Amid record levels of global conflict and reduced funding, the University of Notre Dame convened peacebuilding scholars and leaders March 10 in Washington, D.C., to explore strategies for adapting in a volatile world.
The conference was hosted by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, in partnership with the Alliance for Peacebuilding. It reflects the school’s ongoing commitment to peace research that informs policy and practice.
The gathering focused on a forward-looking agenda in a time of disruption, outlining proactive approaches to meet today’s challenges. Contributors emphasized framing peacebuilding as a crucial national security investment, building a broader coalition to combat growing skepticism and developing innovative strategies.
“As a field, peacebuilding has developed valuable knowledge, research and practical solutions,” said Peter Quaranto, visiting professor of the practice and distinguished global policy fellow at the Keough School. “But it must adapt and innovate to be relevant in the current political and conflict landscape.”
Connecting peace to national security
Discussion acknowledged the twin challenges peacebuilding must confront. Globally, there are now more than 60 conflicts — including a widening regional war with Iran — the most since World War II. At the same time, many traditional institutions that support peacebuilding face funding uncertainty and structural changes.
In this environment, speakers said it is more important than ever to demonstrate how peacebuilding can provide a return on investment for the United States by reinforcing national security.
Retired Navy Admiral Gary Roughead, the conference’s keynote speaker, detailed a growing list of threats that could contribute to worsening conflict, including climate change, artificial intelligence and an eroding nuclear deterrence framework. Given these challenges, he said the United States should invest in preventative soft power to better protect its security.
“The United States faces a strategic and moral imperative to invest deliberately in peacebuilding,” Roughead said. “Peacebuilding complements national defense.”
Proactive national security requires input from the legislative branch that is now sorely lacking, according to former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and former Ambassador Mark A. Green, president emeritus of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They called for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority in deciding whether the country goes to war. The United States has not had a formal declaration of war since World War II and Congress has largely deferred to the president on conflicts, Feingold said, but a more proactive Congress could keep the United States out of unpopular wars.
Building a broader coalition
While strengthening the national security case for peacebuilding is critical, speakers said rebuilding domestic support for the field may be just as important.
That starts with addressing Americans’ declining trust in public institutions and foreign investments. A recent Pew study found that only 22 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government to do the right thing (down from about 75 percent 60 years ago). Meanwhile, Gallup has found that only 45 percent of U.S. adults now say they trust the federal government to handle international problems.
Against that backdrop of deep skepticism, peacebuilding must engage with a broader cross-section of society, speakers said. That includes incorporating perspectives from different communities, including grassroots activists, veterans and people of faith. Panelists also urged practitioners to apply global peacebuilding experiences, skills and tools to address growing conflicts and polarization within the United States and strengthen American democracy.
Jake Harriman, a Marine Corps veteran and the founder of More Perfect Union, explored the concept of peacebuilding at home during his remarks. When he returned to the United States in 2015 after years of military service and sustainable development work, he was shocked by the extreme rhetoric and growing polarization he witnessed. That led him to start the civic organization, which facilitates trust and consensus building by connecting people with different backgrounds and views, enabling them to work together on service projects, shared activities and civic engagement.
“Step one has to be bringing Americans together in compelling ways to give them a seat at the table to do things in their community together and to humanize the other side again,” Harriman said. “We have to get people talking to other Americans who don’t look, act or think like them.”
Globally, coalition building should include giving Indigenous communities a seat at the table, speakers said. Approximately 80 percent of the world's conflicts are in sensitive biodiversity hotspots where Indigenous people live, according to Binalakshmi (Bina) Nepram, founder of the Global Network of Indigenous Peacebuilders, Mediators and Negotiators. Yet peacebuilding often overlooks perspectives from the people who are most affected.
Innovating to meet today’s challenges
While inclusive coalitions and clearer security arguments can strengthen the case for peacebuilding, practitioners and policymakers must also devote serious attention to innovation, speakers said. In a skeptical, more-with-less environment, they emphasized that business as usual won’t be enough to elevate the field.
Education was one area speakers said could benefit from fresh thinking. George A. Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Keough School, called for educators to think more broadly about how they can train effective global citizens — not only frontline diplomats and practitioners, but also professionals who will bring critical peace perspectives to their careers in a variety of fields, including including medicine, law and finance.
Technology is also ripe for innovation, speakers said. Lisa Schirch, the Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies at the Keough School, pointed to an emerging class of deliberative technologies that are meant to serve as an alternative to toxic social media. That means prioritizing problem-solving and surfacing areas of consensus rather than using rage-bait tactics and us-vs.-them framing to monetize users' attention.
Philanthropy could also benefit from new approaches. Emma Belcher, president of Ploughshares, a grantmaking organization that works to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, noted that organizations that fund peacebuilding are asked to simultaneously serve as "firefighters and architects.” She called for more strategic investments to address root causes rather than simply throwing money at a succession of crises.
The conference showcased deep expertise from scholars as well as former legislators, diplomats and practitioners. Speakers drew on decades of experience with institutions including the United States Institute of Peace, the American Peacebuilding Alliance and the U.S. Department of State, as well as universities and private foundations.
Throughout the conference, speakers returned to a common theme: American peacebuilding must evolve to address a more volatile global environment. That means demonstrating its value to national security, building broader domestic and global support and developing new tools and approaches that will help policymakers and practitioners respond to emerging challenges.
The conference is part of broader work to inform peace policy and practice. The Keough School and its Kroc Institute, in partnership with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, will continue to foster conversations about how to sustain and reorient peacebuilding expertise to meet evolving global and national challenges, including more discussion with current U.S. and global officials.
“We face unprecedented levels of conflict with devastating humanitarian and human rights consequences, as well as serious strategic implications,” Quaranto said. “These conversations can help inform a research and action agenda to guide the future of peacebuilding.”
Watch: American Peacebuilding at a Crossroads: Lessons, Risks and the Road Ahead
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