Waging Peace: The Remarkable Proliferation of Cooperative Problem-Solving Resources Since World War II By Tom Dunne Other resources in this collection include: Introduction | Academic Programs | Awards and Prizes | Books | Clearinghouses and Reference Works | Funding Sources |Jobs and Careers Opportunities | Journals and Magazines | Organizations - Overview | Descriptions of Organizations | Principles and Practices | Scholarships, Fellowships, and Grants |Think Tanks ____________________________________________________________________ Category 8.a: Peacemaking Organizations Introduction and Overview Introduction: Thousands of organizations around the world today are working to foster the peaceful resolution of conflicts. This section represents an effort to describe these organizations, but it is far from complete. In researching this topic, I realized at some point that if I did not stop, I would never complete the list! This section presents: ● A brief history of peacemaking organizations, ● Sources of information on peacemaking and conflict resolution organizations today, The Earliest Peacemaking Organizations - the 1800s The first U.S. peacemaking organization was the New York Peace Society, founded in 1815 in the wake of the War of 1812. It produced literature advocating pacifism on Christian grounds, and distributed its literature throughout the U.S. and Europe. In the 1830s and 1840s the Society advocated for negotiations to avoid war with Mexico, but the war came in 1846 and the Society then went dormant. In 1906 the Society, with the support of the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, was rejuvenated in the aftermath of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), reflecting concern over the increased use of American military activities abroad. The Society advocated that the U.S. use arbitration rather than force to resolve its international disputes - a position supported by President Theodore Roosevelt who, in his 1910 Nobel Peace Prize address said: “It would be a master stroke if those great Powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace, not only to keep the peace among themselves, but to prevent, by force if necessary, its being broken by others." The efforts of the Peace Society contributed to the establishment of the League of Nations after World War One, but the U.S. never joined the League, largely because of concerns about subjecting its disputes to arbitration. In 1940 the Society finally disbanded and its members merged their efforts with those of the Quakers to build international friendship through religion. 1 During the early 1800s numerous other peace organizations were founded. One historian describes this movement: “The whole Atlantic seaboard section of the country, then a large part of the nation, seemed throughout, as by a common impulse, with the conviction that the moment had come for a serious effort to abolish war and to establish among the nations in its place a system of rational pacific adjustment of controversies. A similar movement in Great Britain [and Austria and Germany] originating about the same time ran parallel with the American movement. This first great wave of peace effort . continued unabated for more than four years, till the eve of the Civil War.” [“History of the American Peace Society and its Work - The Growth of International Arbitration and Peace”, The Advocate of Peace, 1907, page 15] But almost all of these peace societies have since disbanded. The 12 Peacemaking Organizations founded Between 1900 and the Beginning of World War Two: 1905: Rotary International (Evanston, Illinois) 1906: American Society of International Law: Its 4,000 members from over 100 countries continue its mission of “promoting the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the basis of law and justice.” 1910: - The World Affairs Council (Washington, D.C.) - The World Peace Foundation (Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Sommerville, Massachusetts) 1914: - Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (New York) - International Fellowship of Reconciliation (Utrecht, The Netherlands) 1915: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Geneva, Switzerland) 1917: American Friends Service Committee (Philadelphia) 1918: The World Affairs Council (Washington, D.C.) 1920: Mennonite Central Committee (Akron, Pennsylvania) 1924: Institute of World Affairs (Washington, D.C.) 1927: The Kettering Foundation (Washington, D.C.) The 17 Peacemaking Organizations Founded During or After World War Two, Up to 1959: 1940: Coventry Cathedral Reconciliation Ministry (Coventry, England) 1943: Catholic Relief Services’ Justice and Peacebuilding Programs (Baltimore) 1944: World Relief (Baltimore) 1945: - CARE (Geneva, New York, Brussels) - Pax Christi International (Brussels) -The United Nations (New York) 1947: - Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (Washington, D.C.) -The NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (National Training Laboratories) - (Washington, D.C.) 1948: United Nations Peacekeeping (New York) 1949: Servas International (Zurich, Switzerland) 1950: World Vision International (Monrovia, California) 1955: The International Law Institute, Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) 2 1956: People to People International (Spokane, Washington) 1957: - The Fund for Peace (Washington, D.C.) -The Society for International Development (Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, Nairobi, Kenya, and Rome) - Peace Action (Silver Spring, Maryland) 1959: - PRIO International Peace Research Institute (Oslo, Norway) -Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia) Sources of Information on Peacemaking organizations today: Peace Insight, a platform created and maintained by Peace Direct, lists 1786 peacebuilding organizations around the world that are working in 20 areas of conflict. The author Paul Hawken (Blessed Unrest) describes the creation in recent years of over 100,000 grassroots organizations worldwide, dedicated to improving the health of society and the earth. He sees this phenomenon as the largest movement on earth, a spontaneous reaction to rapidly growing global challenges. Their shared purpose is “to fulfill the Golden Rule and amplify the force for good.” He states: “If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed movement and aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a heart.” [YouTube presentation, “Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken”] The National Association for Community Mediation estimates that there are now over 500 community mediation centers in the U.S. - none of which existed just a few years ago. GuideStar, the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations, in its “Nonprofit Profiles” section, provides searchable information on thousands of nonprofit organizations that are “tackling the great challenges of our time”. There are many listings for nonprofits that are addressing issues related to peacemaking, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem- solving. Here are the categories of such services, and the number of nonprofits that provide each type of service. The number of nonprofits add up to 82,055, but the actual number of such organizations is undoubtedly considerably less than that, since some organizations may be listed under more than one category. - Alternative Dispute Resolution: 87 - Conflict resolution think tanks: 108 - Civil dialogue: 182 - Deliberative democracy: 8 - Collaborative problem solving: 608 - Dispute resolution: 358 - Collaborative problem solving - Ecumenical organizations: 69 training: 1,809 - Future search conference: 23 - Community development: 59,843 - Interfaith: 1,470 - Community mediation: 520 - International conflict resolution: 188 - Community mediation center: 197 - New urbanism: 1,154 - Community policing: 1,712 - Ombudsman: 112 - Conflict resolution: 1,202 - Peace: 7,866 - Conflict resolution fellowships: 16 - Peace funding: 791 - Conflict resolution funding: 140 - Peace studies: 410 - Conflict resolution scholarships: 74 - Peace studies fellowships: 33 - Conflict resolution studies: 135 - Peace studies scholarships: 56 3 - Peace think tanks: 108 - Sustained dialogue: 303 - Race relations: 794 - Teambuilding: 85 - Restorative Justice: 527 - Transitional justice: 502 - Sustainable capitalism: 538 - Women peacebuilders: 27 Total: 82,055 Part II provides brief descriptions of 423 major peacemaking organizations, worldwide. Immediately following are: - A chart showing how these organizations grew from 12 in 1940 to 423 today, and - A listing of the 423, listed by the type of service they provide. The Growth of Major Worldwide Peacemaking Organizations, from 1940 to the Present Day 400 423 350 342 300 250 228 200 150 140 100 79 50 53 34 22 12 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Today THE 423 PEACEMAKING ORGANIZATIONS, LISTED BY TYPE OF SERVICE WHICH THEY PROVIDE 4 Peacemaking Service Providers, With a Worldwide Focus: 1. Alliance of Civilizations, United Nations 2. American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution 3. American Friends Service Committee 4. Ashoka 5. Berlin Center for International Peace Operations 6. Beyond Conflict 7. Carter Center 8. Catholic Relief Services’ Justice and Peacebuilding Programs 9. CDA Collaborative Learning Projects 10. The Center for Dispute Settlement 11. Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution 12. Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict 13. Charter for Compassion International 14. Civicus 15. Community of Sant’Egidio