The culture of war permeates our societies, and nation-states have historically derived their legitimacy from their ability to wage war. Even today, brutal leaders hold a fascination, and the aura of war intimidates the voices of peace, which are portrayed as utopian or even naive. Yet, over the past few decades, this supposed omnipotence has proven to be woefully inadequate.
For years we have witnessed the failures of major powers; we see that military interventions fuel existing violence and that none of them has brought about either stability or democracy.
Since the end of World War II, conflicts no longer yield political victories, and Clausewitzian peace has become a mirage. Transactional peace, as embodied in agreements and treaties, also often proves powerless.
The year 2023 was the most violent since the end of the Cold War (Uppsala Conflict Data Program), and every region of the world is experiencing conflicts that cost humanity $14 trillion annually (Institute for Economics and Peace)—or $5 per day per person on the planet. There will be no more victors, and the great powers can no longer resolve crises or impose a shared and functional world order through military might. Democracies, which are supposed to champion a global vision, limit themselves to reiterating their values and have become incapable of enforcing international law. They are no longer the bearers of global peace.
The Pax Americana, the most recent example, has demonstrated that the weakening of states through military excesses and the total destruction of their institutions is undoubtedly what most fuels terrorism and the proliferation of armed groups. A bilateral defeat that weakens both sides, condemning them “to die together, with rage in their hearts,” as Albert Camus so aptly put it.
What has happened to make humanity—which has never before had so many tools for progress at its disposal—become so violent? Why are the voices of peace so faint? What can we do to ensure that peace and security once again become attainable realities?
To answer these questions, we must understand the essential point: peace must be a political project. The world is at war because, for many, politics has taken peace hostage. This global peace project, which we wish to establish and implement through the actions of our organization Leaders for Peace, requires a profound paradigm shift.
First, let us consider peace as a field of action that goes beyond the absence of war. Peace is a positive, universal, and global project. This broadening of the scope of peace allows us to identify and address the roots of violence and to include the multiple sources of conflict, such as poverty, climate change, institutional and normative weakness, corruption and the informal economy, economic inequalities, cyberattacks, and the use of disinformation as a tool to destabilize societies.
Next, we must include non-state actors who are driving a form of “social resistance” that is growing ever stronger and increasingly detached from the political decisions made by their leaders.
Finally, let us help to embed the choice of peace in the minds of those who shape the world today and who will shape the world of tomorrow. To achieve this, education for peace and new forms of governance is necessary. Peace, as Tolstoy reminded us, begins with social behavior. It requires a slow maturation process and a creativity that is sometimes less appealing than the rapid and brutal nature of “the good, saving war.”
Through the Traveling Universities of Peace, our organization has set out to train young leaders—living primarily in countries in conflict or at risk of conflict—to implement new methods for addressing the numerous climate, economic, digital, and health challenges contributing to the rise of violence, for violence and war are twin sisters.
To expand this initiative, Leaders for Peace plans to establish a Global University for Peace and New Forms of Governance based in Africa. Through this initiative, we aim to offer a third path of engagement that is neither the status quo nor radicalization.
The goal is to raise awareness of peace, by reminding people that dignity—a fundamental value of our shared humanity—must not be “exported” but shared, and to encourage people to envision peace and resist the destructive call of war.
The Itinerant Universities of Peace have taken a stand that investing in the largest generation of young people in human history (1.8 billion) is, as Kofi Annan reminded us, “the most effective form of defense spending.”
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, honorary president of Leaders for Peace, and Donia Kaouach, president of the organization