Is Peace Still Attainable?
Experts once thought globalization would ensure peace. Now, they’re looking elsewhere.
“No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other,” political commentator Thomas Friedman wrote in 1996. Friedman was making a clear connection between a more peaceful world and the growth of global capitalism. Of course, as Paul Musgrave wrote in a 2020 column, that theory turned out to be overly optimistic.
“No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other,” political commentator Thomas Friedman wrote in 1996. Friedman was making a clear connection between a more peaceful world and the growth of global capitalism. Of course, as Paul Musgrave wrote in a 2020 column, that theory turned out to be overly optimistic.
As the world has entered a new era of violent conflict, how are today’s experts thinking about peace? What replaced, in Musgrave’s words, the “glut of glib globalization cheerleading” of the 1990s? In this edition of Flash Points, experts weigh in on the nature of peace, who negotiates it, and who should be involved in the process, from Ukraine to the Middle East.
Morality Is the Enemy of Peace
The conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine can only end with deals that don’t satisfy anyone completely, FP’s Stephen M. Walt writes.
Democracies Aren’t the Peacemakers Anymore
How Washington can reclaim its diplomatic primacy in an authoritarian age, according to Chester Crocker.
Men Alone Cannot Build a Durable Peace in the Middle East
Israeli and Palestinian women’s organizations have a rich history of political engagement, Xanthe Scharff writes.
A Path Toward Peace Requires More U.S. Engagement, Not Less
Two senators on why the United States remains an essential partner in both Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Beautiful, Dumb Dream of McDonald’s Peace Theory
In the rich, lazy, and happy 1990s, Americans imagined a world that could be just like them, Paul Musgrave writes.
Chloe Hadavas is a senior editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @Hadavas
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