david Johan Galtung, the guru of peace research, predicts that as we get closer to the crash of the American empire, the United States will increasingly realize that wars and preparation for wars are destroying its economy and it will be forced to limit its military adventures. Already last year the top military official in the US wrote … Read more
Is it by chance that the leadership for the culture of peace is coming from the continents of Latin America and Africa, continents of the Global South? The detailed evidence for this may be found in many CPNN articles, some of which are summarized in the CPNN bulletins for March 1 and April 1 this year, as well as … Read more
Again this month we indicate in the CPNN bulletin that Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be in the vanguard of the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace. This month it is the national governments that have taken the leadership with their declaration in Havana that the region will be a “zone of peace” privileging … Read more
As the other peace leaders in this month’s CPNN bulletin testify, Nelson Mandela provided us a model of leadership for a culture of peace. He left us “a vision of a new and better life and the tools with which to win and build it.” 20 years ago in Psychology for Peace Activists, I wrote: “At the present … Read more
This month’s CPNN bulletin raises the question, “What is good leadership for a culture of peace?” An initial answer is provided by the Elder, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and international leader for health and sustainable development: “To be bold; to have the courage of your convictions; and to think long-term, not short-term or … Read more
The latest CPNN bulletin illustrates clearly the paradox of disarmament. On the one hand, there seems to be no progress at all, and then we see what seems like a “breakthrough” in the agreement to inspect and destroy the chemical arms of Syria. Immediately, a Nobel Peace Prize is awarded! But is it really a breakthrough? I … Read more
The latest CPNN bulletin provides good evidence that the answer to this question is “Yes!” We are not surprised that air traffic, postal services and telecommunications are managed effectively by agencies of the United Nations. Why should we be surprised that a culture of peace could also be effectively managed? Let us begin with the two articles … Read more
I was struck by an important difference between the two international summer schools mentioned in this month’s bulletin of CPNN. The summer school of young human rights activists at the University of Connecticut invited me to speak on the transition from culture of war to culture of peace. The summer school of young activists by … Read more
Through my studies of the culture of war, I came to the conclusion that the state is involved with it so profoundly that we will never achieve a culture of peace in a system of nation states. As a result, I proposed that we need a United Nations that is based not upon Member States, … Read more
As we regard the news from Egypt these days, it occurs to me that Egypt now shows us the dynamic that we will probably see on a global scale in the years to come. The Egyptian crisis, at the base, is an economic one. The Arab Spring brought hope, but instead of economic stability and … Read more