220
Therefore, the various initiatives for a culture of peace link peace with development which is endogenous, equitable and sustainable. If development is not endogenous, it risks contradicting and even disrupting the traditional cultural and economic context of people's lives. If it is not equitable, it may perpetuate injustices which lead to violent conflict. And if it is not sustainable, it may damage and even destroy the environment or be accompanied by population growth which outstrips the available resources.
2. Political security and democracy can be provided by institutions and behaviours which ensure that the conflicts inherent in all human societies do not destroy the integrity and effective functioning of the society. Whereas in the past political stability has been ensured as a last resort through the threat of military force, today it is increasingly provided by systems of participative democracy. In these systems conflict is managed through a process of participation, dialogue, mediation and compromise, and political solutions are sought from which all can benefit.
3. Military security has been needed in the past because the world has resembled an armed camp - every society forced to maintain an army to defend itself. Today, international organizations, such as the United Nations and regional organizations, are increasingly engaged in the maintenance of peace, making it possible for their Member States to reduce their reliance on military power and to take steps toward disarmament.
4. The cost benefit efficiency of peace must be made at least as great as that of war in order to take the comparative profit advantage out of the culture of war. This is important because from the time it became an institution war has proved useful as a generator of profits, whether in the form of slaves, of colonies, or, most recently, the lucrative profits of war manufacturing and trade, often guaranteed by state budgets. Therefore, initiatives for controls on the arms trade and for conversion from military to civilian production are of essential importance.
Conversion from military to civilian production and trade is also necessary because it can make available the resources for programmes of human development needed to provide economic and political security. This 'peace dividend', for example, could provide the resources needed to fund national culture of peace programmes.
5. Solidarity and courage must be as much a part of the culture of peace as they ever were for a culture of war. A century ago the philosopher/psychologist William James argued that war would not be abolished until a substitute could be found for the psychological needs it fulfils, such as solidarity, audacity, comradeship, loyalty, courage the various qualities traditionally associated with the warrior. In his treatise, 'The Moral Equivalent of War', he argued for international sporting games such as the modern Olympics as a possible substitute.
Whereas the culture of war promotes solidarity against an enemy which is another group, another nation, another people, the culture of peace promotes solidarity of all people against common threats to their security. It demands that we see the other as an ally in a collective struggle for peace.
Non-violence, in a culture of peace, is an active struggle for justice, harnessing anger, courage and strength against injustice and enlisting all in the process, men and women, young and old.