Peace First: A New Model to End War
Uri Savir, Abul Ala Maudoodi (Afterword), Shimon Peres (Foreword by), Dennis RossBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
"Uri Savir has an ambitious goal: to bring peacemaking into the 21st century. "Little in today s world," writes Savir, "is more progressive than modern warfare. Yet little is more archaic than peacemaking." We remain trapped in a centuries-old mindset, with leaders bargaining warily for concessions and signing treaties that collapse because no one on the ground has any real stake in them." "Drawing on his experiences negotiating the Oslo Peace Accords as well as on trenchant examples from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia, Savir argues that an enduring peace is built from the bottom up, not from the top down. He describes a new model based on establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial forms of cooperation beginning on the local level, city-to-city and organization-to-organization." This process of "glocalization" - involving local actors in global issues - is the first step toward constructing a peace ecology: a comprehensive transnational culture dedicated to breaking down the psychological and social barriers between former enemies. These efforts are furthered through the establishment of joint ventures that give each side a tangible stake in maintaining peace. Diplomacy still has a role, but it must reject maneuvering for gain and instead emphasize the advantages both sides will gain with the cultivation of lasting peace.Synopsis
In this groundbreaking new guide to building peace, international ambassador Savir exposes the deadly ironies and anachronisms in contemporary efforts to solve global conflicts, and presents a radical new model for modernizing the efforts to build real and lasting peace.
Publishers Weekly
Former Israeli peace negotiator Savir (The Process) unveils his proposal for achieving lasting world peace: a carefully conceived and constructed model "that leads to a future of cooperation and understanding." The model for peace is predicated upon a shift from globalization to "glocalization," based on the idea that city leaders can forge bonds across boundaries that national leaders cannot because "cities have become our primary social unit... in both the developed and developing worlds." Savir emphasizes that peace must come from the grassroots rather than the top down and offers practicable solutions, from joint economic ventures designed to attract tourists to a NATO-like Mediterranean alliance. This book is compelling not for its specific blueprint but for the author's eternal optimism in the face of so many depressing obstacles. A history of his dynamic relationship with his Palestinian counterpart Abu Ala, a former Palestinian Authority prime minister who has become Savir's close friend since their first meeting in Norway 15 years ago, would provide fodder for another, less theoretical book about putting peace first. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Former Israeli peace negotiator Savir (The Process) unveils his proposal for achieving lasting world peace: a carefully conceived and constructed model "that leads to a future of cooperation and understanding." The model for peace is predicated upon a shift from globalization to "glocalization," based on the idea that city leaders can forge bonds across boundaries that national leaders cannot because "cities have become our primary social unit... in both the developed and developing worlds." Savir emphasizes that peace must come from the grassroots rather than the top down and offers practicable solutions, from joint economic ventures designed to attract tourists to a NATO-like Mediterranean alliance. This book is compelling not for its specific blueprint but for the author's eternal optimism in the face of so many depressing obstacles. A history of his dynamic relationship with his Palestinian counterpart Abu Ala, a former Palestinian Authority prime minister who has become Savir's close friend since their first meeting in Norway 15 years ago, would provide fodder for another, less theoretical book about putting peace first. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.