The United Kingdom Peace Index (UKPI) has found that the UK is 11% more peaceful than it was a decade ago. Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the UKPI is the first measure of peacefulness across the…

Violence confronts children at every level of society–in their relationships with parents and siblings, in the home, at school, and in the media and values that dominate their nation.

• Hitting, punching, kicking are forms of violence.
• Humiliation is a form of violence.
• Poverty, discrimination, and the denial of opportunities are forms of violence.

How do we end these?

Laws do not solve all problems, but laws against corporal punishment—as…

You probably know what V-E  and V-J Days are—Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan at the end of World War II. But it is simply V-day that may prove the more important day in the long-run.

V-Day represents a global movement to end violence against women and girls. It works on a grassroots level to raise consciousness, change laws, fund rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, and educate people in more than 140 countries from A (America) to Z (Zambia).

You can help.…

The roots of the current U.S. culture of violence extend back to the unprecedented violence unleashed on this continent by European settlers in the 17^th century. With the impunity that came with access to guns, belief in a God who favored them over others, and readily available justifications for violence, the settlers undertook a genocide of the native peoples.

The heavy hand of this culture of violence has always descended more heavily on some victims than others—not just…

Dear All,

Dear All,

U.S. COST OF VIOLENCE SURPASSES 15% of GDP

New Report Calculates Total U.S. Public and Private Expenditure on

Containing Violence – International & Domestic 

• $2.16 trillion or $15,000 per taxpayer spent on preventing or dealing with violence
• Violence–related expenditures four times greater than the Department of Defense budget
• If Violence…

Dear All,

TransConflict is pleased to announce the third Peacebuilders' Panel, which will focus on the principle that:

“3. Conflict transformation goes beyond merely seeking to contain and manage conflict, instead seeking to transform the root causes themselves – or the perceptions of the root causes – of a…

Inaugural Conference Focuses on the Business and Economics of Peace

September 7, 2012 (New York, NY & Washington, D.C.) — The Institute for Economics and Peace and American University’s Kogod School of Business announce the inaugural conference on “Peace Metrics, Peace Economics, and the Role of Business,” co-hosted April 5-6, 2013 at American University in Washington, D.C.

This multi-disciplinary conference will focus on…

In my last post, I considered one factor contributing to mass violence—a form of domestic terrorism–in the United States. That factor is the corrupting of the U.S. Constitution by extremist right wing groups—often supported by and aligned with the National Rifle Association.

U.S. Bill of Rights. Image in public…

“How many deaths will it take?” In how many places within the United States and abroad?

Aurora, Colorado? Tucson, Arizona? Virginia Tech? Columbine? The University of Texas tower?

Nagasaki? Korea? Vietnam? Grenada? Panama? Iraq? Afghanistan? Pakistan?

NRA headquarters. Photo by Bjoertvedt, used under CC…

Although we were asked by our program leaders to remain as neutral and objective as possible in writing these blog posts, Deborah and I feel that, in matters of honest assessment, there are times when the terms “neutrality,” "objectivity," and "relativity" are simply veneers to disguise one’s own cowardice. The current situation of the IDPs (internally displaced persons) of Kenya who were forced out of their homes as their neighbors attempted to hack them to death, is an…

Global Network for the Study of…

Dear All,

TransConflict is pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative, 'The Peacebuilders’ Panel', which is designed to stimulate debate about peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

Targeted at peacebuilding practitioners, academics, students and enthusiasts, the aim of the initiative is to improve understanding about the respective…

This morning on the way to work, I came across a situation and was left thinking of what responses were possible.

An obviously drunk man of about 30 carrying an open tall can of beer in his hand came up to a younger (maybe 16-18 year old) boy and started belligerently berating him on the subway in between stops. He threatened the boy that he would find and later kill him. That revenge is sweet. All sorts of angry banter. The boy sat quietly, looking down at his phone, earphones in,…

• Maine is most peaceful state for 11^th consecutive year, Louisiana least peaceful state
• Wyoming has improved the most while Arizona records the biggest fall
• Cambridge metro area is the most peaceful, Detroit the least peaceful
• The U.S. is more peaceful than at any time in the last 20 years
• Further improvements in peacefulness would generate hundreds of billions of extra economic…

• A new Oxford University study has found that a beta-blocker drug may possibly reduce “subconscious” racism. The drug is thought to work by clocking activation of the peripheral autonomic nervous system and in areas of the brain involved with formulating emotional responses, including fear.
• The Transitional Justice Institute…