Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Short bio:
Dr. Peter T Coleman is a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University and a renowned expert on constructive conflict resolution, intractable conflict and sustaining peace. Dr. Coleman has authored or edited a dozen books, well over 100 scientific articles and chapters, is the recipient of various awards, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Nature, Scientific American, PBS Newshour, and Harvard Business Review. Hismost recent book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization (2021) was released by Columbia University Press.
Title:
What Does it Take to Live in Peace? Lessons learned from the study of sustainably peaceful societies
Abstract:
Despite good faith attempts by countless citizens, civil society, governments, and the international community, living in a sustainably peaceful community continues to be an elusive dream in much of our world. Among the challenges to sustaining peace is the fact that few scholars have studied enduringly peaceful societies, or have examined only narrow aspects of them, leaving our understanding of the necessary conditions, processes and policies fragmented, and deficient. This talk will present insights from a multidisciplinary initiative – The Sustaining Peace Project (SPP) – which aims to provide a basic, evidence-based understanding of how peace can be sustained in societies. The SPP, launched in 2014, uses complexity and data science as an integrative platform for synthesizing knowledge across disciplines, sectors and communities. This talk shares findings from the project, and introduces new goals and metrics for tracking, incentivizing, and promoting peacefulness.