From Theory to Practice: Inaugural Positive Peace Conference
Monday, October 5, 20158:00 AM - 8:00 AM (Pacific)
For more information, please visit: http://positivepeace2015.splashthat.com/
Positive Peace is a transformative concept. It constitutes a new approach to building peace by focusing attention on the attitudes, institutions and structures of more peaceful nations. Countries with higher levels of Positive Peace are less likely to slip into major conflicts, experience less violence, and are better equipped to bounce back from internal or external shocks such as a civil war or natural disaster.
Despite this great promise, Positive Peace has yet to reach its full potential. In 2014, over 13 percent of the global economy was spent on containing or dealing with the consequences of violence yet by comparison little is spent on strengthening Positive Peace factors such as good governance, the creation of a sound business environment, acceptance of the rights of others and control of corruption. And despite a rhetorical commitment to prevention – investing in countries before they descend into violence and chaos – all too often the global policymaking community careens from one crisis to another, intervening too late to make any meaningful impact. By contrast, Positive Peace offers a road map for building an environment in which peace can flourish over the long haul.
The inaugural Positive Peace conference will be held at Stanford University’s Paul Brest Hall on October 5, 2015. This daylong event is meant to kickstart a conversation about the role Positive Peace can play in tackling some of the most difficult problems faced by the world today.
Influenced by the Global Peace Index and other groundbreaking research, a growing number of academics, practitioners and policymakers are working on Positive Peace, defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures of more peaceful nations. The inaugural Positive Peace conference is meant to bring together leading Positive Peace practitioners together with policymakers, business leaders and representatives of other related fields like atrocity and conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. An estimated 100 participants will gather to address a series of fundamental questions, such as:
How do you build support for longer-term investments in Positive Peace in a world dominated by crisis response?
Does Positive Peace provide a potential road map for more effective humanitarian, and business, investments?
How can the principles of Positive Peace be used in designing interventions for countries that are currently undergoing conflict?
What lessons can be learned from countries that have avoided descents into chaos and despair despite facing similar risk factors to those that have?
And how is information about Positive Peace best communicated in a way that is understandable and useful?
DRAFT AGENDA (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast and registration
9:00 – 9:10am Conference Welcome
Beatriz Magaloni, Associate Professor of Political Science & Director, Program On Poverty And Governance, Freeman Spogli Institute For International Studies, Stanford University
Aubrey Fox, Executive Director, U.S. Office, Institute for Economics and Peace
Randy Newcomb, President & CEO, Humanity United
9:10 – 9:30 am Opening Keynote: “Positive Peace: A Transformational Paradigm”
Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman, Institute for Economics and Peace
9:30 – 11:00am Positive Peace and Systems Thinking
In recent years, there has been more and more attention paid to “systems thinking,” which holds that the factors identified as important to any model of change interact in complex and non-linear ways. This session will examine positive peace through the lens of systems thinking. It will show the fundamental interrelationships between positive peace factors such as good governance and control of corruption, as well as shed light on the key challenges of tipping countries trapped in vicious cycles of conflict and violence into more positive feedback loops. In addition, it will feature cutting-edge findings and new research. What is the state of empirical knowledge about risk factors versus long-term drivers of peace? What are some unanswered questions about positive peace, and how can they be answered? Is there sufficient data available? What new data needs to be collected?
Moderator: Rob Ricigliano, Systems and Complexity Coach, The Omidyar Group
Panelists:
Jurgen Brauer, Professor of Economics, Georgia Regents University
Peter Coleman, Professor Of Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Director, Morton Deutsch International Center For Cooperation And Conflict Resolution & Co-Director, Advanced Consortium For Cooperation, Conflict, And Complexity, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Michelle Breslauer, Americas Program Manager, Institute for Economics and Peace
Necla Tshirgi, Professor of Practice, Human Security and Peacebuilding, University of San Diego and Club de Madrid Shared Societies Project Advisor
11:00 – 11:15am Break
11:15 – 1:00pm Presentation of Positive Peace Case Studies
The unfortunate reality is that most research on peace focuses on the drivers of conflict and violence instead of the factors of more peaceful societies. Much valuable and important information is lost in this process. The positive peace methodology offers a new way of shedding light on countries that have previously been approached from a conflict-oriented lens, as well as those that have improved in peace despite facing serious risk factors. This panel will feature positive peace case studies specifically commissioned for this conference. Are there common lessons that cut across the different studies? What data needs to be collected? How can the case studies themselves be used as a peacebuilding tool?
Moderator: Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute For International Studies, Stanford University
Respondent: Chic Dambach, Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, John Hopkins University
Panelists:
Lynn Kuok, Nonresident Fellow, The Center For East Asia Policy Studies, Brookings Institution
Trust Mamombe, Director, The National Peace Trust
Abu Bakarr Bah, Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University, Department Of Sociology
& Editor-In-Chief, African Conflict And Peacebuilding Review (ACPR)
1:00 – 2:00pm Lunch
Lunch will be served buffet style on the patio of Paul Brest Hall.
2:00 – 3:15pm Promoting Policy Change through Data and Analysis
In recent years, a number of organizations including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Justice Project (WJP), the Social Progress Network (SPN), and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) have used high-profile indices as a means of driving policy change. This includes UNDP’s Human Development Report, WJP’s Rule of Law Index, SPN’s Social Progress Index and IEP’s Global Peace Index. While each index has a different focus, ultimately they all seek to strengthen factors of positive peace. How are these indices being used in practice? What have the organizations behind them learned about working at a country level to drive policy change? Who is using the information, and in what ways? What role does data and analysis play in building the case for long-term peacebuilding strategies?
Moderator: Aubrey Fox, Institute for Economics and Peace
Panelists:
Shamil Idriss, President & Chief Executive Officer, Search For Common Ground
Patricia de Obeso, Mexico Representative, Institute for Economics and Peace
Justin Edwards, North American Network, Social Progress Imperative
Juan Carlos Botero, Executive Director, World Justice Project
3:15 – 3:30pm Coffee Break
3:30 – 5:00pm Making the Case for Positive Peace
Positive Peace offers an alternative lens for identifying, and measuring, the kinds of long-term investments that can make countries and communities more peaceful. Yet there are significant conceptual, political and practical challenges to shifting the world’s focus away from short-term crisis response and towards potentially more effective investments in violence prevention. How can those challenges be addressed? How do you build support for investments that may take a decade or longer to pay off? How can you communicate and market Positive Peace? This panel will feature a moderated conversation with leading experts.
Moderator: Melanie Cohen Greenberg, President and CEO, Alliance for Peacebuilding
Panelists:
Doug Balfour, Executive Director, Geneva Global
Alexandra Toma, Executive Director, Peace and Security Funders Group
Steve Killelea, Executive Chairman, Institute for Economics and Peace
Mr. Stephen “Steve” R. Brown, Rotary Foundation Trustee 2010-2014, Rotary Club of LaJolla
Golden Triangle, CA, USA
5:00 – 5:30pm Reflections and Conclusions
5:30 – 6:15pm Drinks
6:30pm Dinner and Presentation