Strategic Peacebuilding for the 21st Century

Professor Scott Appleby, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, gives a plenary address on 'Strategic Peacebuilding for the 21st Century', and the Kroc Institute's aim of designing peace studies to form 'strategic peacebuilders'.
At its core, peacebuilding nurtures constructive human relationships. To be relevant it must do so strategically, at every level of society and across the potentially polarizing lines of ethnicity, class, religion and race. This presentation describes an emerging approach to deadly conflict known as strategic peacebuilding - the capacity to recognize and develop strategies to maximize the impact of initiatives for constructive change within a globalized milieu.

Strategic peacebuilding therefore denotes an approach to reducing violence, resolving conflict and building peace that is marked by a heightened awareness of, and skillful adaptation to, the complex and shifting material, geopolitical, economic and cultural realities of our increasingly globalized and interdependent world. Accordingly, peacebuilding that is strategic draws intentionally and shrewdly on the overlapping and imperfectly coordinated presences, activities and resources of various international, transnational, national, regional and local institutions, agencies and movements that influence the causes, expressions and outcomes of conflict. Strategic peacebuilders take advantage of emerging and established patterns of collaboration and interdependence for the purposes of reducing violence and alleviating the root causes of deadly conflict. They encourage the deeper and more frequent convergence of mission, resources, expertise, insight and benevolent self-interest that characterize the most fruitful multilateral collaborations in the cause of peace.

How have elements of the approach emerged in the post cold war world? Who are the relevant partners in this enterprise? What type of skills and training are central to strategic peacebuilding? The presentation will suggest answers to these questions.