Uri Savir, the Modern Peace Treaty

I am currently reading the book, Peace First, by Uri Savir. Savir was director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1996 and served as Israel’s chief negotiator for the Oslo Accords. In 1996 he founded the Peres Center for Peace, and in 2001 he established the Glocal Forum, which encourages intercity diplomacy around the world.

From the book:

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 organizations to organization.

In the first chapter, Savir outlines the current problems with the peace process between states which rely on obsolete elements and structural weaknesses. The peacemakers that are engaged in the international diplomatic discussions are most commonly previous warmakers who simply attempt to qualm violent outbreaks with a peace treaty which has minimally evolved beyond a “real estate” treaty.

Savir uses examples from many conflicts around the world to highlight the idea that these treaties do not take into consideration deep seated and structural issues between conflicting states. That means that the peace treaty only lasts a finite amount of time before the issue rises again and the states are once again in direct conflict.

Modern treaties fail to promote a culture of peace because they fall into old-fashioned peacemaking strategies. Specifically, these modern treaties

1. further traditional aims and dwell on the past;
2. reflect a narrow security doctrine;
3. fail to promote a culture of peace;
4. fail to establish a mechanism against increased socioeconomic gaps;
5. fail to emphasize economic cooperation;
6. lack planning for regional development and international assistance;
7. fail to promote peace socially and politically and lack implied sanctions against domestic opposition; and
8. involve past warmakers acting as peacemakers.

Of course, not all peace treaties fall into these traps. Many treaties have successfully ended a conflict which evolved into a culture of peace where nations are able to focus their energy on trade, cultural enrichment and scientific exchange.

Savir continues in the book to outline how to strengthen these peace treaties so that they can properly and sustainably promote a culture of peace.