Kim Jones, CEO of Curriki
As we begin a new year, it is customary for people to share wishes for a peaceful year ahead. War and armed conflict are perhaps the most severe impediments of all to education, as documented by UNESCO in The hidden Crisis: Armed conflict and education. War, and especially civil war, disrupts societies and communities and displaces children, their families and teachers alike. Schoolrooms may be destroyed, and the students scattered to refugee camps. Teachers may be pressed into military service. Providing education to children in a war-stricken region can become extremely difficult or impossible.
So it is good news to hear that, despite the daily headlines that may cause us to think otherwise, the frequency of war appears to be decreasing in recent decades.
Professor Joshua Goldstein is the author of Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide. In a recent blog entry at http://www.internationalrelations.com/ (Dec. 27, 2011) under the title “Peace on Earth, More than a Wish”, he has noted that “wars are fewer, smaller, and more localized” than in the past. Not only have major wars between nations abated in the last few decades, so have the frequency and intensity of civil wars. Peace has come to regions that were suffering from multiple civil or ethnic wars just two or three decades ago, including the Balkans, West Africa, and Central America. Peacekeeping missions by the United Nations, which now has 100,000 troops under its supervision, have become much more effective, with ceasefires holding 85% of the time. The number of battle deaths has dropped considerably since the 1990s. Nevertheless, there are over a dozen wars or armed conflicts in progress at present:
http://www.internationalrelations.com/wars-in-progress/
This could be an interesting discussion topic or essay assignment for a high school civics, history or geography class. Is this an enduring trend? Can war become obsolete? Or at least can it continue to be minimized through more cooperative international relations?
