This Global Read took place on Monday, January 10, at 12pm PST
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Humanity is now facing challenges unparalleled in its history. Many of these problems are global in nature, such as climate change, ever-decreasing biodiversity, full use of the fresh water and overpopulation. Such global challenges call for global solutions and require
cooperation on a scale unprecedented in human history. In a hyper-connected world, the sources of many of these challenges are multidimensional, increasingly complex and span national borders. For this reason, finding solutions to these unprecedented challenges fundamentally requires new ways of thinking.
Without peace, it will not be possible to achieve the levels of trust, cooperation or inclusiveness necessary to solve these challenges, let alone empower the international institutions and organizations necessary to address them. Therefore, peace is the prerequisite for the survival of humanity as we know it in the 21st century.
Without an understanding of the factors that create and sustain peaceful societies, it will not be possible to develop the programs, create the policies, or understand the resources required to build peaceful and resilient societies.
Positive Peace provides a framework to understand and address the many complex challenges the world faces. Positive Peace is transformational in that it is a cross-cutting factor of progress, making it easier for businesses to sell, entrepreneurs and scientists to innovate, individuals to produce and governments to effectively regulate.
In addition to the absence of violence, Positive Peace is also associated with many other social characteristics that are considered desirable, including stronger economic outcomes, higher resilience, better measures of well-being, higher levels of inclusiveness and more sustainable environmental performance.
Therefore, Positive Peace creates an optimal environment in which human potential can flourish.Understanding what creates sustainable peace cannot be found in the study of violence alone.
About the Author
Steve Killelea A.M. is a global philanthropist focused on peace and sustainable development, with a long, successful career in high technology and international business development. Over the last two decades, Steve has applied his business skills to his many global philanthropic activities, established an internationally renowned global think tank, the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) and a private family charity, The Charitable Foundation, which now has over three million direct beneficiaries.
A parallel can be drawn with medical science. The study of pathology has led to numerous breakthroughs in our understanding of how to treat and cure disease. However, it was only when medical science turned its focus to the study of healthy human beings that we understood what we needed to do to stay healthy: physical exercise, a good mental disposition and a balanced diet are some examples. This could only be learned by studying what was working. In the same way, the study of conflict is different from the study of peace, producing very different outcomes.
He is a sought after international speaker, has received many international awards and is regularly quoted in the media on various subjects, including business, global peacefulness, terrorism and social development. More than 20 years ago, he established The Charitable Foundation, now one of the larger private overseas aid organizations based in Australia providing life-changing programs to some of the poorest communities in the world including, emergency and famine relief, environment rehabilitation, and rehabilitating former child soldiers.
Steve’s deep commitment to peace has earned him two Nobel Peace Prize nominations. He is the founder of the independent think tank IEP and the Global Peace Index, the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. IEP is a highly impactful non-profit and non-partisan research institute known for innovative analysis on the relationship between business, peace and economic development, used by many international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank.
In 2013, a coalition of Australian Foundations recognized his funding of IEP as one of the 50 most impactful philanthropic gifts in Australia’s history. In the same year, the Action on Armed Violence group, recognized Steve as one of the 100 most influential people in the world on reducing armed violence. Steve serves on the President’s Circle for Club de Madrid, the largest forum of former world leaders working to strengthen democracy. He is also trustee and treasurer for Religion for Peace, the world’s largest organization working on inter-religious challenges.
About the Host
Lisa A. Berkley, PhD is the founder and director of Institute for Inner Economy, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to operationalizing positive peace for governance, diplomacy, and civil progress, at the local, national, and international level. Her work as a peace facilitator, activist, and municipal leader has spanned across three continents and stems from more than 25 years of experience in alternative/holistic medicine and education, stress management, and interpersonal conflict resolution.Her work has been publicly recognized across the globe.
Dr. Berkley’s current focus is on helping small to mid-sized cities adopt holistic city frameworks in order to be in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She is an elected City Council member in her home city of Marina, California where she serves on a number of Boards including Women In International Security’s U.S. West Coast Chapter (WIISWest), the Housing Resource Center of Monterey County, and AMBAG (Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments) where she is their representative on CALCOG (California Association of Councils of Governments). Dr. Berkley also serves on the Advisory Council for Compassionate California, is the Lead for Compassionate Monterey County, and is the Co-Lead for the Charter for Compassion’s Peace Sector.
