HOW NOT TO GO TO WAR
Institutional Affiliation
Civilian Peace Service Canada
Start Date
2-11-2023 1:30 PM
End Date
2-11-2023 3:00 PM
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Format
Virtual
Proposal Description
Sustainable Development:
“Institutions endure. They can outlast the people that create them.” The presentation will draw heavily on Vijay Mehta’s blueprint in How Not To Go To War [1] for institutionalizing peace: At the national level, with a Department of Peace for every Department of War, forestalling violence and militarism through “pre-emptive conflict resolution rather than waiting for it to occur and then deploying violence against it”[2]. With provincial and local levels, collectively forming a “network of self-sustaining peace centres and social enterprises and co-operatives, governmental peace departments and commentators who have peace as their core mission” [3] to counteract the institutionalization of conflict. Peacebuilding ultimately depends on individuals for implementation. Without individuals there can be no action. Without action there can be no peace. Key elements of sustainability linked to individual peace citizenship, practice and professionalism will also be explored.
The presentation will be solution-oriented in that it proposes practical steps, with global examples, for implementing the 1999 Culture of Peace Resolution, in this case with a focus on sustainable peace institutions. In keeping with the growing recognition that effective peacebuilding requires both skills and values (in other words ‘being’ peace as well as ‘knowing and doing’ peace), it will also touch on values and competencies that best serve individual peace builders.
The anticipated learning outcomes of this session are as follows:
Participants will have a greater understanding of:
- the scope for sustainability through peace institutions;
- an architecture for linking sustainable national, community and individual means of contributing to peace; and
- some core nonviolent values and competencies for effective peacebuilding application.
[1] Mehta, V. (2019). How Not To Go To War, Establishing Departments for Peace and Peace Centres Worldwide. Catapult, an imprint of New Internationalist Publications Ltd.
[2] Idem P. 6
[3] Idem P. 7
HOW NOT TO GO TO WAR
Sustainable Development:
“Institutions endure. They can outlast the people that create them.” The presentation will draw heavily on Vijay Mehta’s blueprint in How Not To Go To War [1] for institutionalizing peace: At the national level, with a Department of Peace for every Department of War, forestalling violence and militarism through “pre-emptive conflict resolution rather than waiting for it to occur and then deploying violence against it”[2]. With provincial and local levels, collectively forming a “network of self-sustaining peace centres and social enterprises and co-operatives, governmental peace departments and commentators who have peace as their core mission” [3] to counteract the institutionalization of conflict. Peacebuilding ultimately depends on individuals for implementation. Without individuals there can be no action. Without action there can be no peace. Key elements of sustainability linked to individual peace citizenship, practice and professionalism will also be explored.
The presentation will be solution-oriented in that it proposes practical steps, with global examples, for implementing the 1999 Culture of Peace Resolution, in this case with a focus on sustainable peace institutions. In keeping with the growing recognition that effective peacebuilding requires both skills and values (in other words ‘being’ peace as well as ‘knowing and doing’ peace), it will also touch on values and competencies that best serve individual peace builders.
The anticipated learning outcomes of this session are as follows:
Participants will have a greater understanding of:
- the scope for sustainability through peace institutions;
- an architecture for linking sustainable national, community and individual means of contributing to peace; and
- some core nonviolent values and competencies for effective peacebuilding application.
[1] Mehta, V. (2019). How Not To Go To War, Establishing Departments for Peace and Peace Centres Worldwide. Catapult, an imprint of New Internationalist Publications Ltd.
[2] Idem P. 6
[3] Idem P. 7
Additional Comments
Vegetarian
Key Words - Vijay Mehta, How Not To Go To War, peace institutions, peace centres, Department for Peace, peace professionalism, peace professionals, nonviolent communication, peacebuilding, Peace values and competencies
I am a Board Member on several peace organizations and have the Queen's Golden Jubilee award for "contribution to international development"