There are loads of other people writing
about the 9/11 anniversary that can do it much more justice than i
can so instead i'm going to focus on the report that came out
yesterday that was written by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Publishing the Global Peace Index for
the past 7 years has been a primary focus of the institute but in
addition this year they have published a Pillars of Peace report that
can be read at
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/Pillars%20of%20Peace%20Report%20IEP.pdf
i've skimmed and read most of the
report and came away with an additional affirmation in my belief that
working for peace and peaceful environments works for all of us
economically, culturally and in cases of disaster.
The Pillars of Peace report creates a
bench mark by which countries can measure their resilience during
social upheavals and or their overall aspects of social development.
Today, we on St. Croix, are facing economic upheaval that has the
potential to lead us into more conflict. If we ignore certain aspects
of the eight pillars we could find ourselves impacted negatively. But
if we attack our problems from all angles not just the economic one
we may find ourselves in a place where we can honestly say we live in
paradise.
The Eight Pillars
A Well Functioning Government
Sound Business Environment
Equitable Distribution of Resources
Acceptance of the Rights of Others
Good Relations with Neighbors
Free Flow of Information
High Levels of Human Capital
Low Levels of Corruption
were found to be mutually reinforcing
in both positive and negative aspects. If one pillar becomes too
negative it can upset the balance. No one pillar can be viewed
in isolation because they all interact all the time. We have some
tippy pillars on St. Croix and if we don't recognize that they all
need to work together we could be in for a rougher ride than we
thought.
Over the past seven years the Institute
has been able to show that peaceful societies enjoy greater
economic benefits, higher income levels, stronger social cohesion,
and higher educational attainment. According to the report countries
with higher levels of peace were also able to absorb shocks to their
society and recover more quickly. Those that were less peaceful
suffered longer and recovered more slowly.
Benefits flow from establishing
peaceful environments. According to Galtung “cooperation for mutual
benefit creates an environment where individuals and society are in
harmony.” “Pillars of Peace is the first study to use statistical
analysis to identify the factors associated with peaceful societies.”
The first pillar a well functioning
government includes rule of law, government effectiveness and the
citizens voice and accountability. On St. Croix we have these things
but maybe we are lacking too much in the effectiveness and
accountability categories. The intricacies of all these aspects also
interact with the free flow of information and the
acceptance of the rights of others which are also pillars. I
don't think we are that strong in the acceptance dept. either which
means so far our tippy pillars could use a bit of strengthening.
“A sound business environment
is crucial to peace and prosperity. Infrastructure, the quality of
employment opportunities, business sophistication and innovation, and
the level of regulations applied to business all should work in
tandem to further a peaceful society.” Our infrastructure and the
quality of our employment opportunities could use some TLC.
Equitable distribution of resources,
another pillar, Some of the institutes analysis said that those
countries that have had the lowest declines in their peacefulness
also had greater equality in terms of land distribution and
acquisition, but that this was not a defining criteria for all
countries. This is a touchy subject and I'm not going to attack this
one here.
Good relations with neighbors this
is more a group thing and we do have good relations with those other
islands that surround us.
High levels of human capital
relates to our skills, knowledge, and behaviors. Apparently the lack
of opportunities for youth could be seen as failure of the community
to educate. “Health and education tend to increase social
cohesion.”
Low levels of corruption hmmmmmmm
The report is long at 68 pages but the
conclusions are that if a country strives to balance the eight
pillars of peace they may also be able to weather economic, cultural
and natural disasters that send nations into conflict locally and on
a broader basis. Would we as a community find this daunting? i don't know but its certainly something to consider.
See ya next week
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