Ending Wars is the bold title of a new book co-edited by Lord John Alderdice and Padraig O Malley and published earlier this year by the New England Journal of Public Policy.  Its companion publication entitled The Changing Character of War and Peacemaking (2023) was curated along the same lines as a compilation of articles penned by a wide range of contributors to the conferences organised by the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflicts (CRIC) held at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Most would remember Francis Fukuyama’s End of History and the Last Man (1992).  Following the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we were lulled into believing that liberal democracy had won the day.  Yet September 11 occurred, and more recently the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Alderdice in his Introduction to the special issue of Ending Wars cited that the Global Peace Index (GPI) the leading measure of global peacefulness has been deteriorating over the last 6 years and the rules based international order continues to be under threat.  At the time of writing this the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza conflict rumbles on though we may well have reached a denouement outside the sphere of the United Nations and of international law.

As Alderdice explains, building peace involves communities that have different perspectives finding ways of conducting their differences without the use of physical force.  With his background as a consultant psychiatrist, Alderdice sees politics as the “psychology of large groups” and how we function, not as individuals, but as communities.  The aim of conflict resolution may not necessarily entail reaching an agreement on all social, political and economic issues. Put simply, we merely need to reach “a place where those who differ deeply can agree to disagree without killing each other”.

Until 1945 there were limits to our capacity to destroy our enemies and our environment, but since the development of the nuclear bomb there can be no such assurance.  Hence there is now a real threat of nuclear war and of environmental catastrophe.   One is reminded of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Nihon  HIdankyo last year, 70 years after the end of WW2.  Yet there is faint evidence that some political leaders are taking the nuclear threat sufficiently seriously.

What is clear from both books is that there is a desperate need to come up with a new paradigm for dealing with conflicts and peacebuilding.  Instead of viewing wars as an inevitability and responding to threats to security with matching military responses, we should instead focus on understanding the root causes of those conflicts, whether unaddressed historical injustices, or from competing interests such as scarce resources, often exacerbated by climate change.  There may also be wider geo-political forces at play.

With the advent of new and more lethal technologies, coupled with the use of AI, cyber-attacks, misinformation and disinformation, our ability to prevent, mitigate, let alone eradicate wars call for a new holistic approach that accepts plurality of values in an increasingly complex world.

To quote Padraig O’Malley in his Editor’s Note:

All wars end, some with a whimper, some with a bang, some with outright victory for one side and peace agreements reflecting the victor’s demands; some with ceasefires where uneasy armistices do not address the root causes of the conflict …some grind to a halt, frozen conflicts.

Moreover

Peace agreements in themselves often do not bring peace and sometimes contain the seeds of the next war.  

I believe this is a hugely important and timely anthology of essays on War and Peacebuilding.  Without trying to summate on the diverse contributions from numerous authors I would urge you to read the essays for yourselves, though not necessarily in one sitting!

By way of illustration of the breadth and depth of the articles I have selected a few chapter headings: Understanding the Underlying Motivations of the Russia-Ukraine War (by John Bell), The Future of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (by Scott Atrans and others) or Preventing War as Ending War – The European Network Remembrance..Through Dialogue on History (by Rafal Rogulski), and Gerald Templer’s Leadership in the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) Its Enduring Relevance (Kumar Ramakrishna).  Together they make a significant contribution to our understanding of the challenges of war and peace, but also chart possible ways of addressing them.

Both books are available on Amazon as paperbacks and e-books.  See also https://lordalderdice.com/index.php/2025/08/19/new-book-on-ending-wars/

* Merlene is a Director of Paddy Ashdown Policy and Research Forum Limited and editor of the PAF’s publications on “The Rise of China” and “The Five Decade Journey of EU-ASEAN Relations”.