A Global Peace System

A global peace system is an established network of norms, laws, cooperative approaches and effective institutions that operate across national boundaries to prevent violent conflict, protect people and resolve disputes. The foundation for a global peace system is within the one universal organization devoted to ‘saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war’, the United Nations.

While laudable, peace efforts to date, have not added up to challenge a dysfunctional, war-prone system. This system inhibits progress on all the shared global challenges. With ever-higher costs and risks, this is an unsustainable system, one characterized by lose-lose approaches from a former era. 

Twenty-seven starter steps for a more effective UN are proposed to ensure this new system has sufficient resources, capacity, authority and support. Combined, these steps constitute a UN-centred global peace system. Thankfully, committed people and organizations have already made progress on most steps. What’s been missing is a unifying vision encouraging people and countries to pull together and aim higher for ‘peace on earth’, with a unity of purpose and effort to drive viable policy options up.

Project 2030 offers a guide and begins to address the challenge of how with a tentative five-year plan. It’s not ‘mission-impossible’ – the current breakdown will prompt a search for better options and a renewal process. It’s now crucial to be prepared with alternatives to existing approaches, to keep them alive and ready until the politically impossible becomes widely desirable. 

The defining challenge ahead is to generate wider understanding, support and solidarity for a UN-centred global peace system. Be prepared for 2030!

Paradigm shifts happen when prevailing systems are deemed inadequate or failing and when another option is widely viewed as better.