Fostering International Peace Research Paper

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Updated: Dec 19th, 2023

Introduction

According to the 2014 Global Peace Index, the universal peace continues to worsen every year. Besides, the index showed that the globe has lost over $9.8 trillion due to violence. A majority of the developing nations have made significant steps in eradicating poverty over the last ten years. Nevertheless, it would be hard for the globe to achieve the desired economic development without peace.1 Peace is innately connected to lasting economic growth.

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It would be hard for nations to fight inequality in a violent world. Research shows that countries that witness recurrent series of violence show poor economic development. People living in violent countries suffer from malnutrition. Besides, the level of literacy in violent countries is low, as people do not get time to attend schools. The mortality rate is significantly high in unstable countries. Statistically, the majority of the children die before they turn five.

Studies indicate that conflict-affected states have the lowest human development index. The numerous challenges associated with violence call for countries to come together and foster global peace.2 The nations should ensure that governments have the capacity to negotiate for peace in times of disputes. Countries can realize global peace through different ways. Some of the ways include promoting education, trade and leveraging information and communication technology. This paper will discuss how countries can use the three approaches to foster peace.

Information and Communication Technologies

Information and communication technologies can facilitate peace building by enabling nations to make informed decisions, communicate, and understand one another. Peace is not realized through a one-time action. The compromise, treaty, or truce comprises a step towards lasting peace or war. Lasting peace is accomplished over a period. It entails multiple approaches and procedures, which transform a dispute into eternal, diplomatic coexistence.3

Peace building demands actions at diverse levels. Moreover, it involves many people from the affected nations. The activities that result in global peace include peacekeeping, reconciliation, monitoring and advocacy, and conflict prevention among others. The activities focus on both the resultant violence and its cause. Information and communication technologies can go a long way towards supporting the peace building measures.

Global peace depends significantly on the decisions that the world leaders make. The violence being witnessed in Syria and Yemen, which has spilled over to other countries, emanated from poor decisions made by the leaders of the two nations. Technology can help global leaders in making sound and valuable decisions. Through technology, the global leaders can evaluate the outcomes of different decisions and settle on the most productive. Technology has facilitated the development of games and simulations that are a source of unique learning background. Global leaders can use virtual environment to learn the repercussions of different decisions.4

It would given the leaders an opportunity to make the right decisions, thus averting possible conflicts. Technological games and simulations can assist national leaders to increase their knowledge, promote understanding, and share information. The Center for Nonviolent Conflict has a professional game referred to as A Force More Powerful that equips people with skills to handle conflicts. The game teaches people on how to fight for their rights without violence. Such a game can be crucial in promoting global peace as nations can learn how to pursue their interests without using force.

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Global conflict arises due to diverse causes. One of the reasons is a lack of resources like money, minerals, and water. Technology may aid in alleviating shortage of essential resources, thus promoting peace. For instance, technology may help the civilians to look for markets in diverse countries, thus curbing the shortage of financial resources. Globalization has made it easy for nations to trade.5 Producers can come together and look for market in foreign countries, thus fighting poverty, which is a primary cause of conflict within and between countries.6 Mobile phones promote market efficiency, particularly in the developing nations.

A study by economists showed that the use of mobile phones helps to expand the market for fishermen in Africa. Besides facilitating market growth, mobile phones play a critical role in demobilization, demilitarization, and reintegration process.

The governments use mobile phones to encourage militia to surrender their weapons and embrace peace. For instance, In West Africa, where the banking industry is not well established, the government use mobile money services to facilitate demobilization and reintegration processes.7 Apart from mobile phones, other handheld devices help in resource management, thus averting conflict between countries. For instance, In Central Asia, the government uses handheld devices to monitor water usage, which is one of the leading causes of conflict in the region.

Global peace can emanate from understanding other countries’ languages, cultures, and worries. Technology can facilitate communication between people with different dialects. Today, there is software that translates different languages. The United States has a handheld translation gadget that facilitates communication amid military personnel and communities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Apart from the translation software, multiple blogs advocate peace between countries. The blogs share experiences of people in diverse nations, hence promoting understanding amid nations. For example, the Global Voices helps to convey information about issues that the mainstream media avoids.8

Currently, multiple blogs seek to foster peace in the Middle East. The blogs are used to fight extremism and radicalization, which have contributed to the conflicts being witnessed in Syria and Yemen.

Information and communication technologies enable people to create personal profiles and share information freely. People use Flickr and MySpace to share images, experiences, and information about their nations and culture. Indeed, the two social networking platforms have helped people from different countries to interact and learn from one another. Interaction amid people from different countries has brought about cohesion, hence promoting global peace.9

Information is paramount to promotion of national and international peace. It helps to reinforce relationship between countries and enhance their capacity to interact, share, and learn from one another. Access to adequate and liable information can help countries to understand situations and respond on time. Nations can use geographic information systems (GIS) to monitor their borders and respond to potential border conflicts.

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Additionally, the government can use the GIS to develop electronic maps that can be used by military peacekeeping personnel in their effort to maintain world peace. Technology has made it easy to acquire satellite imagery. The imagery may be of significant help in managing high-risk areas.10 Presently, Amnesty International has a satellite that broadcasts images of the hostile areas in Sudan. The Amnesty International uses the satellite to monitor atrocities meted on civilians by the Sudan government. Such technology can be used to promote world peace by monitoring the activities of autocratic regimes. Images developed through the technology would help the international community to respond before armed conflict arises amid countries.

Trade

Trade is critical to promoting national and global peace. Schumpeter, Angela, and Kant posited that economic mutuality amongst countries plays a significant role towards the promotion of peace. Multilateral or bilateral economic relations inhibit the military motivation for inter-country hostility. A country that relies on others for trade can hardly go to war with its business partners. International conflicts occur due to lack of incentives that deter nations from fighting. The business offers a financial inducement, which promotes cohesion between countries. Before the First World War, Germany could not attack France due to trade relations.11

The German businesspeople could not allow their country to attack France, as it would have affected their business relation with France. As countries engage in trade, their financial systems become entangled. Thus, it is hard for the countries to fight because war would hurt their economies. Conflicts in the globalized planet do not only result in deaths but also affect economic relations between countries.

Globalization and increased trade amid nations play a significant role in the preservation of world peace. Increased commercial ties amid countries have resulted in reduction in war and armed conflict. Trade and globalization promote the culture of democracy. Democratic nations look for friendly ways of solving disputes.

Numerous incidences prove that trade is crucial to promoting global peace. Regional trade agreements (RTAs) which promote trade between countries in the same region prevent conflicts amid countries. Study shows that the probability of countries in the same area going into war decreases by 50% if they engage in trade.12 The trade agreements serve as platforms for nations to negotiate in the case of tension. The European Union is considered as a site for enhanced political-military associations. The African countries have trade agreements that regulate the flow of goods and services across the borders.

The agreements help to minimize armed conflict between the countries. Trade agreements have stopped numerous conflicts from escalating to full-scale wars. For instance, in 2003, China stopped the importation of rice from Japan. The move put the two nations under severe tension, which almost escalated into war.13 Later, the two countries signed an agreement that allowed Japan to export its rice to China. The agreement has eradicated the tension that existed between the countries. The trade agreement signed between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay ended the rivalry that existed amid the countries. These examples show that business can promote tolerance between countries.

A healthy business relation amid nations would promote political stability. Additionally, trade boosts the economy of the countries. In return, it helps in raising the economic status of the citizens. Masses that are more affluent and satisfied are unlikely to engage in war. Historians maintain that adjoining countries that participate in bilateral trade do not require having military personnel in their borders. Additionally, the World Trade Organization alludes to peace as the main benefit of international trade.14

Promoting trade would establish policies that guide the relations amid nations. The policies would serve as guidelines for resolving conflicts, therefore preventing possible military confrontations. Scholars claim that the disputes witnessed in the South China Sea could not escalate to military confrontations as the involved parties had trade interests to safeguard. Presently, countries use economic opportunity, trade, and mineral resources to ascertain their wealth.15 It would be hard for nations to go to war with one another as it may threaten their wealth.

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A French philosopher (Montesquieu) once posited that harmony is a natural outcome of trade. Promoting global trade would encourage internationalism and discourage conflicts.16 The head of the Anti-Corn Law League once alleged that countries could realize world peace by abolishing tariffs that impede free trade. Trade interdependence enables countries to acquire resources that they do not produce from their trading partners. Thus, the states do not require using force to get the resources.

Trade cooperation amid countries can help to curb illegal distribution of small arms that contribute to border conflicts between countries. Additionally, the agreement can prevent the sales of conflict resources like timber and diamond. The establishment of Economic Community of West Africa State (ECOWAS) helped to curb distribution of small arms in the region. In return, it ended the sporadic conflicts that existed between the countries.

Trade promotes global goodwill. Countries that engage in bilateral trade benefit from one another and the benefits make them view each other based on their contribution to the business.17 The trade also encourages sharing of cultures amid nations. Negative perceptions about other states are what fuel conflict between nations. For many years, the United States regarded China as a country with eccentric and unfriendly values. However, trade between the two countries led to the Americas changing their perception about China. Promoting bilateral or multilateral trade would lead to countries changing the perceptions they have about others.

Education

Education and peace are strongly correlated. The world cannot realize peace without education. Education leads to development that nurtures peace and egalitarianism. Incorporating training in peace-building processes results in peaceful coexistence amid societies. Mostly, nations fight because the citizens do not have dexterity required to interact with one another. Education empowers a community and a nation at large.18

Additionally, it enables people from different countries to trade with one another, thus embracing tolerance. Illiteracy is one of the factors that intensify fanaticism, extremism, terrorism, and rigidity, which destabilize the global peace. The high level of illiteracy in Pakistan has contributed to the sporadic conflict between the country and India. Indeed, Pakistan is one of the breeding grounds for terrorists who disturb the global peace.

Education helps countries to address the causes of disputes through appreciation of mutual humanity. One factor that causes conflicts is hatred. Through education, children learn to tolerate one another irrespective of their cultural background or nationality. Eventually, the children grow to respect one another. Education helps to nurture leaders who serve people with empathy and wisdom. An educated leader can hardly order his/her country to go to war with its neighbors. The United Nations’ Secretary Ban Ki-moon once said that education helps countries to establish a genuine, enduring culture of peace.19

Many leaders agree that they cannot realize peace by thwarting war. They need to do more than just preventing the outbreak of armed conflict. The leader holds that genuine peace can only be accomplished through education. Education calls for impartiality and diplomacy in all areas. Additionally, education does not glorify war. Instead, it exposes the dangers of war, thus discouraging youths from being recruited into extremist groups that champion for war.

Education helps to promote unity between countries. Through education, nations can understand one another. Prejudice and misunderstanding between countries are one of the factors that lead to armed conflict. Promoting political education helps to remove potential misunderstanding amid countries. For instance, during the Cold War, the United States utilized civic education to promote democracy. The country used media like Voice of America to demystify the beliefs that other nations had about the United States.20 Eventually, other countries understood the United States leading to cooperation.

The main mistake that a majority of the education institutions commit is to focus on materialistic learning. The organizations do not consider spiritual and human knowledge, which are crucial to the promotion of world peace. The emphasis on practical learning does not imply that education cannot promote global peace. Education can inculcate the concept of harmony and love in the minds of the learners if well utilized. Eventually, the children would grow knowing that life is not all about accumulating material things. It entails upholding peace and respecting one another.

According to Confucius, education enhances hope and confidence. Hope is one of the components that support world peace. Education leads to citizens developing a sense of achievement. Besides, it alleviates fear amid the citizens and enables them to develop in unanticipated ways. The poise and self-conviction that come because of education engender optimism within the public, therefore promoting peace. Educated individuals think autonomously.

In most cases, educated people tend to analyze events that arise in the world and make informed decisions.21 Thus, it is hard for educated people to be dragged into war by their leaders. Additionally, educated people are reluctant to join radical groups that disturb the global peace. Instead, they opt to be ambassadors of peace.

A study by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy confirmed that education minimizes chances of people supporting militancy and violence. The study found that educated men and women are less likely to join terror groups. Additionally, they are likely to discourage their peers and relatives from joining the groups. Therefore, promoting education would lead to a reduction in the number of people who join militant groups. In return, it would contribute to the realization of world peace.

Conclusion

World peace continues to weaken every year. Statistics shows that the world loses billions of dollars due to violence. The factors that contribute to global violence include illiteracy and poverty. Countries can build world peace through education, trade, and information communication technology. Information communication technologies enable countries to share information that can be vital in promoting international peace. The technologies allow citizens to learn about the cultures of other nations, thus promoting tolerance.

Information communication technology has facilitated the development of games and simulations that assist global leaders in making sound decisions. On the other hand, trade causes economic interdependence amid nations. Thus, it is hard for countries to fight, as it would harm their economic interests.

Further, business helps to boost the economic status of the citizens and prevent them from being lured to join extremist groups. Education facilitates development that engenders egalitarianism. Education helps countries to bring up leaders who serve with compassion. Additionally, it reduces the chances of people joining militant groups that disturb the global peace. Educated citizens are hard to manipulate as they think independently. Consequently, they are unlikely to obey their leaders if asked to attack their neighboring states.

Bibliography

Clarke-Habibi, Sara. “Transforming Worldviews: The Case of Education for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Journal of Transformative Education 3, no. 1 (2005): 133-156.

Diamond, Larry. “Liberation Technology.” Journal of Democracy 21, no. 3 (2010): 69-83.

Heater, Derek. Peace through Education: The Contribution of the Council for Education in World Citizenship. New York: Routledge, 2013.

Hegre, Havard, John Oneal, and Bruce Russett. “Trade does Promote Peace: New Simultaneous Estimates of the Reciprocal Effects of Trade and Conflict.” Journal of Peace Research 47, no. 6 (2010): 763-774.

Rusko, Christopher, and Karthika Sasikumar. “India and China: From Trade to Peace?” Asian Perspective 31, no. 4 (2007): 99-123.

Weidmann, Nils. “Communication, Technology, and Political Conflict: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Journal of Peace Research 52, no. 3 (2015): 263-268.

Footnotes

  1. Havard Hegre, John Oneal, and Bruce Russett, “Trade does Promote Peace: New Simultaneous Estimates of the Reciprocal Effects of Trade and Conflict,” Journal of Peace Research 47, no. 6 (2010): 765.
  2. Hegre, Oneal and Russett, “Trade does Promote Peace,” 767-769.
  3. Larry Diamond, “Liberation Technology,” Journal of Democracy 21, no. 3 (2010): 71.
  4. Diamond, 74-77.
  5. Nils Weidmann, “Communication, Technology, and Political Conflict: Introduction to the Special Issue,” Journal of Peace Research 52, no. 3 (2015): 263.
  6. Ibid., 78.
  7. Weidmann, “Communication, Technology, and Political Conflict,” 265.
  8. Ibid., 266.
  9. Ibid., 267.
  10. Ibid., 268.
  11. Ibid., 780.
  12. Ibid,. 781.
  13. Ibid., 783.
  14. Christopher Rusko and Karthika Sasikumar, “India and China: From Trade to Peace?” Asian Perspective 31, no. 4 (2007): 101.
  15. Rusko and Sasikumar, “India and China,” 103.
  16. Ibid., 105.
  17. Ibid. 108.
  18. Sara Clarke-Habibi, “Transforming Worldviews: The Case of Education for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Journal of Transformative Education 3, no. 1 (2005): 134.
  19. Clarke-Habibi, “Transforming Worldviews,” 135-138.
  20. Derek Heater, Peace Through Education: The Contribution of the Council for Education in World Citizenship (New York: Routledge, 2013), 74.
  21. Heater, Peace Through Education, 79.
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IvyPanda. 2023. "Fostering International Peace." December 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/building-peace-worldwide/.

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IvyPanda. "Fostering International Peace." December 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/building-peace-worldwide/.

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