away from indices that rank entire countries and instead focuses on identifying factors that, through their interaction, bolster or reduce the likelihood of sustaining peace. It is a holistic perspective.  

Tracking peacefulness across the globe is a highly challenging endeavor. But there is great potential in cooperation between peaceful communities, researchers and policy makers to produce better methods and metrics. Measuring peace is simply too important to get only half-right. 

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How to end wars: lawyering peace in a changing world.

A review of Paul Williams, “Lawyering Peace” (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

Christine Bell

There are three ways that third-party nations can approach a war: stay neutral and see who wins, help one side win, or support the parties in reaching a negotiated settlement. The third option involves a range of compromises that the parties and the international community often find unpalatable from the middle of war. Yet, more often than not, the human, political, moral, and financial costs of negotiated settlement are vastly less than those of the first two options for ending wars. 

These issues are currently playing out in Ukraine. Should international actors intervene to help Ukraine win and, if so, how? Are some forms of negotiated compromise off-limits because they fail to comply with international norms on prohibition of acquisition of territory by force, or international criminal responsibility? When, if ever, does placing solutions off limits become morally indefensible given the costs of war? Who should decide when a negotiated settlement should be pressed and what the red lines for agreement should be? 

Peace Processes at the Crossroads

More widely, we are in a moment when many are questioning whether peace processes are working. It has become popular to state , as if it were truth, that peace processes are “fundamentally flawed” and a new approach is needed. This assertion brings together curious bedfellows: those fighting conflicts who have little interest in peace in any case, peacebuilding organizations that feel armed actors should not run the show, and scholars who criticize peace processes from contradictory angles. Critiques are often mounted with one or two examples in mind.

Yet statistics show that from the peace agreement era beginning in 1990 through 2012, there was a strong trend of reduction of conflict, until deaths in the Syria conflict started to reverse the trend, which continues upward. While debate over how to measure success continues, more than 70 percent of comprehensive peace agreements stopped violent conflict for at least five years, even though a more positive peace often remained elusive . Our own ( PeaceRep ) data on peace agreements and processes shows that over 2,000 different types of peace agreements have been signed in around 150 peace processes. Generalizing from one or two, often atypical, examples is therefore a misleading way to evaluate the practice as a whole.

It is therefore timely that Paul Williams, who has been involved for over 30 years as a legal adviser and mediator in peace processes and a researcher and teacher in the field, has written a book detailing how settlements are reached in almost impossible circumstances. “Lawyering Peace” draws on his experience and on significant comparative research to deliver both a masterful international legal text on the rules that constrain peace negotiations and a rich comparative resource of the past 30 years of peace processes. He sets out in stark clarity what it costs parties to reach peace in terms of compromise. 

What emerges is a user manual—or “recipe book”—of options for resolving the trickiest issues in peace negotiations. Williams’s prescriptions offer a nuanced and informed account of the interplay between legal, moral, and political imperatives. The book is a wonderful example of clear writing. Williams sets out complex issues in plain and accessible language, explaining clearly, even to the nonspecialist, the conundrums of peace negotiations. He carefully and systematically considers the possible options for overcoming them. The book deserves to be devoured quickly by mediators, students, scholars, and indeed the ordinary person with an interest in conflict, peace, and global affairs.

In parsing options for conflict resolution, Williams draws on an impressively diverse set of case studies, from Burundi to Northern Ireland to Papua New Guinea, including many contexts in which he or the organization he founded, Public International Law and Policy Group , has played a key role at some stage of the negotiations. Usefully, he often also outlines how the settlement terms played out over time: when compromises sustained, when they unwound, and when they had to be revisited. Williams keeps the thread of the how-to approach easy to follow, giving the reader just enough context to make sense of the examples in the text and including a fuller resource and background on each case study in an appendix to the book.

Five Critical Stumbling Blocks

Williams suggests that five issues are the most difficult to reach agreement on in peace negotiations: security, power-sharing, control over natural resources, self-determination, and governance. He provides a chapter on each issue that sets out an introduction that explains, often with the help of statistical data, why the issue is critical to conflict resolution; an unpacking of the puzzle the issue presents for conflict resolution; a conceptual and legal primer on what the issue involves and the relevant legal standards; key state practice from past peace processes; and a concise and clear explanation of conundrums that draws on the case examples to set out the options for their resolution.

Regarding the first topic, security, Williams points to two key difficulties: first, how the state negotiates to share security functions with international actors during the end of the conflict and the negotiations process; and, second, how the state’s monopoly on the use of force can be rebuilt as paramilitary groups are either decommissioned or brought into state security structures. The issue of shared security between international and national actors has received remarkably little attention in the literature, and is seldom linked to the second—which has more often received treatment as a technical question of “disarmament, demilitarization and reintegration” or “security sector reform,” rather than a mediation issue. By placing both questions in a wider political framing over how to bring together state capacity and legitimacy to command a monopoly over the use of force, Williams shows an unfolding set of compromises that provide a complex navigation of the simple binary at the heart of the parties’ opposing positions. 

As regards power-sharing, Williams focuses on how state and non-state groups divide power to provide for political accommodation of different groups at the heart of the conflict, for example through autonomy, federalism, and fiscal, administrative, and legal devolution of power. Williams points to the importance of power-sharing with excluded and oppressed groups in a context of majority domination by an autocratic central government, explaining why it is so often central to resolving conflict. He focuses mainly on “vertical power-sharing”—that is, devolving power to substate units of different sorts—and points to the many different varieties of devolution of power that can be used, often in combination.

The third issue Williams addresses is negotiation over natural resources—another neglected area in the mediation and peacebuilding literature. There are three types of natural resources that link to conflict: extractive resources (oil, gas, timber), land, and water. Williams addresses the critical issues to be negotiated: ownership, management, and how revenue is governed and distributed. The chapter is particularly critical to mediation practice, given “the complex technical nature of regimes for the management of questions relating to natural resources.” Williams notes that while “mediators are often skilled at political negotiations and frequently have experience with governance and security in a prior professional capacity,” international mediators “seldom have an expertise in natural resource management.” 

For his fourth issue, Williams turns to self-determination, particularly in secessionist disputes, and how parties seek to find a compromise. He addresses the following conundrums: how best to share sovereignty, build institutions, determine final status, phase in the assumption of sovereignty, condition the assumption of sovereignty, and constrain the exercise of sovereignty.

The fifth and final issue Williams addresses is governance: how parties provide a comprehensive legal framework for the postconflict period. As he points out, often all the parties in negotiations can do is establish general principles, which must be given their constitutional detail afterward using processes such as “national dialogues” that include wider civic input. He addresses conundrums such as whether to address the constitutional framework in peace negotiations or after; the best timing of the period of constitutional reform; whether to establish a permanent or interim constitution; whether to reform through amendment or replacement; whether, when, and how to hold a referendum; and whether it is better to rely on international standards for human rights or instead to draft them more contextually, especially when it comes to religious and cultural rights. 

Williams’s book is excellent, and I would highly recommend it: In addition to being informative and erudite, it also manages to be interesting and entertaining—an enviable achievement. Although called “Lawyering Peace,” the book articulates how law and politics work together—something that is often missing from both legal and more political mediation accounts that touch on similar terrain.

The Challenge of the “Elite Deal”: Required but Not Sufficient

“Lawyering Peace” provides in its subtext a compelling antidote to some of the recent tendencies in work more critical of peace processes. The first tendency is to criticize the substance of the compromise without taking responsibility for the lack of alternatives available in a project that has to persuade the parties responsible for conflict to end it, often from a position of battlefield power. Sometimes those pushing wider agendas for change from outside the country express the idea that the fragility of the process is exaggerated, and that a range of matters extraneous to the concerns of the parties can be inserted by international actors. By methodically setting out five central issues, and explaining why they are central, Williams tells a story of the constraints on peace negotiations. After all, if the armed actors were likely to end the conflict without having their demands met, there likely would have not been a conflict in the first place. The second recent tendency of those critical of peace process design is to push for “greater inclusion” and to argue that peace processes only involve “elite deals” between illegitimate armed actors. Williams reveals the way that peace process solutions in practice must bring together state and non-state armed actors, technicians, bureaucrats, and those affected by conflict. He shows where mediation has had strengths and where it has had weaknesses. He understands that none of the options is perfect, but that they nonetheless can play a critical role in persuading armed actors to move from violence. In place of a false binary between “elite deal” and “inclusive peace,” Williams points to the challenges of moving from armed conflict to “good government,” noting that some issues—for example, constitutional redesign—are best left to more inclusive processes after the main negotiations. 

This approach contrasts with many of the efforts to ensure the influence of groups that are underrepresented in peace negotiations, such as women. Indeed, “Lawyering Peace” is likely to garner criticism precisely because it bucks a trend to see compromise between state and non-state armed actors as an “illegitimate elite deal,” which is focused on the wrong players and issues. The mismatch between “Lawyering Peace” and peacebuilding criticisms of peace processes is itself illustrative of a fundamental gap in what different communities of practice understand to be the primary function of peace settlement efforts. This is a gap that has been much discussed but remains to be resolved. 

Peacebuilding focused on inclusion often starts from a criticism of the elite deal and understands the difficulty with inclusion as being one of representation at the talks. Many efforts, for example, have focused on the role of women. Here inclusion efforts focus on whether women are present, whether they have an opportunity to widen and deepen the deal being discussed, and whether there is any capacity to infuse the deal with the question of how it will affect women and the types of conflict they face. 

Williams’s book indirectly points to the challenges of connecting wider agendas for change to negotiation of these conundrums on whose resolution any agreement depends. In a sense, the book provides a challenge to current strategies of inclusion, which often involve reciting mantras of inclusion (“adding women will lead to a more sustainable peace”) and citing legal standards in support. To affect mediation outcomes, agendas for change that come from beyond the parties to the conflict, including from women, have to somehow be connected to the conversations the parties—and often mediators—understand themselves to be having in ways that do not disrupt it completely, if the goal of the mediation is to reach an agreement that will stop fighting. It is this conversation between the main conflict protagonists that Williams’s book contributes to, but in its detail it provides a focus for understanding what the focus and options of the elite deal are, that provides an important starting point for understanding what other forms of change might also be leveraged—and require to be leveraged—through the opportunity that the peace process provides. To be successful, the peace agreement will need to provide mechanisms to integrate progress of both agendas for change.

In its choice of “five key issues,” “Lawyering Peace” could be criticized for issues not dealt with that  are often very important to the wider population who will be asked to sustain the peace. These are perhaps issues for a second volume: The book’s focus on deal-making is justified by what Williams brings to the table and the detail it requires. However, the wider issues of how a central negotiation requires underpinning by a range of social processes—most of which need international support over longer time frames—is an important part of the picture. Peace agreements often need to provide sufficient hooks for these processes to be dealt with down the road. Civic reframing of what fuels everyday conflict often proves crucial to helping peace processes over the inevitable bumps in the road once the mediators have gone home. In Northern Ireland, for example, the story of the peace process is the story not just of the 1998 agreement but of the hundreds of civic initiatives that preceded and succeeded it. These initiatives provided the political imagination for how compromise could be reached and sustained when the parties finally moved from the delusion that any of them could “win” or that winning would not also require compromise and mediation.

It would also be interesting to learn not just about the substance of agreement that enabled the parties to “get to yes” but also about the processes that were a critical part of the iterative approach to reaching “maybe.” In South Africa, for example, in addition to vertical power-sharing in the form of “regional” devolution of power dealt with by Williams, there was a temporary horizontal power-sharing arrangement with a sunset clause that sought to give the then-white South African political elite a phased transfer out of power. In addition, a set of “constitutional principles” bound the soon-to-be post-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) government to what it had agreed with the white minority South African government destined to leave power postelections so that the deal could not be entirely rewritten. Together these process mechanisms worked to overcome a logjam whereby the old government wanted to write the constitution before elections and the ANC saw this as unacceptably undemocratic. The innovation of a sunset clause that would see power-sharing as a transitional device has been borrowed and reconfigured in many peace and transition processes and deserves more attention. In fact, I would have liked to see Williams deal more with horizontal power-sharing more generally—that is, power-sharing in the executive branch of the central government—that for reasons of space is touched on only lightly. As he notes, vertical and horizontal power-sharing are often combined in a range of ways to meet competing demands of the parties. It is often the horizontal power-sharing that unravels in implementation. 

Peacebuilding practitioners are also likely to wonder as to whether the “five key issues” are indeed the key issues. Most peacebuilders, for example, might not think of natural resource competition as critical but wonder about the omission of the more well-trodden ground of transitional justice: the conundrum of “how to deal with the past.” But here I think Williams usefully presses his own frame of analysis in ways that do not focus on the normal “toolkit” but on the biggest power plays at stake. Transitional justice is seldom the driving issue within negotiations that it is in academics or civil society, although it is an issue that haunts the political future if not given some political space in how governance is planned for.

Williams is also much stronger in some case studies than others—while the examples are all apposite, there is a little unevenness in how case studies are dealt with. Being from Northern Ireland, I noticed this issue particularly in that case. However, I recognize that having lived and breathed that conflict for most of my life, I am a picky reader here. The broad analysis and use of examples was right, and the range is an important strength of the book. The need to summarize inevitably means that the results will always be open to criticism by those who have spent their lives understanding and analyzing a conflict from the inside.

Lawyering Peace in the Future: Tool Kit or Requiem?

A more profound question, however, haunts the book. Is the practice of resolving intrastate conflict becoming redundant, in a new resurgence of geopolitical conflict? Is it a practice that—much like the League of Nations experiment with resolving nationalities conflicts in the interwar years—that is currently being swept away by an emerging new set of conflict dynamics?

The peace process has been a model designed for conflicts between an oppressive state “owned” by one side in the conflict and a big armed state opponent with some satellites. The peace process involved negotiations over how to reconfigure the state’s political settlement to reach political accommodation between the state and its armed opponents and the groups they represented. This characterizes many of the successful mediations Williams draws on. However, many conflicts now involve not one dominant conflict, but a complex “conflict system” in which local, national, and geopolitical conflicts are deeply intertwined. In place of “ the state/non-state conflict” are myriad conflicts involving small armed groups that form alliances and rapidly switch sides, often drawing on transnational support, in contexts where the state as such has had little real existence and its institutions have never been the only game in town for how the country is governed. 

At the global level also, in place of the international rules that Williams maps out, is an increasingly fractured geopolitical landscape in which norms and forms of international cooperation that are necessary to this sort of process are becoming undone (see PeaceRep work in this area ). In place of coherent international support authorized by the United Nations, we have a world of geopolitical fragmentation and mediation competition, where even western rhetorical commitment to norms and international rule of law seems incredibly shaky. A range of new entrants see intervention in the name of peace as a way to reshape, and even disrupt and displace, the norms-based international order. They often work from motives that seem opaque and ambiguous. Fully blown international or interstate conflict seems set to emerge as the new normal, and while some of the mediation techniques and solutions will still be relevant, many are not.

Sometimes as I read articles and books, or sit in U.N. meetings, or conferences, or even in peace process meetings, I find myself thinking about “Gangs of New York.” Just as its central story of violent conflict between Irish immigrant Protestant and Catholic gangs in New York reaches its climax, a totally new bigger war—the Civil War—starts over the top of it. In place of the Catholic-Protestant showdown, the ships of the Civil War arrive and kill most of the gangs on both sides, depriving us of a satisfying denouement to what has seemed (for hours!) the main story. The new politics literally sweeps all the gangs and their wars off the streets like a giant flood, rendering their political squabbles, power plays, mediations, alliances, and betrayals irrelevant. A new age and a new type of conflict washes them into the past, because it signifies a new, completely different era that sweeps away the old one. The battles are now replaced by something more profound and subsuming—the battle for the very state of the nation.

Sometimes I feel I hear the sounds of that type of sudden epoch change all around, this time at a global level. I wonder why we are still talking to each other as if the old practices, and our debates over how to improve them, mattered. I hope against hope that Williams’s practice and scholarship, which has many overlaps with my own, still matters, and that the peace processes we both seek to improve still have a chance. If not, we will live in an increasingly dangerous and brutal world. Many days, however, I fear that this world is already with us and we do not know what to do to create peace in it.

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Essay on War and Peace

Students are often asked to write an essay on War and Peace in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on War and Peace

Understanding war and peace.

War and peace are two sides of the same coin, representing conflict and harmony respectively. War often arises from disagreements, leading to violence and destruction. On the other hand, peace symbolizes tranquility, unity, and cooperation.

The Impact of War

War can cause immense suffering and loss. It destroys homes, breaks families, and causes physical and emotional pain. Moreover, it can lead to economic instability and environmental damage, affecting future generations.

The Importance of Peace

Peace is essential for the well-being of individuals and societies. It fosters growth, prosperity, and happiness. Peace encourages dialogue, understanding, and mutual respect, helping to resolve conflicts peacefully.

250 Words Essay on War and Peace

Introduction.

War and peace, two contrasting states, have shaped human civilization, politics, and cultural identity. The dichotomy between these two conditions is not merely a matter of physical conflict or tranquility but extends to philosophical, psychological, and ethical dimensions.

War: A Double-Edged Sword

The necessity of peace.

Peace, on the other hand, is a state of harmony and cooperation, conducive to prosperity, growth, and human development. It fosters an environment where creativity, innovation, and collaboration can thrive. Peace is not merely the absence of war but also the presence of justice and equality, which are fundamental for sustainable development.

Striking a Balance

The challenge lies in striking a balance between the pursuit of peace and the inevitability of war. This balance is not about accepting war as a necessary evil, but about understanding its causes and working towards preventing them. Peacebuilding efforts should focus on addressing root causes of conflict, like inequality and injustice, and promoting dialogue, understanding, and cooperation.

In conclusion, the complex relationship between war and peace is a reflection of the human condition. Striving for peace while understanding the realities of war is a delicate but necessary balance we must achieve. It is through this equilibrium that we can hope to progress as a society, ensuring a better future for generations to come.

500 Words Essay on War and Peace

War and peace are two polar opposites, yet they are inextricably linked in the complex tapestry of human history. They represent the dual nature of humanity: our capacity for both destruction and harmony. This essay explores the intricate relationship between war and peace, the impacts they have on societies, and the philosophical perspectives that underpin both.

The Dualism of War and Peace

War and peace are not merely states of conflict and tranquility, but rather manifestations of human nature and societal structures. War, in its essence, is a reflection of our primal instincts for survival, dominance, and territoriality. It exposes the darker side of humanity, where violence and power struggles prevail. Conversely, peace symbolizes our capacity for cooperation, empathy, and mutual understanding. It showcases the brighter side of humanity, where dialogue and diplomacy reign.

Impacts of War and Peace

On the other hand, peace allows societies to flourish. It fosters economic growth, social development, and cultural exchange. Yet, peace is not merely the absence of war. It requires active effort to maintain social justice, equality, and mutual respect among diverse groups.

Philosophical Perspectives

War and peace have been subjects of philosophical debate for centuries. Realists argue that war is an inevitable part of human nature and international relations, while idealists contend that peace can be achieved through international cooperation and diplomacy.

In conclusion, war and peace are multifaceted concepts that reveal much about the human condition. Understanding their dynamics is crucial to shaping a world that leans towards peace, even as it acknowledges the realities of war. The challenge lies in mitigating the triggers of war and nurturing the conditions for peace. It is a task that requires not just political and diplomatic effort, but also a deep introspection into our collective values and aspirations.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Is war the solution to conflicts?

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Topic: Is war the solution to conflicts?

Aarini Roy, Grade 6 student, Oakridge International School, Bengaluru

War causes massive bloodshed and destruction but it is the only option when countries fail to solve an issue through political or economic arrangements. Technological advancements like radars and cell phones came up after World War 2.

War helps in creating a national identity. People forget their regional differences and fight as one. An example is the Chinese Civil War, which brought China together. It transformed into an economic superpower that we know today. The American Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.

John F Kennedy was right when he said ‘It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war’.

Just like yin and yang, war and peace always co-exist. War is the solution to bring peace. And sometimes, it also leads to newer ways to solve conflicts.

Mohammed Saad Pallan, Grade 9, MR Sakhare English Medium School, Hubballi

War isn’t just a simple disagreement between two countries. It leads to turmoil and upheaval of peace in both parties involved. It’s always about the powerful versus the powerless. Rarely is it about what’s right and wrong.

Tracking the recent Russia-Ukraine war, as the scenes of devastation and panic unfold, I see history repeating itself.

Thousands of people are fleeing homes, bidding goodbye to their kids, and many have become homeless. It’s always the innocent people who face the brunt of war. Their personal lives are torn apart and their education and healthcare is severely affected as is their financial situation.

We have progressed and learnt our lessons about what losses such wars can bring. Now that we have organisations that support humanitarian rights and world peace, we should act sensibly to ensure world peace.

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Essay on Peace

500 words essay peace.

Peace is the path we take for bringing growth and prosperity to society. If we do not have peace and harmony, achieving political strength, economic stability and cultural growth will be impossible. Moreover, before we transmit the notion of peace to others, it is vital for us to possess peace within. It is not a certain individual’s responsibility to maintain peace but everyone’s duty. Thus, an essay on peace will throw some light on the same topic.

Importance of Peace

History has been proof of the thousands of war which have taken place in all periods at different levels between nations. Thus, we learned that peace played an important role in ending these wars or even preventing some of them.

In fact, if you take a look at all religious scriptures and ceremonies, you will realize that all of them teach peace. They mostly advocate eliminating war and maintaining harmony. In other words, all of them hold out a sacred commitment to peace.

It is after the thousands of destructive wars that humans realized the importance of peace. Earth needs peace in order to survive. This applies to every angle including wars, pollution , natural disasters and more.

When peace and harmony are maintained, things will continue to run smoothly without any delay. Moreover, it can be a saviour for many who do not wish to engage in any disrupting activities or more.

In other words, while war destroys and disrupts, peace builds and strengthens as well as restores. Moreover, peace is personal which helps us achieve security and tranquillity and avoid anxiety and chaos to make our lives better.

How to Maintain Peace

There are many ways in which we can maintain peace at different levels. To begin with humankind, it is essential to maintain equality, security and justice to maintain the political order of any nation.

Further, we must promote the advancement of technology and science which will ultimately benefit all of humankind and maintain the welfare of people. In addition, introducing a global economic system will help eliminate divergence, mistrust and regional imbalance.

It is also essential to encourage ethics that promote ecological prosperity and incorporate solutions to resolve the environmental crisis. This will in turn share success and fulfil the responsibility of individuals to end historical prejudices.

Similarly, we must also adopt a mental and spiritual ideology that embodies a helpful attitude to spread harmony. We must also recognize diversity and integration for expressing emotion to enhance our friendship with everyone from different cultures.

Finally, it must be everyone’s noble mission to promote peace by expressing its contribution to the long-lasting well-being factor of everyone’s lives. Thus, we must all try our level best to maintain peace and harmony.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Peace

To sum it up, peace is essential to control the evils which damage our society. It is obvious that we will keep facing crises on many levels but we can manage them better with the help of peace. Moreover, peace is vital for humankind to survive and strive for a better future.

FAQ of Essay on Peace

Question 1: What is the importance of peace?

Answer 1: Peace is the way that helps us prevent inequity and violence. It is no less than a golden ticket to enter a new and bright future for mankind. Moreover, everyone plays an essential role in this so that everybody can get a more equal and peaceful world.

Question 2: What exactly is peace?

Answer 2: Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in which there is no hostility and violence. In social terms, we use it commonly to refer to a lack of conflict, such as war. Thus, it is freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups.

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• > Journals
• > Ethics & International Affairs
• > Volume 34 Issue 1
• > Thinking about World Peace

Article contents

Thinking about world peace.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2020

For as long as humans have fought wars, we have been beguiled and frustrated by the prospect of world peace. Only a very few of us today believe that world peace is possible. Indeed, the very mention of the term “world peace” raises incredulity. In contrast, as part of the roundtable “World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It),” this essay makes the case for taking world peace more seriously. It argues that world peace is possible, though neither inevitable nor irreversible. World peace, I argue, is something that every generation must strive for, because the ideas, social structures, and practices that make war possible are likely to remain with us. The essay proceeds in three parts. First, I briefly set out what I mean by peace and world peace. Second, I explain why I think that world peace is possible. Third, I examine how the world might be nudged in a more peaceful direction.

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I am very grateful to A. C. Grayling, Pamina Firchow, Nils Petter Gleditsch, Jacqui True, and the editors of Ethics & International Affairs for their thoughts and feedback, which have contributed immensely to the ideas presented here.

1 Sontag , Susan , Regarding the Pain of Others ( London : Picador , 2004 ) Google Scholar .

2 See, for instance, Biggar , Nigel , In Defence of War ( Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2014 ), p. 1 Google Scholar ; and Coker , Christopher , Can War Be Eliminated? ( Cambridge, U.K. : Polity ) Google Scholar , p. 97.

3 This is one of the principal messages delivered by Margaret MacMillan in her 2018 series of Reith Lectures (Margaret MacMillan, Reith Lectures, 2018, radio broadcast, BBC Radio 4, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9/episodes/player ). Also see Margaret MacMillan, “It Would Be Stupid to Think We Have Moved on from War: Look Around,” Guardian , June 24, 2018.

4 This essay draws on arguments advanced in my book World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019).

5 Caplan , Richard , Measuring Peace: Principles, Practices, and Politics ( Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2019 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Keane , John , Reflections on Violence ( London : Verso , 1996 ) Google Scholar .

6 See Hippler , Thomas , Governing From the Skies: A Global History of Aerial Bombing ( London : Verso , 2017 ), pp. 9 Google Scholar , 62.

7 Idris , Murad , War for Peace: Genealogies of a Violent Ideal in Western and Islamic Thought ( Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2019 ) Google Scholar .

8 Banks , Michael , “ Four Conceptions of Peace ,” in Sandole , Dennis J. D. and Sandole-Staroste , Ingrid , eds., Conflict Management and Problem Solving: Interpersonal to International Applications ( New York : New York University Press , 1987 ), p. 269 Google Scholar .

9 Ember , Carol R. and Ember , Mervin , “ Warfare, Aggression and Resource Problems: Cross-Cultural Codes ,” Behavior Science Research 26 , nos. 1–4 (February 1992 ), pp. 169 – 226 CrossRef Google Scholar . See also, Ember , Carol R. and Ember , Mervin , “ Resource Unpredictability, Mistrust, and War ,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 36 , no. 2 (June 1992 ), pp. 242 –62 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Ember , Carol R. and Ember , Mervin , “ War, Socialization, and Interpersonal Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study ,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 38 , no. 4 (December 1994 ), pp. 620 –46 CrossRef Google Scholar .

10 Otterbein , Keith F. and Otterbein , Charlotte , “ An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth: A Cross-Cultural Study of Feuding ,” American Anthropologist 67 , no. 6 (December 1965 ), pp. 1470 –82 CrossRef Google Scholar .

11 Wright , Quincy , Study of War ( Chicago : University of Chicago Press , 1964 ), p. 546 Google Scholar .

12 Hochschild , Adam , Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves ( New York : Houghton Mifflin , 2005 ) Google Scholar .

13 The Arms Trade Treaty entered into force on December 24, 2014. At the time of writing (December 2019), the treaty had 130 signatories and 104 parties.

14 Collier , Paul , Elliott , V. L. , Hegre , Håvard , Hoeffler , Anke , Reynal-Querol , Marta , and Sambanis , Nicholas , Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy ( Washington, D.C. : World Bank , 2003 ), p. 13 Google Scholar .

15 Bacevich , Andrew J. , America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History ( New York : Random House , 2016 ) Google Scholar .

16 Hedges , Chris , War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, ( New York, NY : Public Affairs , 2014 ), p. 23 Google Scholar .

17 Gat , Azar , The Causes of War and the Spread of Peace: But Will War Rebound? ( Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2017 ) Google Scholar .

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• Volume 34, Issue 1
• Alex J. Bellamy
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679420000027

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Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

World war ii, effects or war/lack of peace, importance of peace, works cited.

The emphasis of peaceful interactions among the nations cannot be undermined at any cost. Peace is one of the fundamental factors that influence growth in economic activities, development of political governance, among other important aspects of living. Without peace, many areas of human existence are affected. Peace is the essence of living, and the lack of it can be termed as the opposite of life. When people cannot interact peacefully, there will be chaos and disarray. Therefore peace is supreme in the world, and without it, nothing is achievable. This essay seeks to outline several evidences to prove that peace is the most important thing in the world.

The Second World War was one of the most destructive battles in the world. Its effects especially in Japan are felt up to date. The war broke out form a simple conflict between nations, and it eventually turned into a global conflict. As seen in the picture, American soldiers are kissing and celebrating with their wives their victory against Japan. Looking at the picture, one can clearly see that all the people captured are happy and excited to know that their spouses are back home safe and sound. Peace brings happiness to families and among nations. It took years before Iraq became a fully politically run state (Dumas and Thee 89).

World War II had greatly destabilized Europe, and all that people wanted to be an end to the fighting. This photograph was taken in Times Square on the 14 th of august 1945, and it has been used in many occasions to commemorate the day of peace in America ( History.com par. 2). The conflict between 30 countries including Japan, Germany, the Great Britain, France among others led to a war that lasted for six years and caused millions of deaths both military and civilians ( History.com par 2). Considering such damage, peace is therefore one of the most important things in the world today.

Where there is no peace, there is war. War can be among people from different races, clans, tribes, religion among other profiling strategies. Nonetheless, when war occurs in a particular region or country, the effects are horrible. One of the major effects of war is hunger and starvation. the World War II was greatly influenced by the instability that was created by the first world war which had only ended two decades earlier ( History.com par. 8).Adolf Hitler’s greed for power and his urge to dominate the world led him to rearm his nation. As Germany invaded Poland, the Great Britain and France reacted in protest declaring war against Germany ( History.com par. 8).

This regional conflict ended up in a global and the destruction caused was beyond measure. As Hitler rose to power, he believed that the only way for humans to acquire enough living space was through war ( History.com par. 8). Unfortunately, he was obsessed with the idea of domination and he believed that pure Germans were the only race worth of the living space. Such a mentality can ruin and comprise any efforts to achieve peaceful coexistence among nations.

Peace is a very crucial aspect of human life. Peace allows people to interact in civilized and planned structures which give life a meaning. Through peace, people are able to shear common values and enhance the promotion of common decency through laws and policies (Acharya 45).

Governance and political structures are products of peaceful agreements brokered with the best interests of the people at heart. Peace has enabled the world to come together in many occasion and to work together to fight some of the deadly vices in the world. For instance, the United Nations that was formed as a result of an end to a deadly conflict among nations is a product of peace. It is very important to foster peaceful relations among nations because it allows interaction and through such interactions there are major benefits that may accrue. Peaceful nations for instance trade together and they allow their citizens to trade in better terms of trades.

In every country, peace is the major influence of any positive development. Whether it is political, economic, social or infrastructural success, peace is the key to achieving it. Without peace the world can achieve nothing. According to the evidenced given in this essay, one can evidently connect peace to other areas of growth in a country. For instance, Somalia has been mentioned and clearly one can understand the impacts of peace just by looking at the country’s development and infrastructural growth. Somalia is one of the poorest countries in terms of GDP while its wealth in fuel is one of the bets world’s known.

Therefore, this essay shows that regardless of a country’s natural resources, peace is paramount. Rwanda has also been used in this essay as an example and clear the country’s fertility was compromised the 1994 genocide where conflicting communities were starving in a land of great agricultural potential.

Acharya, Amitav. Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order , New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.

Dumas, Lloyd J., and Marek Thee. Making peace possible: the promise of economic conversion , New York, NY: Elsevier, 2014. Print.

History.com: America Enters World War II . 2009. Web.

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• Optional Self-Defence War Against Lesser Aggressor
• The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam by Grunts
• The First and Second Chechen Wars Comparison
• The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East
• The Persian Gulf War and the US
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, August 15). Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-importance-and-war-effects-on-countries/

"Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries." IvyPanda , 15 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/peace-importance-and-war-effects-on-countries/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries'. 15 August.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries." August 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-importance-and-war-effects-on-countries/.

1. IvyPanda . "Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries." August 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-importance-and-war-effects-on-countries/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Peace Importance and War Effects on Countries." August 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/peace-importance-and-war-effects-on-countries/.

World Peace Essay: Prompts, How-to Guide, & 200+ Topics

Throughout history, people have dreamed of a world without violence, where harmony and justice reign. This dream of world peace has inspired poets, philosophers, and politicians for centuries. But is it possible to achieve peace globally? Writing a world peace essay will help you find the answer to this question and learn more about the topic.

In this article, our custom writing team will discuss how to write an essay on world peace quickly and effectively. To inspire you even more, we have prepared writing prompts and topics that can come in handy.

• ✍️ Writing Guide
• 🦄 Essay Prompts
• ✔️ World Peace Topics
• 🌎 Pacifism Topics
• ✌️ Catchy Essay Titles
• 🕊️ Research Topics on Peace
• 💡 War and Peace Topics
• ☮️ Peace Title Ideas
• 🌐 Peace Language Topics

🔗 References

✍️ how to achieve world peace essay writing guide.

Stuck with your essay about peace? Here is a step-by-step writing guide with many valuable tips to make your paper well-structured and compelling.

1. Research the Topic

The first step in writing your essay on peace is conducting research. You can look for relevant sources in your university library, encyclopedias, dictionaries, book catalogs, periodical databases, and Internet search engines. Besides, you can use your lecture notes and textbooks for additional information.

Among the variety of sources that could be helpful for a world peace essay, we would especially recommend checking the Global Peace Index report . It presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis of current trends in world peace. It’s a credible report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, so you can cite it as a source in your aper.

Here are some other helpful resources where you can find information for your world peace essay:

• United Nations Peacekeeping
• International Peace Institute
• United States Institute of Peace
• European Union Institute for Security Studies
• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

2. Create an Outline

Outlining is an essential aspect of the essay writing process. It helps you plan how you will connect all the facts to support your thesis statement.

To write an outline for your essay about peace, follow these steps:

• Determine your topic and develop a thesis statement .
• Choose the main points that will support your thesis and will be covered in your paper.
• Organize your ideas in a logical order.
• Think about transitions between paragraphs.

Here is an outline example for a “How to Achieve World Peace” essay. Check it out to get a better idea of how to structure your paper.

• Definition of world peace.
• The importance of global peace.
• Thesis statement: World peace is attainable through combined efforts on individual, societal, and global levels.
• Practive of non-violent communication.
• Development of healthy relationships.
• Promotion of conflict resolution skills.
• Promotion of democracy and human rights.
• Support of peacebuilding initiatives.
• Protection of cultural diversity.
• Encouragement of arms control and non-proliferation.
• Promotion of international law and treaties.
• Support of intercultural dialogue and understanding.
• Restated thesis.
• Call to action.

You can also use our free essay outline generator to structure your world peace essay.

3. Write Your World Peace Essay

Now, it’s time to use your outline to write an A+ paper. Here’s how to do it:

• Start with the introductory paragraph , which states the topic, presents a thesis, and provides a roadmap for your essay. If you need some assistance with this part, try our free introduction generator .
• Your essay’s main body should contain at least 3 paragraphs. Each of them should provide explanations and evidence to develop your argument.
• Finally, in your conclusion , you need to restate your thesis and summarize the points you’ve covered in the paper. It’s also a good idea to add a closing sentence reflecting on your topic’s significance or encouraging your audience to take action. Feel free to use our essay conclusion generator to develop a strong ending for your paper.

4. Revise and Proofread

Proofreading is a way to ensure your essay has no typos and grammar mistakes. Here are practical tips for revising your work:

• Take some time. Leaving your essay for a day or two before revision will give you a chance to look at it from another angle.
• Read out loud. To catch run-on sentences or unclear ideas in your writing, read it slowly and out loud. You can also use our Read My Essay to Me tool.
• Make a checklist . Create a list for proofreading to ensure you do not miss any important details, including structure, punctuation, capitalization, and formatting.
• Ask someone for feedback. It is always a good idea to ask your professor, classmate, or friend to read your essay and give you constructive criticism on the work.
• Note down the mistakes you usually make. By identifying your weaknesses, you can work on them to become a more confident writer.

🦄 World Peace Essay Writing Prompts

Looking for an interesting idea for your world peace essay? Look no further! Use our writing prompts to get a dose of inspiration.

How to Promote Peace in the Community Essay Prompt

Promoting peace in the world always starts in small communities. If people fight toxic narratives, negative stereotypes, and hate crimes, they will build a strong and united community and set a positive example for others.

In your essay on how to promote peace in the community, you can dwell on the following ideas:

• Explain the importance of accepting different opinions in establishing peace in your area.
• Analyze how fighting extremism in all its forms can unite the community and create a peaceful environment.
• Clarify what peace means in the context of your community and what factors contribute to or hinder it.
• Investigate the role of dialogue in resolving conflicts and building mutual understanding in the community.

How to Promote Peace as a Student Essay Prompt

Students, as an active part of society, can play a crucial role in promoting peace at various levels. From educational entities to worldwide conferences, they have an opportunity to introduce the idea of peace for different groups of people.

Check out the following fresh ideas for your essay on how to promote peace as a student:

• Analyze how information campaigns organized by students can raise awareness of peace-related issues.
• Discuss the impact of education in fostering a culture of peace.
• Explore how students can use social media to advocate for a peaceful world.
• Describe your own experience of taking part in peace-promoting campaigns or programs.

How Can We Maintain Peace in Our Society Essay Prompt

Maintaining peace in society is a difficult but achievable task that requires constant attention and effort from all members of society.

We have prepared ideas that can come in handy when writing an essay about how we can maintain peace in our society:

• Investigate the role of tolerance, understanding of different cultures, and respect for religions in promoting peace in society.
• Analyze the importance of peacekeeping organizations.
• Provide real-life examples of how people promote peace.
• Offer practical suggestions for how individuals and communities can work together to maintain peace.

Youth Creating a Peaceful Future Essay Prompt

Young people are the future of any country, as well as the driving force to create a more peaceful world. Their energy and motivation can aid in finding new methods of coping with global hate and violence.

In your essay, you can use the following ideas to show the role of youth in creating a peaceful world:

• Analyze the key benefits of youth involvement in peacekeeping.
• Explain why young people are leading tomorrow’s change today.
• Identify the main ingredients for building a peaceful generation with the help of young people’s initiatives.
• Investigate how adolescent girls can be significant agents of positive change in their communities.

Is World Peace Possible Essay Prompt

Whether or not the world can be a peaceful place is one of the most controversial topics. While most people who hear the question “Is a world without war possible?” will probably answer “no,” others still believe in the goodness of humanity.

To discuss in your essay if world peace is possible, use the following ideas:

• Explain how trade, communication, and technology can promote cooperation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
• Analyze the role of international organizations like the United Nations and the European Union in maintaining peace in the world.
• Investigate how economic inequality poses a severe threat to peace and safety.
• Dwell on the key individual and national interests that can lead to conflict and competition between countries.

✔️ World Peace Topics for Essays

To help get you started with writing, here’s a list of 200 topics you can use for your future essTo help get you started with writing a world peace essay, we’ve prepared a list of topics you can use:

• Defining peace
• Why peace is better: benefits of living in harmony
• Is world peace attainable? Theory and historical examples
• Sustainable peace: is peace an intermission of war?
• Peaceful coexistence: how a society can do without wars
• Peaceful harmony or war of all against all: what came first?
• The relationship between economic development and peace
• Peace and Human Nature: Can Humans Live without Conflicts?
• Prerequisites for peace: what nations need to refrain from war?
• Peace as an unnatural phenomenon: why people tend to start a war?
• Peace as a natural phenomenon: why people avoid starting a war?
• Is peace the end of the war or its beginning?
• Hybrid war and hybrid peace
• What constitutes peace in the modern world
• Does two countries’ not attacking each other constitute peace?
• “Cold peace” in the international relations today
• What world religions say about world peace
• Defining peacemaking
• Internationally recognized symbols of peace
• World peace: a dream or a goal?

🌎 Peace Essay Topics on Pacifism

• History of pacifism: how the movement started and developed
• Role of the pacifist movement in the twentieth-century history
• Basic philosophical principles of pacifism
• Pacifism as philosophy and as a movement
• The peace sign: what it means
• How the pacifist movement began: actual causes
• The anti-war movements: what did the activists want?
• The relationship between pacifism and the sexual revolution
• Early pacifism: examples from ancient times
• Is pacifism a religion?
• Should pacifists refrain from any kinds of violence?
• Is the pacifist movement a threat to the national security?
• Can a pacifist work in law enforcement authorities?
• Pacifism and non-violence: comparing and contrasting
• The pacifist perspective on the concept of self-defense
• Pacifism in art: examples of pacifistic works of art
• Should everyone be a pacifist?
• Pacifism and diet: should every pacifist be a vegetarian?
• How pacifists respond to oppression
• The benefits of an active pacifist movement for a country

✌️ Interesting Essay Titles about Peace

• Can the country that won a war occupy the one that lost?
• The essential peace treaties in history
• Should a country that lost a war pay reparations?
• Peace treaties that caused new, more violent wars
• Can an aggressor country be deprived of the right to have an army after losing a war?
• Non-aggression pacts do not prevent wars
• All the countries should sign non-aggression pacts with one another
• Peace and truces: differences and similarities
• Do countries pursue world peace when signing peace treaties?
• The treaty of Versailles: positive and negative outcomes
• Ceasefires and surrenders: the world peace perspective
• When can a country break a peace treaty?
• Dealing with refugees and prisoners of war under peace treaties
• Who should resolve international conflicts?
• The role of the United Nations in enforcing peace treaties
• Truce envoys’ immunities
• What does a country do after surrendering unconditionally?
• A separate peace: the ethical perspective
• Can a peace treaty be signed in modern-day hybrid wars?
• Conditions that are unacceptable in a peace treaty

🕊️ Research Topics on Peace and Conflict Resolution

• Can people be forced to stop fighting?
• Successful examples of peace restoration through the use of force
• Failed attempts to restore peace with legitimate violence
• Conflict resolution vs conflict transformation
• What powers peacemakers should not have
• Preemptive peacemaking: can violence be used to prevent more abuse?
• The status of peacemakers in the international law
• Peacemaking techniques: Gandhi’s strategies
• How third parties can reconcile belligerents
• The role of the pacifist movement in peacemaking
• The war on wars: appropriate and inappropriate approaches to peacemaking
• Mistakes that peacemakers often stumble upon
• The extent of peacemaking : when the peacemakers’ job is done
• Making peace and sustaining it: how peacemakers prevent future conflicts
• The origins of peacemaking
• What to do if peacemaking does not work
• Staying out: can peacemaking make things worse?
• A personal reflection on the effectiveness of peacemaking
• Prospects of peacemaking
• Personal experience of peacemaking

💡 War and Peace Essay Topics

• Counties should stop producing new types of firearms
• Countries should not stop producing new types of weapons
• Mutual assured destruction as a means of sustaining peace
• The role of nuclear disarmament in world peace
• The nuclear war scenario: what will happen to the world?
• Does military intelligence contribute to sustaining peace?
• Collateral damage: analyzing the term
• Can the defenders of peace take up arms?
• For an armed person, is killing another armed person radically different from killing an unarmed one? Ethical and legal perspectives
• Should a healthy country have a strong army?
• Firearms should be banned
• Every citizen has the right to carry firearms
• The correlation between gun control and violence rates
• The second amendment: modern analysis
• Guns do not kill: people do
• What weapons a civilian should never be able to buy
• Biological and chemical weapons
• Words as a weapon: rhetoric wars
• Can a pacifist ever use a weapon?
• Can dropping weapons stop the war?

☮️ Peace Title Ideas for Essays

• How the nuclear disarmament emblem became the peace sign
• The symbolism of a dove with an olive branch
• Native Americans’ traditions of peace declaration
• The mushroom cloud as a cultural symbol
• What the world peace awareness ribbon should look like
• What I would like to be the international peace sign
• The history of the International Day of Peace
• The peace sign as an accessory
• The most famous peace demonstrations
• Hippies’ contributions to the peace symbolism
• Anti-war and anti-military symbols
• How to express pacifism as a political position
• The rainbow as a symbol of peace
• Can a white flag be considered a symbol of peace?
• Examples of the inappropriate use of the peace sign
• The historical connection between the peace sign and the cannabis leaf sign
• Peace symbols in different cultures
• Gods of war and gods of peace: examples from the ancient mythology
• Peace sign tattoo: pros and cons
• Should the peace sign be placed on a national flag?

🌐 Essay Topics about Peace Language

• The origin and historical context of the word “peace”
• What words foreign languages use to denote “peace”
• What words, if any, should a pacifist avoid?
• The pacifist discourse: key themes
• Disintegration language: “us” vs “them”
• How to combat war propaganda
• Does political correctness promote world peace?
• Can an advocate of peace be harsh in his or her speeches?
• Effective persuasive techniques in peace communications and negotiations
• Analyzing the term “world peace”
• If the word “war” is forbidden, will wars stop?
• Is “peacemaking” a right term?
• Talk to the hand: effective and ineffective interpersonal communication techniques that prevent conflicts
• The many meanings of the word “peace”
• The pacifists’ language: when pacifists swear, yell, or insult
• Stressing similarities instead of differences as a tool of peace language
• The portrayal of pacifists in movies
• The portrayals of pacifists in fiction
• Pacifist lyrics: examples from the s’ music
• Poems that supported peace The power of the written word
• Peaceful coexistence: theory and practice
• Under what conditions can humans coexist peacefully?
• “A man is a wolf to another man”: the modern perspective
• What factors prevent people from committing a crime?
• Right for peace vs need for peace
• Does the toughening of punishment reduce crime?
• The Stanford prison experiment: implications
• Is killing natural?
• The possibility of universal love: does disliking always lead to conflicts?
• Basic income and the dynamics of thefts
• Hobbesian Leviathan as the guarantee of peace
• Is state-concentrated legitimate violence an instrument for reducing violence overall?
• Factors that undermine peaceful coexistence
• Living in peace vs living for peace
• The relationship between otherness and peacefulness
• World peace and human nature: the issue of attainability
• The most successful examples of peaceful coexistence
• Lack of peace as lack of communication
• Point made: counterculture and pacifism
• What Woodstock proved to world peace nonbelievers and opponents?
• Woodstock and peaceful coexistence: challenges and successes
• Peace, economics, and quality of life
• Are counties living in peace wealthier? Statistics and reasons
• Profits of peace and profits of war: comparison of benefits and losses
• Can a war improve the economy? Discussing examples
• What is more important for people: having appropriate living conditions or winning a war?
• How wars can improve national economies: the perspective of aggressors and defenders
• Peace obstructers: examples of interest groups that sustained wars and prevented peace
• Can democracies be at war with one another?
• Does the democratic rule in a country provide it with an advantage at war?
• Why wars destroy economies: examples, discussion, and counterarguments
• How world peace would improve everyone’s quality of life
• Peace and war today
• Are we getting closer to world peace? Violence rates, values change, and historical comparison
• The peaceful tomorrow: how conflicts will be resolved in the future if there are no wars
• Redefining war: what specific characteristics today’s wars have that make them different from previous centuries’ wars
• Why wars start today: comparing and contrasting the reasons for wars in the modern world to historical examples
• Subtle wars: how two countries can be at war with each other without having their armies collide in the battlefield
• Cyber peace: how cyberwars can be stopped
• Information as a weapon: how information today lands harder blows than bombs and missiles
• Information wars: how the abundance of information and public access to it have not, nonetheless, eliminated propaganda
• Peace through defeating: how ISIS is different from other states, and how can its violence be stopped
• Is world peace a popular idea? Do modern people mostly want peace or mainly wish to fight against other people and win?
• Personal contributions to world peace
• What can I do for attaining world peace? Personal reflection
• Respect as a means of attaining peace: why respecting people is essential not only on the level of interpersonal communications but also on the level of social good
• Peacefulness as an attitude: how one’s worldview can prevent conflicts
• Why a person engages in insulting and offending: analysis of psychological causes and a personal perspective
• A smile as an agent of peace: how simple smiling to people around you contributes to peacefulness
• Appreciating otherness: how one can learn to value diversity and avoid xenophobia
• Peace and love: how the two are inherently interconnected in everyone’s life
• A micro-level peacemaker: my experiences of resolving conflicts and bringing peace
• Forgiveness for the sake of peace: does forgiving other people contribute to peaceful coexistence or promote further conflicts?
• Noble lies: is it acceptable for a person to lie to avoid conflicts and preserve peace?
• What should a victim do? Violent and non-violent responses to violence
• Standing up for the weak : is it always right to take the side of the weakest?
• Self-defense, overwhelming emotions, and witnessing horrible violence: could I ever shoot another person?
• Are there “fair” wars, and should every war be opposed?
• Protecting peace: could I take up arms to prevent a devastating war?
• Reporting violence: would I participate in sending a criminal to prison?
• The acceptability of violence against perpetrators: personal opinion
• Nonviolent individual resistance to injustice
• Peace is worth it: why I think wars are never justified
• How I sustain peace in my everyday life

Learn more on this topic:

• If I Could Change the World Essay: Examples and Writing Guide
• Ending the Essay: Conclusions
• Choosing and Narrowing a Topic to Write About
• Introduction to Research
• How the U.S. Can Help Humanity Achieve World Peace
• Ten Steps to World Peace
• How World Peace is Possible
• World Peace Books and Articles
• World Peace and Nonviolence
• The Leader of World Peace Essay
• UNO and World Peace Essay
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A very, very good paragraph. thanks

Peace and conflict studies actually is good field because is dealing on how to manage the conflict among the two state or country.

Keep it up. Our world earnestly needs peace

A very, very good paragraph.

COMPASS Manual for Human Rights Education with Young people

Peace and violence.

Violence: concepts and examples

What is violence.

Violence is a complex concept. Violence is often understood as the use or threat of force that can result in injury, harm, deprivation or even death. It may be physical, verbal or psychological. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines violence as "intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation". 1 This definition emphasises intentionality, and broadens the concept to include acts resulting from power relationships.

8 million light weapons are produced each year. 2 bullets are produced each year for every person on the planet. 2 out of 3 people killed by armed violence die in countries "at peace". 10 people are injured for every person killed by armed violence. Estimates from www.controlarms.org

An expanded understanding of violence includes not only direct "behavioural" violence, but also structural violence, which is often unconscious. Structural violence results from unjust and inequitable social and economic structures and manifesting itself in for example, poverty and deprivation of all kinds.

Forms of violence can be categorised in many ways. One such classification includes:

• direct violence, e.g. physical or behavioural violence such as war, bullying, domestic violence, exclusion or torture
• structural violence, e.g. poverty and deprivation of basic resources and access to rights; oppressive systems that enslave, intimidate, and abuse dissenters as well as the poor, powerless and marginalised
• cultural violence, e.g. the devaluing and destruction of particular human identities and ways of life, the violence of sexism, ethnocentrism, racism and colonial ideologies, and other forms of moral exclusion that rationalise aggression, domination, inequity, and oppression.

Question: Are direct, structural and/or cultural violence present in your community? How?

Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts. Mary Robinson

Violence in the world

Each year, more than 1.6 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence. For every person who dies as a result of violence, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. Violence places a massive burden on national economies in health care, law enforcement and lost productivity. World Health Organisation 2

Structural and cultural forms of violence are often deeply impregnated in societies to the point of being perceived as inherent. This type of violence lasts longer, thus eventually having similar consequences as direct violence, or, in some cases, even leading to the oppressed using direct violence as a response. Lower education opportunities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, limited access to leisure for foreigners, harmful working conditions in certain fields of work, and so on, are acts of structural and cultural violence which have a direct influence on people's access to their rights. Yet these forms of violence are rarely recognised as violations of human rights. What follows are some examples about different forms of violence worldwide. These are not the only ones. More information about the effects of armed conflicts can be found in War and Terrorism and in various other sections of this manual.

Military spending, arms trade and violence 

The production and trade in arms and weapons is undoubtedly one of the greatest threats to peace, not least because of the economic, financial and social dimensions of arms production. The production and export of arms is often encouraged on economic grounds with little con- sideration to the impact on peace and security. World military spending is steadily increasing; in 2014 the world spent an estimated €1776 billion on the military. The database of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute3 shows in 2014 the USA (€610 billion) as the biggest military spender, followed by China (€216 billion) and then three European countries, Russia ($84 billion) the United Kingdom ($60 billion) and France (€62 billion). Europe as a whole spent $386 billion.

Data from the Overseas Development Institute (www.odi.org ) shows that we could deliver free primary and secondary education in all the poor countries around the world for $32 billion per year, this is less than a single week's global military spending.

Question: How much does your country of residence spend on arms production and purchases annually?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that at least 740,000 women, men, young people and children are killed each year by armed violence; most of those affected live in poverty. The majority of armed killings occur outside of wars, although armed conflicts continue to generate a high number of deaths. Moreover, a huge number of people are injured by armed violence and face long-term suffering because of it. According to Amnesty International, about 60% of human rights violations documented by the organisation have involved the use of small arms and light weapons. 4

Controlling Arms Trade Control Arms is a global civil society alliance campaigning for an international legally-binding treaty that will stop the transfer of arms and ammunition. The campaign emphasises that domestic regulations have failed to adapt to increasing globalisation of the arms trade since different parts of weapons are produced in different places and transferred to other countries to be assembled. Control Arms is calling for a "bulletproof" Arms Trade Treaty that would hold governments accountable for illegal arms transfers. www.controlarms.org

A form of inter-personal violence, bullying is one of the forms of violence that affects young people and is often not considered as a form of violence. Bullying refers to aggressive behaviour which is repeated and intends to hurt someone. It can take the form of physical, psychological or verbal aggression. It can take place in any situation where human beings interact, be it at school, at the workplace or any other social place.  Bullying can be direct, confronting a person face-to-face, or indirect by spreading rumours or harming someone over the Internet, for example. Although it is difficult to have clear statistics, research shows that bullying is an increasing problem. Victims often do not dare to speak out, and it is therefore extremely difficult to identify and support victims of bullying.

Is corporal punishment legitimate?

Corporal punishment is the most widespread form of violence against children and is a violation of their human rights. In the past, some argued that smacking was a harmless form of punishment which enabled parents to educate their children, whereas others considered it a violent form of physical punishment. The Council of Europe campaign Raise Your Hand Against Smacking provoked strong debates in Member States, and took a human rights stand against this practice.

Gender-based violence

More information about gender and gender-based violence, can be found in the section on Gender, in chapter 5, and in the manual Gender Matters, www.coe.int/compass

While male-dominated societies often justify small arms possession through the alleged need to protect vulnerable women, women actually face greater danger of violence when their families and communities are armed. Barbara Frey 6

Gender-based violence is one of the most frequent forms of structural and cultural violence. It is present in every society and its consequences affect virtually all human beings. According to the UNFPA, gender-based violence "both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health, and in some instances, results in death" 5 . Gender-based violence does not have to be physical. In fact, young people suffer much verbal violence, especially targeted at LGBT (young) people and girls.

Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels. Article 1 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders

In situations of conflict, women become particularly vulnerable and new forms of violence against women emerge. These can range from mass rape to forced sexual assaults, forced pregnancy, or sexual slavery. The polarisation of gender roles during armed conflicts is increased, women thus being seen as objects of war and territories to be conquered.

Violence Against Human Rights Defenders

Useful information for human rights defenders: www.frontlinedefenders.org/ www.amnesty.org/en/human-rights-defenders www.ohchr.org    http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org

Investigating, reporting human rights violations and educating people about human rights and campaigning for justice can be dangerous work. Human rights defenders are people who individually, or with others, promote and protect human rights through peaceful and non-violent means. Because of their work, human rights defenders can be subjected to different types of violence, including beatings, arbitrary arrest or execution, torture, death threats, harassment and defamation, or restrictions on their freedom of expression, and association.  In 2000, the United Nations established a Special Rapporteur whose main mission is to support implementation of the 1998 Declaration on human rights defenders. The "protection" of human rights defenders includes protecting the defenders themselves and the right to defend human rights. The Special Rapporteur seeks, receives, examines and responds to information on the situation of human rights defenders, promotes the effective implementation of the Declaration and recommends strategies to protect human rights defenders. 7

Question: How free and safe is it to report or denounce human rights abuse and violations in your country?

If you look at them [conflicts] and remove the superficial levels of religion and politics, quite often it is a question of trying to access resources, trying to control those resources, and trying to decide how those resources will be shared. Wangari Maathai

The fight for resources

The possession of or control over natural resources such as water, arable land, mineral oil, metals, natural gas, and so on, have often fuelled violent conflicts throughout history. The depletion of certain resources and the shortage of others, such as water or arable land, is expected to become more widespread due to growth of consumption and climate change. This may create more regional or international tensions, potentially leading to violent conflicts.

Question: How is your country part of the competition for scarce resources?

Peace, human security and human rights

War and violence inevitably result in the denial of human rights. Building a culture of human rights is a pre-condition to achieving a state of peace. Sustainable, lasting peace and security can only be attained when all human rights are fulfilled. Building and maintaining a culture of peace is a shared challenge for humankind.

What is peace?

A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems, have the skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice non-violently, live by international standards of human rights and equity, appreciate cultural diversity, and respect the Earth and each other. Such learning can only be achieved with systematic education for peace. Global Campaign for Peace Education of the Hague Appeal for Peace

FIAN is an international human rights organisation that has advocated for the realisation of the right to food. www.fian.org

The above campaign statement offers a broader understanding of peace: peace means not only the lack of violent conflicts, but also the presence of justice and equity, as well as respect for human rights and for the Earth. Johan Galtung, a recognised Norwegian scholar and researcher, defined two aspects of peace. Negative peace means that there is no war, no violent conflict between states or within states. Positive peace means no war or violent conflict combined with a situation where there is equity, justice and development. The absence of war by itself does not guarantee that people do not suffer psychological violence, repression, injustice and a lack of access to their rights. Therefore, peace cannot be defined only by negative peace.

The concept of peace also has an important cultural dimension. Traditionally, for many people in the "western world", peace is generally understood to be an outside condition., while in other cultures, peace also has to do with inner peace (peace in our minds or hearts). In the Maya tradition, for example, peace refers to the concept of welfare; it is linked to the idea of a perfect balance between the different areas of our lives. Peace, therefore, is to be seen as both internal and external processes which affect us.

Human security

A concept closely related to peace and violence is human security, which recognises the interrelation between violence and deprivation of all kinds. It concerns the protection of individuals and communities from both the direct threat of physical violence and the indirect threats that result from poverty and other forms of social, economic or political inequalities, as well as natural disasters and disease. A country may not be under threat of external attack or internal conflict but still be insecure if, for example, it lacks the capacity to maintain the rule of law, if large populations are displaced by famine or decimated by disease or if its people lack the basic necessities of survival and access to their human rights.

Human security furthers human rights because it addresses situations that gravely threaten human rights and supports the development of systems that give people the building blocks of survival, dignity and essential freedoms: freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to take action on one's own behalf. It uses two general strategies to accomplish this: protection and empowerment. Protection shields people from direct dangers, but also seeks to develop norms, processes and institutions that maintain security. Empowerment enables people to develop their potential and become full participants in decision making. Protection and empowerment are mutually reinforcing, and both are required.

Question: How does insecurity affect the young people with whom you work?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in 2015 recognise the important role of security for development. SDG 16, sometimes shortened to “Peace and Justice” is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”. There are 10 targets, for instance 16.1 to reduce all forms of violence, 16.2 end abuse and all forms of violence against and torture of children. The full list of targets is  in the further information section of the activity, “How much do we need?”.

The linkages between SDG 16 and human rights are:

• Right to life, liberty and security of the person [UDHR art. 3; ICCPR arts. 6(1), 9(1);
• ICPED art. 1] including freedom from torture [UDHR art. 5; ICCPR art. 7; CAT art. 2; CRC art. 37(a)]
• Protection of children from all forms of violence, abuse or exploitation [CRC arts. 19, 37(a)), including trafficking (CRC arts. 34-36; CRC–OP1)]
• Right to access to justice and due process [UDHR arts. 8, 10; ICCPR arts. 2(3), 14-15; CEDAW art. 2(c)]
• Right to legal personality [UDHR art. 6; ICCPR art. 16; CRPD art. 12]
• Right to participate in public affairs [UDHR art. 21; ICCPR art. 25]
• Right to access to information [UDHR art. 19; ICCPR art. 19(1)] (www.ohchr.org)

Peace as a human right

Peace is a way of living together so that all members of society can accomplish their human rights. It is as an essential element to the realisation of all human rights. Peace is a product of human rights: the more a society promotes, protects and fulfils the human rights of its people, the greater its chances for curbing violence and resolving conflicts peacefully. However, peace is also increasingly being recognised as a human right itself, as an emerging human right or part of the so-called solidarity rights.

Non-violence is the supreme law of life. Indian proverb

All peoples shall have the right to national and international peace and security. African Charter on Human and People's Rights, Article 23

The connection between international human rights and the right to peace is very strong, notably because the absence of peace leads to so many violations of human rights. The UDHR recognises, for example, the right to security and freedom (Article 3); prohibits torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 5), and calls for an international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the declaration can be fully realised (Article 28).  The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits propaganda for war as well as "advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence" (Article 20). The right to peace is also codified in some regional documents such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Asian Human Rights Charter. The creation of the Council of Europe was itself based on the conviction that "the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international co-operation is vital for the preservation of human society and civilisation".

The right to peace in UN Human Rights Council "The Human Rights Council … 1.  Reaffirms that the peoples of our planet have a sacred right to peace; 2.  Also reaffirms that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obliga- tion of all States; 3.  Stresses the importance of peace for the promotion and protection of all human rights for all; 4.  Also stresses that the deep fault line that divides human society between the rich and the poor and the ever-increasing gap between the de- veloped world and the developing world pose a major threat to global prosperity, peace, human rights, security and stability; 5.  Further stresses that peace and security, development and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations system and the foundations for collective security and well-being; …" 11

The opposite of violence isn't non-violence, it's power. When one has moral power, power of conviction, the power to do good, one doesn't need violence. 9 Nelsa Libertad Curbelo 10

Human security is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, a job that was not cut, an ethnic tension that did not explode in violence, a dissident who was not silenced. Human security is not a concern with weapons – it is a concern with human life and dignity. Human Development Report, 1994

The Santiago Declaration on the Human Right to Peace, adopted in 2010 by The International Congress on the Human Right to Peace, is one of the most elaborate documents on peace as a human right.  The declaration recognises individuals, groups, peoples and all humankind as holders of the "inalienable right to a just, sustainable and lasting peace" (Art. 1) and "States, individually, jointly or as part of multilateral organisations", as the principal duty holders of the human right to peace". The declaration also calls for the right to education "on and for peace and all other human rights" as a component of the right to peace because "education and socialization for peace is a condition sine qua non for unlearning war and building identities disentangled from violence". The right to human security and the right to live in a safe and healthy environment, "including freedom from fear and from want" are also put forward as elements of "positive peace". Other dimensions of the right to peace are the right to disobedience and conscientious objection, the right to resist and oppose oppression and the right to disarmament. The declaration also devotes a specific article to the rights of victims, including their right to seek justice and a breakdown of the obligations entailed in the human right to peace.

Question: In practice, what does the human right to peace mean for you?

Legitimate (state) violence

Not all violence is illegal or illegitimate. Violent acts are sometimes necessary in order to protect the human rights of other people. I may have to use violence for self-defence; I expect a policeman to use, in extreme cases, some kind of violence to protect me or my family from violence from other people. My human right to security implies that the state and its agents protect me from violence. A human rights framework implies that violent actions by state or public agents is justified (and sometimes required), provided that it is organised and enacted within a human rights framework, including respect for the rights of the victim.

All persons have a right to peace so that they can fully develop all their capacities, physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual, without being the target of any kind of violence. Asian Human Rights Charter, 1998, paragraph 4.1

This raises questions about the primacy of some human rights over others: the right to life is a clear human right, and still in many cases, human beings are being punished violently or killed, as a consequence of their acts. Examples from throughout history illustrate how civil movements have brought about change and better access to people's human rights. However, peaceful movements are often suppressed by violent police or army action. Repressing people's right to freedom of expression and association. The "Arab Spring" movements initiated in 2011 showed how youth in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries gathered and peacefully reclaimed their human rights, but were violently attacked and put into detention by state armed forces, many losing their lives.

Question: When is armed intervention by policy justified?

Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough to eat. It is not the characteristic of there not being enough to eat. Amartya Sen

From a human rights perspective, the deprivation of the liberty of a person as a consequence of a criminal offence does not take away their inherent humanity. This is why the measures taken by the state against people who have acted violently against others must not be arbitrary, must respect their inherent dignity, and must protect these persons against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. One of the aims of detention is the social rehabilitation of prisoners.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Ghandi

The rule of law and protection of human rights and freedoms are crucial safeguards for an effective and just criminal justice system. Yet, while protecting the innocent 12 , custody and imprisonment are often also, unfortunately, the places where human rights violations appear. According to human rights standards, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child, specific rehabilitation mechanisms must be put in place for young offenders, such as "laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law" (Art. 40). This, however, is not always the case. According to Penal Reform International, the way authorities deal with young offenders can often lead to long-term physical and psychological ill-health. For example, exposure to violent behaviour in detention and separation from families and community may undermine the idea of rehabilitation and push them further into criminal activities. Based on the UNICEF estimates, today there are more than one million children in detention worldwide.

Question: Can imprisonment be an effective way to rehabilitate and educate children and young people who have committed a criminal offence?

Death penalty

The death penalty is forbidden by the European Convention on Human Rights as well as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Protocol 1). Outlawing the death penalty does not justify human rights violations. It is also based on the belief that violence cannot be fought with more violence. The outlawing of the death penalty is also a statement about the infallibility of justice: history shows that judicial mistakes are always possible and that there is the risk that the wrong person may be executed. However, the outlawing of the death penalty is also a testament to the belief of the right to life and dignity - and to a fair trial.

Penal Reform International is an international non-governmental organisation working on penal and criminal justice reform worldwide. www.penalreform.org

In 2011, 1,923 people in 63 countries were known to have been sentenced to death and 676 executions were known to have been carried out in 20 countries. However, the 676 figure does not include the perhaps thousands of people that Amnesty International estimates have been executed in China. 13    Belarus is the only country in Europe that in 2012 still carried out executions. According to Amnesty International, prisoners on death row in Belarus are told that they will be executed only minutes before the sentence is carried out. They are executed by a shot to the back of the head. The family members are informed only after execution, and the place of burial is kept in secret.

Young people and a culture of peace

Conflict transformation, reconciliation, peace education, and remembrance are part of the actions that carry the hope for a life free from violence and for a culture of peace. We have to learn from the past and make efforts to avoid the reoccurrence of terrible events against humanity which previous generations lived through. There are still local wars and armed conflicts in some places of the world. It is comforting to know that we are not defenceless and that we have tools to eliminate violence. Young people play an important role in this change.

Only societies based on democracy, the rule of law and human rights can provide sustainable long-term stability and peace. Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe works to promote social justice, and to avoid the escalation of violent conflicts and prevent wars and terrorist activities. The organisation encourages political leaders and civil society to build and nourish a culture of peace instead of a culture of violence and it raises awareness of the cost of violence, the perspectives of a peaceful future, the importance of democracy and democratic skills, as well as promoting humanism, human dignity, freedom and solidarity.

The Council of Europe's youth sector has over 40 years of experience in working on intercultural learning, conflict transformation and human rights education. The adoption by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue "Living Together as Equals in Dignity", confirmed the political relevance of these approaches, and emphasised the need for dialogue between cultures for the development and safeguarding of peaceful societies.

Meet your own prejudice! Instead of talking about it, simply meet it. The Living Library Organiser's Guide 14

The 7th Conference of European Ministers responsible for Youth (Budapest, 2005) was devoted to youth policy responses to violence. In the final declaration, the ministers agreed, amongst others, on the importance of taking stock of all forms of violence and of their impact on people, on the need to develop violence-prevention strategies and to recognise young people as actors in violence prevention, "whilst raising their sense of responsibility and actively promoting their participation and co-operation" in this domain. The declaration also recognises human rights education as containing an essential dimension of violence prevention. The ministerial conference was the culmination of a project against violence in daily life which resulted in various educational instruments and initiatives to prevent and address violence, such as the manual for Living Library organisers.

As peace ambassadors we should become the eyes and ears of the Coun-cil of Europe in our countries and in Europe. Zlata Kharitonova, participant in Youth Peace Ambassadors

The youth sector of the Council of Europe has also initiated and supported youth-led projects addressing conflict and promoting peace education. The Youth Peace Camp has been running since 2004, and brings together young people from different conflicting areas to engage in dialogue on the understanding that they share common values and experiences, often very painful ones. The programme helps youth leaders to recognise and address prejudice, combating aggressive and exclusive forms of nationalism, and implementing intercultural learning and human rights education. For some of the participants this is the first time in their lives that they have talked face-to-face with young people from "the other side". The camp is now held annually at the European Youth Centre and occasionally in member states.

Multiplying peace education After the Youth Peace Camp 2011, six Israeli and Palestinian participants decided to keep meeting on the cease fire or so-called "green line". Every month other young people from both sides join the afternoon meeting, which includes discussions, sharing personal stories and having fun. As a joint group they engage in community work on both sides of the line, each time in a different community on a different side, always in a community affected somehow by the ongoing conflict.

The Youth Peace Ambassadors project, initiated in 2011, engages youth leaders in specific grassroots level peace education projects with young people, aiming at transforming conflict situations in their realities. The project is built on a network of specifically trained young people who strengthen the presence and promote the values of the Council of Europe in conflict-affected areas and communities.

Undoing Hate In the last two years, the streets of Prijepolje, a multicultural town in Serbia, became surrounded by "wrong" graffiti, filled with hate speech towards foreigners and people with different religions (Muslim and Orthodox). Most of the graffiti is written by boys from 2 different hooligan groups. My project brings together 10 boys, aged 14 – 18, from both a hooligan group and ethnic/religious minorities, who will redecorate the town by using graffiti to undo the hate graffiti which was put up in various places. While doing so, a peace-building documentary will be filmed. This project should help to create a strong basis for peace building, mutual understanding and tolerance. Edo Sadikovic, JUMP organisation, Serbia (Youth Peace Ambassador's project)

Networks for peace

The following are some examples to consider the variety, seriousness and creativity of peace builders and human rights defenders.

Combatants for Peace – is a movement which was started jointly by Palestinians and Israelis who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence and now fight for peace.

Search for Common Ground implements conflict-transformation programmes.

Responding to Conflict   provides training for conflict transformation. Inspiring examples of and study notes for conducting training can be found on their website.

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict is a global network seeking a new international consensus on moving from reaction to prevention of violent conflict.

The United Network of Young Peacebuilders is a network of youth-led organisations working towards establishing peaceful societies.

1 World report on violence and health, WHO 2002, Geneva p 5: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2002/9241545615.pdf 2 www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/en/ 3 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI):  www.sipri.se 4 http://controlarms.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/killer_facts_en.pdf   5 www.unfpa.org/gender/violence.htm 6 Progress report of Barbara Frey, UN Special Rapporteur, "Prevention of human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons", UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/37, 21 June 2004, para 50  7 Source: www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/ 8 Evans, A., Resource scarcity, fair shares and development, WWF / Oxfam, Discussion paper, 2011   9 From the film Barrio De Paz 10 Nelsa Libertad Curbelo is a former nun and street gang mediator in Ecuador 11 UN General Asembly, 15 July 2011, Document A/HRC/RES/1/7/16 of the Human Rights Council 12 Based on the UK criminal Justice systems aims, see: http://ybtj.justice.gov.uk/ 13 Amnesty International death penalty statistics 14 Don't judge a book by its cover – the Living Library Organiser's Guide, Abergel R. et al, Council of Europe Publishing, 2005

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Essay on War and Peace

No doubt war is an evil, the greatest catastrophe that befalls human beings. It brings death and destruction, disease and starvation, poverty, and ruin in its wake.

But there are people who consider war as something grand and heroic and regard it as something that brings out the best in men, but this does not alter the fact that war is a terrible, dreadful calamity.

No period in world history has been the devastating effects of war. We have had wars of all types long and short. In view of this it seems futile to talk of permanent and everlasting peace or to make plans for the establishment of eternal peace.

We have had advocates of non violence and the theory of the brotherhood of man. We have had the Buddha, Christ and Mahatma Gandhi. But in spite of that, weapons have always been used, military force has always been employed, clashes of arms have always occurred; war has always been waged.

War has indeed been such a marked feature of every age and period that it has come to be regarded As part of the normal life of nations. Machiavelli, the author of the known book, The Prince, defined peace as an interval between two wars Molise, the famous German field marshal declared war to be part of God’s world order.

Poets and prophets have dreamt of a millennium, a utopia in which war will not exist and eternal peace will reign on earth. But these dreams have not been fulfilled. After the Great War of 1914-18, it was thought that there would be no war for a long time to come and an institution called the League of Nations was founded as a safeguard against the outbreak of war.

The occurrence of another war (1939-45), however, conclusively proved that to think of an unbroken peace is to be unrealistic And that no institution or assembly can ever ensure the permanence of peace.

The League of Nations collapsed completely under the tensions and stresses created by Hitler. The United Nations Organization with all the good work that It has been doing is not proving as effective as was desired.

Large numbers of Wars, the most recent ones being the one in Vietnam, the other between India and Pakistan, or indo-china War, Iran-Iraq war or Arab Israel war, have been fought despite the UN. The fact of the matter is that fighting in a natural instinct in man.

When individuals cannot live always in peace, it is, indeed, too much to expect so many nations to live in a state of Eternal peace. Besides, there will always be wide differences of opinion between various nation, different angles of looking at matters that have international importance, radical difference in policy and ideology and these cannot be settled by mere discussions.

So resort to war becomes necessary in such circumstances. Before the outbreak of World War II, for instance, the spread of Communism in Russia created distrust and suspicion in Europe, democracy was an eyesore to Nazi Germany, British Conservatives were apprehensive of the possibility of Britain going Communist.

For example, Germany wished to avenge the humiliating terms imposed upon her at the conclusion of the war of 1914-18 and desired to smash the British Empire and establish an empire of her own. Past wounds, in fact, were not healed up and goaded it to take revenge.

A feverish arms race was going on between the hostile nations in anticipation of such an eventuality, and disarmament efforts were proving futile. The Indo-Pakistan war was fought over the Kashmir issue.

He wants something thrilling and full of excitement and he fights in order to get an outlet for his accumulated energy. It must be admitted, too, that war Has its good side. It spurs men to heroism and self-sacrifice. It is an incentive to scientific research and development. War is obviously an escape from the lethargy of peace.

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War is considered as a particular branch of a specific philosophy, with Carl von Clausewitz being considered as the “only philosopher of war,” stated in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It also says that it refers to, “a phenomenon which occurs only between political communities” or “certain political pressure groups, like terrorist organizations, might also be considered ‘political communities,’ in that they are associations of people with a political purpose” (Stanford, War, 2005). On the other hand, peace is the pursuit of justice with opposite methods of human diversity and total inconsistency.

Individuals who seek peace are more or less responsible for social changes in visionary ways, while the proponents of war are considered to be narrow minded with one thing in mind—to win something they want, using whatever methods they need to accomplish this. Religion has been blamed as the cause of many wars, yet they considered themselves to be an advocacy for non-violence. A source of conflict, religion is also a philosophy and practitioner of peace. Contradictory in itself, this explains the conflicting views bringing war into existence.

Not all wars are caused by opposing religious views, but the majority of them are. Jenny Teichman wrote in The Philosophy of War and Peace that “Aggressive wars have often been waged for religious reasons and still are today” (Teichman, 2002, pg. 2). According to Alexander Mosley in Philosophy of War, “man cannot stop war—it is his nature to wage war” which backs my theory that war is the product of man’s ideas and hence is a product of choice. We fight for peace through war, and war continues on until peace comes into being--these are contradictory statements.

Peace found through war is not peace, only a win-win situation, or a give-in situation at the cost of lives, money, and total destruction because those with the most money and power win. "Man chooses war, and by this is meant that each individual participant chooses war (or has to choose differently, if war is thrust upon him through invasion or conscription). ” Mosley also states that, “The individual is a volitional being, whose cognition is free to use and direct; and in group activity such as a battle, each individual must contribute his thought and effort even if only accepting the orders of others" (Mosley, pg. 39).

Does this refer to the desire for peace—hardly. It refers to the fact many are at war through the desires of others for ulterior gain that has nothing to do with achieving peace. . There is nothing wrong with different views—they are only different, with each individual thinking their viewpoint is the correct one—unfortunately, many feel their way is correct for absolutely everyone with everyone else wrong or evil.

To sum it up, how each one goes about getting their way is what sets the scene for war or peace: one may peacefully go about it with diplomatic and peaceful ways, such as sitting down and peacefully stating, “I realize that we differ in opinions but we can compromise for the prosperity or growth of all involved”—or become angry, resentful, and forceful, which eventually will bring into being other countries with eventual war at the destruction, to some extent, of all countries involved.

Under this kind of situation, the peaceful country may be forced into war against their will or lose the battle from the start. They may be forced to give in but feels resentful over having to do so—therefore, waiting at a later time to retaliate or simply give in peacefully, being forced into another way of life and thinking, which usually goes against what they have been taught as acceptable or correct. Peace comes from peace, and anger breeds anger.

Different countries that have a background of anger, rage, hostility, abuse, etc. will certainly not respond in a peaceful manner to a kind suggestion—they only want to win and get their way, as a power control they are used to and feels familiar with as normality. With this in mind, it is impossible for anyone to comprehend that war brings peace. The only solution is to do as we do with our children, remove violence from the surroundings-- and retrain the thinking. It needs to be realized that war is a negative way of life with nobody ever winning, and everybody losing.

Conclusion Peace is the absence of war, so when both sides—peace and war—are at opposite ends of the spectrum they involve the same emotional level of desire to do “what is right. ” Theories of philosophy involve opinions of intelligent and knowledgeable people, based on historical context and research they have gathered and formed into a persuasive line of thought, supporting what they feel is morally and ethically right for mankind.

Once a person looks at the war involved, the war when it is done, or the war that is developing—they will find that always something else is involved in a manner other than that theory which supports money, political power, gain, etc. that has absolutely nothing to do with the idea of peace for the common man. Those in power develop the war to make money, with the average person fighting and dying to support that purpose. Peace in this case is giving up or winning—nothing less or nothing more.

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Insights Weekly Essay Challenges 2018 – Week 2: Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding

Insights weekly essay challenges 2018 – week 2.

14 January  2018

Write an essay on the following topic in not more than 1000-1200 words:

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding

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Can Justice Bring Peace to Ethiopia?

How to heal divisions after decades of war, by patrick vinck, tadesse simie metekia, geoff dancy, kathryn sikkink, and phuong n. pham.

In November 2022, the Ethiopian government signed a cease-fire with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The international community hailed the agreement as a possible turning point: the TPLF and Addis Ababa, along with smaller militias and Eritrean forces, had been fighting outright for two years; during this time, up to 600,000 people died—some directly from violence and others after losing access to clean water, food, and medical care. More than two million people were displaced from their homes, and every actor in the conflict was accused of war crimes, including mass killings, sexual violence, enforced starvation, and the destruction of educational and medical facilities.

The war in Tigray, however, has roots as old as the nation itself, making post-conflict justice much more complex. Ethiopia is composed of more than 80 ethnic groups. The 1974 military coup that ended Emperor Haile Selassie’s tenure—which had already been marked by repression—kicked off a cycle of violence that never truly abated. During the junta’s 17 years in power, civil war and violent repression campaigns claimed the lives of up to two million Ethiopians. In 1991, a coalition of ethnonationalist groups dominated by the TPLF overthrew the junta and implemented ethnic-based federalism, but state-led violence and ethnic tensions created continued unrest. Ethiopians’ longing for peace appeared to be answered in 2018 when Abiy Ahmed of the Oromo Democratic Party came to power, ushering in a wave of reforms and promising more inclusive governance. But his government’s conflicts with the TPLF only escalated—leading, again, to war in late 2020.

In the year since the Tigray cease-fire, Ethiopians have expressed a near-unanimous desire for transitional justice. Our nationwide survey conducted in June and July 2023 found that more than 90 percent of Ethiopians said it would be unacceptable to move forward without truth seeking, trials, or reparations. They differ sharply, however, on what timeframe to focus on and who should lead the efforts. These differences, the complex historical context, and the absence of a political transition following the Tigray conflict make finding the right transitional justice process both urgent and tricky. Transitional justice processes must begin by delineating the timeframe and territorial scope for accountability efforts. But if these boundaries are too narrowly drawn, the process risks leaving old wounds untreated.

In theory, many victims in Ethiopia want perpetrators dealt with by domestic courts and traditional processes. But they also deeply distrust the government. And a growing body of research—including our ongoing analysis of transitional justice in 99 countries affected by civil war —suggests that post-conflict trials and, especially, reparations programs can help immensely in securing long-term peace. But they can also hurt. Done incorrectly, transitional justice processes can set a country back, reinforcing a sense of social and political exclusion among certain groups.

In June and July 2023, we conducted a nationwide survey of over 6,600 randomly selected Ethiopian adults examining their needs and attitudes related to peace and justice. It found that the impact of historical violence extended far beyond Tigray. It also found that Ethiopians have diverse preferences and priorities when it comes to transitional-justice mechanisms and a high level of distrust in their institutions. Transitional justice is crucial for Ethiopia. But the form it takes must avoid driving the country back into conflict.

To build trust, the Ethiopian government must engage with survivors and formally recognize the harm done to them, proceed with trials for serious crimes committed by all sides, and then pursue staggered strategies to tackle different communities’ grievances. The international community should support these efforts. To succeed, transitional justice should not only address recent war crimes but start healing deeper scars to set Ethiopia down a different path.

CONFLICT AVOIDANCE

Many people in post-conflict societies around the world put hope in transitional justice to hold war criminals accountable and to help break cycles of violence. Transitional justice processes can include criminal trials, tribunals, or ceremonies based on local traditions, truth-seeking commissions, and reparations programs, among others. A number of highly visible cases have made the concept familiar, such as the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the over 10,000 traditional community courts that tried genocidaires in Rwanda . But mounting evidence from these programs suggests they must be carefully planned. Drawing boundaries around suffering can create more tension as political actors seek to protect themselves, survivors push for the broadest possible mandates, and practical limits are imposed by legal considerations.

For over a decade, we have gathered and analyzed global data on transitional justice mechanisms to evaluate whether they encourage democratization and the protection of human rights while preventing more violence. Our most recent study incorporates data on transitional justice in 99 different states that experienced civil war from 1970 to 2020, examining whether transitional justice mechanisms are statistically correlated with a lower risk of further armed conflict and what kind of processes might best prevent new atrocities.

Reparations programs decrease the likelihood that conflict will resume in a country by 50 percent.

The study reveals that transitional justice processes best reduce the odds of a conflict recurring when they include domestic trials and reparations. Criminal prosecutions for human rights crimes significantly lower the risk of war's return. Other things being equal, holding ten domestic trials for human rights violators of any rank could amount to around a 25 percent decrease in the probability of conflict recurring. (Notably, international prosecutions by organizations such as the International Criminal Court do not seem to drive down that probability, though they are associated with fewer future deaths from atrocities.)

Similarly, reparations programs, despite the challenges of implementing them, are associated with a 50 percent decrease in the likelihood that conflict will resume. One good example is Peru’s Plan Integral de Reparaciones (PIR), initiated in 2007 to compensate victims of the internal armed conflict that affected the country from 1980 to 2000. The program has restored civic rights to citizens and provided other reparations such as free education and healthcare access, direct payouts to victims of the conflict, housing for women and children affected by violence, and public apologies. The PIR has registered over 200,000 victims and, by 2018, it had paid over $96 million to 98,132 beneficiaries. Civil war and outright political violence in Peru ended shortly after the PIR started its work.

Perhaps surprisingly, truth commissions by themselves do not appear to reduce the likelihood of renewed conflict. In fact, they are associated with a higher chance of conflicts recurring—possibly because regimes might use such mechanisms to avoid genuine accountability. Despite global evidence of its positive effects, scholars and practitioners worry that transitional justice, if not done carefully, can worsen the situation of survivors. In the wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, for example, de-Baathification appeared to exacerbate subsequent social and political conflicts, demonstrating that transitional justice measures must be context sensitive. Even the much-lauded South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that followed the end of apartheid may have deepened corruption and racial inequality because of its lack of focus on accountability.

MIXED SIGNALS

Since the Ethiopian government’s cease-fire with the TPLF, international actors, including the U.S. Department of State, have called for credible, inclusive, comprehensive justice and accountability for those responsible for abuses in Ethiopia; these calls focus on the Tigray region between 2020 and 2022. The Ethiopian government is weighing its policy options, establishing a Transitional Justice Working Group of Experts comprised of Ethiopian lawyers, scholars, and practitioners to inform its decision. But Ethiopians’ strong support for trials, truth seeking, and reparations hides a much more complex and divided set of views on how to achieve justice in practice.

Delimiting the timeframe and territory that an Ethiopian transitional justice process addresses will be challenging. Our nationwide survey of 6,689 randomly selected Ethiopians from 220 randomly chosen communities across all regions revealed that Ethiopians far beyond Tigray had been exposed to political violence. Seventy-six percent of Tigrayans said they had been directly affected by violence after 2018, but more than half of the population in several other regions reported exposure to political violence, too. Relevant violence had occurred earlier than 2018, as well: more than 50 percent of respondents reported having experienced property crimes, physical violence, arbitrary detention, and other crimes that stemmed from political conflict occurring before 2018 in areas outside Tigray, such as Afar and Amhara in the north and Gambela in the west.

The high incidence of violence before and after 2018, and its geographic spread, indicates that no easy starting point can be drawn for crimes that deserve accountability. In the survey, more than two-thirds of Ethiopians asserted that the violence that occurred since 2018 should be prioritized. A significant number, however—36 percent—also suggested prioritizing the period between 1991 and 2018; less than half the population in regions such as Afar, the Somali region of Ethiopia, and Harari prioritized the period since 2018, reflecting how Ethiopia’s troubles have affected different areas over time.

The survey also found marked regional differences in Ethiopians’ preferences for types of trials. A plurality of Ethiopians—41 percent—favored using existing domestic courts to pursue accountability, 23 percent favored creating a new special domestic court, 23 percent favored establishing a hybrid court employing both domestic and foreign judges, and smaller percentages favored pursuing justice through United Nations or African Union courts. In Tigray, however, just two percent of respondents favored using domestic courts; 60 percent favored a UN tribunal. By contrast, less than five percent of respondents in regions such as , Benishangul Gumuz, Sidama, or the South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region favored a UN tribunal. A single approach to justice simply may not be universally accepted or effective.

In a few prior cases, countries have applied traditional or indigenous approaches to justice and reconciliation, notably in Rwanda and Uganda . The idea of using traditional dispute-resolution mechanisms, such as councils of elders, does have wide support in Ethiopia: 80 percent of the survey’s respondents said that these traditional methods should be used to address the legacy of violence; even in Tigray, customary courts are supported by more than half the population. Most people, however, believe that traditional mechanisms should be used to deal with property crimes (69 percent) rather than more serious crimes such as sexual violence or mass killings.

BREACH OF TRUST

Competing demands among survivors of violence is not a new or surprising phenomenon. It is, in fact, a frequent theme in transitional justice contexts worldwide. In Ethiopia’s case, however, the challenge of reconciling such demands is exacerbated by the risk that any approach may be viewed through a sectarian lens and undermined by institutional distrust. If accountability efforts are perceived to marginalize certain communities, they may simply fuel resentment, perpetuate societal divisions, and potentially lead to further unrest.

Distrust among Ethiopian communities is pronounced: only 29 percent of respondents said they trusted individuals from other ethnic groups. This is significantly lower than the levels of interethnic trust seen in other places riven by ethnic conflict, such as the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (There, more than 20 polls we ran between 2013 and 2022 found that interethnic trust never dipped below 60 percent.) Ethiopians’ distrust of all levels of government—national, regional, and local—is similarly high. Less than a third of the population believes that the government acts in their best interests. And less than five percent of Ethiopians in Tigray and Amhara expressed trust in federal authorities; distrust was equally high even in Addis Ababa, the capital.

Conflict still simmers in Amhara and Oromia. Ethiopian troops have recently faced allegations by the UN-appointed International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia that they are committing atrocities there. These claims further throw the Ethiopian government’s commitment to justice into question. Less than a quarter of Ethiopians specifically trust that the government considers the population’s perspective in its efforts to hold perpetrators of violence accountable. Domestic courts are often seen as the only avenue for justice: only 29 percent of Ethiopians want to see the international community actively involved in accountability efforts. But their distrust also extends to the justice system, with less than a third expressing trust in their judges or existing investigative systems.

The Ethiopian government is unlikely to support an international or hybrid tribunal, and its major allies, including the U.S. and the EU, seem reluctant to push for one. But domestic trials may well lack public credibility and support. When the very institutions responsible for enforcing justice and promoting reconciliation are viewed with such suspicion, it casts doubt on the entire process and its outcomes. This only serves to deepen mistrust, making the population more wary of state actions.

FROM WAR TO PEACE

Great complexity and risk come with any attempt to pursue transitional justice in Ethiopia. That complexity calls for a conflict-prevention lens—a process intentionally designed to prevent renewed conflict by identifying decisions that could spark violence, especially in the absence of a political transition. Transitional justice that emphasizes conflict prevention stresses dialogue with different communities, transparency, and inclusive policies that consider the intricacies and sensitivities involved in addressing past grievances.

A conflict-prevention lens does not entail prioritizing peace over justice. In fact, a growing body of data shows that criminal accountability and reparations are integral to preventing conflict and atrocity, and Ethiopians are unequivocal in their belief that justice is a necessary condition for peace. Ethiopian participants in our survey ranked accountability for past violence among the top three things their country needs to achieve lasting peace, alongside a reduction in poverty and better education, with remarkable consistency across regions.

A first step toward transitional justice in Ethiopia will be for the government to move beyond declarations about accountability and formally commit to recognizing that harm has been done to a wide swath of Ethiopians over decades. The Federal Parliamentary Assembly could pass an official act recognizing past wrongdoing. That must include an official apology or statement of responsibility, an important step toward meeting survivors’ need for recognition.

A conflict-prevention lens does not entail prioritizing peace over justice.

The government can build on the work of its Transitional Justice Working Group of Experts by empowering an independent effort to create a comprehensive mapping of harm and engage survivors about their needs. Such an effort would help preserve the historical record and recognize survivors’ desire for redress. These initial measures must then be reinforced by tangible actions aimed at resolving ongoing conflicts, addressing the impunity both government and nongovernment actors currently enjoy, and sustaining peace. The government may be reluctant to move beyond selectively prosecuting nongovernment perpetrators. But it is imperative that there be trials for serious crimes committed by all sides. Holding such trials is in the government’s interest: global research shows that fair criminal trials curb the likelihood of future violence.

Criminal prosecution serves a crucial role in transitional justice. But it may not address the full range of harm. Financial and political constraints in Ethiopia present challenges to implementing an expansive transitional justice process, but a pragmatic approach would involve adopting a staggered and varied strategy to address grievances stemming from different eras and geographic regions. For example, customary courts could play a role in resolving local conflicts and holding lower-ranking individuals accountable, reflecting the diversity of demands for justice across the country. The international community must support these efforts by providing resources and expertise and by maintaining impartial oversight to ensure the process is inclusive, transparent, and fair.

Regardless of the Ethiopian government’s policy choices, it will be critical to identify possible fault lines and anticipate unintended consequences so that transitional justice can be survivor-centered, credible, impartial, and effective. Accomplishing this will be no small challenge. But it can be done.  After enduring decades of violence, Ethiopians deserve a real shot at peace. With smart, impartial transitional justice, they can have it.

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• PATRICK VINCK is Research Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
• TADESSE SIMIE METEKIA is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Addis Ababa.
• GEOFF DANCY is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto.
• KATHRYN SIKKINK is Ryan Family Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.
• PHUONG N. PHAM is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
• More By Patrick Vinck
• More By Tadesse Simie Metekia
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As conflicts far and wide shake the planet, can the Olympics unite the world?

People attend a flash mob to highlight the plight of hundreds of Ukrainian athletes and coaches, both amateur and professional, who were killed as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine in Paris, France, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, during the 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)

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Follow along for the latest updates from today’s Olympic action , including the gold medal men’s basketball game between the U.S. and France.

PARIS (AP) — More than 100 conflicts fester around the world. The Middle East teeters on the brink of a regional war. In Ukraine, Russia advances slowly but steadily in the east, reducing towns to rubble.

The “Olympic Truce,” clearly, is not being heeded.

In the run-up to every Olympics over the past 30 years, the United Nations passes a resolution upholding the Olympic Truce, which in theory halts hostilities in the name of granting athletes safe passage and promoting world peace. It’s supposed to last from seven days before the Olympic Games begin until seven days after the Paralympic Games end. Not even two weeks into it, the news of missile strikes, annexations and heightened tensions is omnipresent.

“Stepping into the Olympic Village, you realize like generations of Olympians before: `Now I am part of something bigger than myself. Now we are part of an event that unites the world in peace,’” International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said to athletes at the opening ceremony . He did temper his usual robust optimism with an acknowledgment that they lived in “a world torn apart by wars and conflicts.”

It’s a pitch the IOC has made often enough that it has become part of the brand that the Games project: the Olympics as the great uniter, one that has the potential to transcend all divides.

Reality, though, can interrupt even the tightest messaging.

Good intentions, interrupted by events

By Wednesday, in the wake of the assassination in Iran of Hamas’ top leader, the international body had scaled down and adopted a more dejected tone.

“A culture of peace is what we try to create in a very modest way,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said at a news conference. “We’re unable to bring peace. We can call for peace, but we probably won’t achieve it.”

For an organization that has often waded into geopolitics — the normally stoic Bach choked up last week while remembering his late friend Henry Kissinger’s “invaluable advice” — Adams’ remarks seemed to signal a retreat in the IOC’s ambitions, at least in the moment.

Catch up on the latest from Day 15 of the 2024 Paris Olympics:

• Basketball: Steph Curry’s late barrage seals fifth straight Olympic men’s basketball title , as US beats France.
• Gymnastics: Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu could replace Jordan Chiles as bronze medalist in floor exercise after a court ruling.
• Soccer: The U.S. women’s soccer team won its fifth Olympic gold medal , and first since 2012, by beating Brazil 1-0.

It’s almost over: What to know about the Paris Olympics closing ceremony .

Follow along with our Olympics medal tracker and list of winners. Here is the Olympic schedule of events.

“We can only do what we can do. We’re a sports organization,” he said. “Our job is to let the politicians, unfortunately, get on with what they want to get on with.”

The Olympic Truce was revived in the immediate post-Cold War era, with roots in ancient Greece.

“We live in a divided world where conflicts are proliferating in a dramatic way. The horrendous suffering in Gaza, the seemingly endless war in Ukraine, terrible suffering from Sudan to the DRC, from the Sahel to Myanmar,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said after meeting with Bach before the opening ceremony. “In a moment like this, it is important to say that the first recording in history (of a) real peace initiative was the Olympic Truce.”

Then and now, it’s never quite worked. Russia alone has broken the Truce three times, most recently in 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine — a handful of months after the country voted for the U.N. resolution. (This time, it abstained.)

OLYMPIC PHOTOS : See AP’s top photos from the 2024 Paris games

In November, 118 countries voted to adopt the resolution. No country voted against it, although Syria joined Russia in abstaining. In past years, the resolution received more full-throated support — the U.N. has 193 member-states, after all — but among those who voted for “building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” were Iran, Israel and Lebanon, all embroiled in the latest flare-up.

“When we talk about sports, uniting people and bringing people together, yes, that is an aspirational ideal,” said Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, a sports diplomacy expert who lectures at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. “And a lot of that is reality. When you look at, typically speaking, sport does have that power.”

The Olympics, she says, are an implement in the toolbox of striving for peace. “I don’t think the Games themselves can transcend the worlds wars, conflicts, and complex, complicated problems,” she said. “But I think what they can do is provide pockets of space for people to have these conversations.”

Can idealism help along a messy world?

Ultimately, the Truce is well-intentioned but toothless. There are no consequences to breaking it, aside from possible condemnation in the court of global public opinion.

For example: Ahead of the Games, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly suggested a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine during the days of competition. Not unexpectedly, both sides refused, and the war goes on with the same intensity.

Russia and Belarus have been barred from the Paris Games after a lengthy campaign from Ukraine’s Olympic committee, which argued that Russian athletes should not compete even under a neutral flag, while Moscow’s troops persist with their deadly invasion. (Some Russian and Belarusian athletes are still competing as neutrals, approval contingent on not supporting the war. That allowance has not endeared the Games to its erstwhile host country. )

Ukrainian athletes are under no illusion about Olympic idealism. For them, the Olympics are no longer about their achievements but rather proof that their country is still alive despite the war that began while the last Olympic flame was still lit. They do not see the Games as respite from the war; it’s a way to shout loudly about it so the world doesn’t forget.

Zoriana Nevmerzhytska, 31, attended a flash mob in view of the Eiffel Tower to highlight the hundreds of Ukrainian athletes and coaches, both amateur and professional, who have been killed. Participants bore posters that read “world champions in raping,” depicting Russian soldiers, and “unmarked troops,” referring to the neutral athletes.

“For me, it’s not about something that promotes peace,” she said of the Olympics. “It can be about unity, but not this time.”

There will be a next time, though. When asked why the world keeps returning to the Truce for Olympics after Olympics, despite incessant conflict, Krasnoff noted that “we all like the idea that sport in and of itself can be omnipotent, even though we know in reality it is not.”

“I mean, that’s kind of the whole thing about sports,” she said, drawing an analogy. “You don’t dwell on what you haven’t been able to achieve in a given performance. You say, ‘OK, well, that was that game. On to the next.’”

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed from Paris. For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games .

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Analysis: Ukraine’s Invasion of Russia Could Bring a Quicker End to the War

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Ukraine’s Invasion of Russia Could Bring a Quicker End to the War

One aim of the surprise breakthrough may be for kyiv to gain leverage in negotiations., russia’s war in ukraine.

Understanding the conflict two years on.

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In the space of four days, the Russia-Ukraine war has dramatically shifted. The incursion of Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk region has quickly turned into the largest territorial gain by either side since the successful Ukrainian counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson in the fall of 2022. As of this writing, it is still unclear whether thinned-out and poorly prepared Russian forces have been able to halt the Ukrainian advance, with reports of burning columns of Russian reinforcements reminiscent of the early days of the war.

The operation demonstrates Ukraine’s ability to achieve surprise and exploit sudden breakthroughs, something at which Russia has consistently failed since the start of its invasion. It is also the first time Russia has been invaded by foreign troops since World War II, showing Russians in no uncertain terms that the bloody war they unleashed against their neighbor has come home. Ukraine’s Western supporters seem to be on board, with the White House and European Union headquarters issuing statements that it was up to Ukraine to decide on the operation.

Previously, there had been much debate in Washington, Berlin, and among a wildly speculating media about the Kremlin’s supposed red lines that would set off World War III and nuclear Armageddon , with one of the lines being taking the war to Russia with Western weapons. The latter has now occurred. The belief in uncontrolled escalation led the Biden administration and some of its partners to severely restrict both the types of weapons delivered to Ukraine and their permitted range; Ukraine has not been allowed to use Western missiles to hit military installations on the Russian side of the border, for example. Part of the effect and purpose of the Kursk operation could be to demonstrate, once again, the fallacy of the red-line argument.

As the offensive unfolds and Kyiv stays mostly mum on events, it’s still too early to say what strategic goals Ukraine is hoping to achieve. One speculation that has gained a lot of traction is that it could lead to a quicker end to the war. The operation makes it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine retains significant potential to inflict pain on Russia. And if Ukrainian forces can hold on and maintain control of Russian territory—for which they appear to be digging in as they bring in more equipment and build new defensive lines—it could strengthen Ukraine’s leverage in any potential negotiations to end the war. Already, Ukraine’s lightning foray into Russia undermines the widespread idea that Putin holds all the cards to dictate the terms of a cease-fire.

Kyiv seems to be signaling that leverage in negotiations is one of the goals of the offensive. An unnamed advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Washington Post : “This will give them the leverage they need for negotiations with Russia—this is what it’s all about.” This dovetails with recent hints by Zelensky that Kyiv was ready to negotiate. In an interview with BBC News in July, he said, “We don’t have to recapture all the territories” by military means. “I think that can also be achieved with the help of diplomacy.” Occupied Russia could be traded for occupied Ukraine: As former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt suggested on X , “Would an idea be for both states to retreat to within their respective recognized border?”

If Kyiv seems to be preparing the ground for potential negotiations—by seeking to strengthen its hand and publicly declaring its willingness—it is also a response to several factors.

One is growing war weariness among the Ukrainian population. Although the majority of Ukrainians favor fighting on until all the territories Russia has occupied since 2014 are liberated, the number saying that Ukraine could trade some of that territory for peace has been rising .

Second, there has been growing criticism, particularly in Western Europe and the global south, of the way Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out talks with Moscow. Major substantive issues aside, with the Kremlin apparently back-channeling openness to talks, Kyiv risked being seen as intransigent in preventing an early end to the war.

Finally, Ukraine’s strategic position is risky, even if it holds back Russia and maintains the flow of Western weapons. A victory by Donald Trump in the November U.S. presidential election and a sudden stop of U.S. aid cannot be ruled out, and even a Harris administration may have trouble cobbling together future support packages if the Republicans keep their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Zelensky may have decided to gamble to change and accelerate the dynamics of the war, including greater leverage if negotiations end up taking place sooner than anticipated.

Without much leverage, Kyiv has had to appeal to moral, normative, and legal arguments when communicating with its foreign partners about any peace short of full liberation. In the past, this has led to highly skewed negotiations. In the talks that produced the Minsk I and II accords in 2014 and 2015, Ukraine had such a weak hand that it had to agree to impossible terms : It could only get the Russian-controlled Donbas back if it allowed Moscow’s proxies to become part of the Ukrainian polity through local elections manipulated by the Kremlin, which would have given Moscow a permanent veto over Kyiv’s politics. Previously occupied and annexed Crimea was not even included in the discussion.

In March 2022, direct talks between Ukraine and Russia on the Belarusian border were not a negotiation but Russia’s delivery of surrender terms to Ukraine. In April 2022, negotiations brokered by Turkey in Istanbul also went nowhere : Russia’s price for ending its invasion was a considerable limitation of Ukrainian sovereignty and ability to defend itself. Since then, Russia’s proposal has been for Ukraine to permanently cede, in addition to Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts—including substantial parts that Russia has never occupied.

Not only has Ukraine lacked negotiation leverage, but Russia has also been successful in promoting, to audiences around the world, its land-for-peace approach to ending this round of the war. As Ukrainian counteroffensives after 2022 largely failed and the Russian war machine slowly but steadily took more territory in Ukraine’s east, another Minsk-type deal limiting Ukrainian territorial integrity and political sovereignty seemed to loom on the horizon.

Kyiv has not only changed the military narrative on the ground but may also be trying to change the narrative on negotiations—from a “land for peace” deal to a “land for land” deal. This puts Putin in a bind: Loss of control over parts of Russia proper is an enormous embarrassment for the Kremlin. But since their illegal annexation by Russia, the Ukrainian territories Putin seeks to keep are also part of the state territory he is obliged to defend. That said, in terms of Russian elite and popular perception, the restoration of Russia’s legitimate state territory will take precedence over continued occupation of recently conquered domains—especially if a land swap opens an avenue to the end of Western sanctions.

In a way, the new Ukrainian strategy may provide an opening for doves in the Russian leadership—assuming they exist and have any influence over Putin—to argue that the annexations should be reversed in order to restore Russia’s territorial integrity. As long as Ukraine can hold on to its captured territories in Russia, there will a strong pressure on Putin to return them under Moscow’s control.

None of this, however, changes the most fundamental problem with a negotiated outcome: the fact that Russia has ignored just about every agreement it has signed with Ukraine. But for Ukrainians and their Western supporters hoping for an end to the war, some intriguing possibilities may soon be on the table.

Andreas Umland is an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs’ Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies. Twitter:  @UmlandAndreas

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Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025

The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.

Donald J. Trump intends to bring independent regulatory agencies under direct presidential control. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

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By Jonathan Swan Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman

• Published July 17, 2023 Updated July 18, 2023

Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.

Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control.

Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.

Mr. Trump intends to bring independent agencies — like the Federal Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces various antitrust and other consumer protection rules against businesses — under direct presidential control.

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He intends to strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified as “the sick political class that hates our country.”

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