In an increasingly insecure world, it seems a bit far-fetched to long for one of the holiday season's most famous adages: “… and on earth, peace to those of good will.” Somehow, the thought of peace seems more fleeting this year. Humanity's best intentions were crippled by a virus the size of 1/400th the width of a human hair that brought a planet of 13 billion trillion tons to its knees.Yet in other ways, more aspirational to be sure, COVID 19 reintroduced us to our need for one another, even if just to survive. One side effect of the pandemic has been the abatement of the frenetic political and cultural divisions that only a year ago left many wondering if democracy itself could survive. The global population not only experienced a certain peace from endless political wars but craved it. Poverty, climate change, capitalism, identity wars, political dysfunction, unemployment, the loss of hope – all these, when seen collectively, appeared too powerful for our abilities to overcome.When the effects of the vaccine are realized, there will be the relentless moving of forces to take us back to that place of division, violence, decline and even death. How our political, financial and civil society leaders respond to that temptation will determine if peace itself will simply be relegated to the history books.Canada is a nation globally heralded for its peaceful ability to co-exist. There are hot points of dissension, as a normal and creative part of our history, but we've pulled ourselves together when required. But the world we live in is no longer so secure and to pull up the drawbridge of our security and isolate ourselves can only lead to our ruin, since the world is now interconnected as never before in history.A few years ago, Canadian-born psychologist Steven Pinker published his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, in which he maintained that this world has now entered its most peaceful era. Violence was down appreciably, he maintained, and a better day was just around the corner. Immediately, the dissenters emerged, questioning his data and research methods. Despite the viability of many of Pinker's claims, it was a difficult exercise to view the world in this fashion.And now the Global Peace Index has concluded that, “the world is less peaceful today than at any time in the last decade.” They list numerous examples. Among them:
- 92 countries deteriorated whilst 71 countries improved between 2016 and 2017 – the worst result in the last four years.
- The number of battle deaths each year has trended upward over the last decade, increasing by 264 per cent over that time.
- Both Europe and North America became less peaceful over the last year, along with another four regions. 23 of the 36 countries in Europe deteriorated.
- The economic impact of violence was $14.8 trillion in 2017 or 12.4 per cent of global GDP – equivalent to nearly $2,000 per person.
- For the first time in modern history, refugees made up almost 1 per cent of the global population in 2017 – greater than the population of the UK or nearly half the population of Russia.