The question asked by this book is, How can peace be institutionalized? The book finds that the institutions of war need to be matched by institutions of peace. For every department of defence, there needs to be a department of peace that allocates public resources to forestall violence and militarism, by measures of pre-emptive conflict resolution rather than waiting for it to occur and then deploying violence against it. Such departments of peace will be distinct from foreign and development ministries, compromised as they are by espionage, export-promotion and securitisation of aid. By opening peace / social centres / franchises, in each city, town and village, the Peace Department can contain violence and foster a culture of peace. Fundamental to all this is the pressing need for institutionalised Peace- a network of self-sustaining peace centres and social enterprises / companies, governmental peace departments and commentators that have peace as their core mission, in the same way that arms manufacturers and defence ministries institutionalise conflict. The book shows how the establishment of Departments of Peace and Peace Centres worldwide will result in saving of trillions of US dollars which governments can utilise in jobs creation, healthcare, education and peace building. Only by institutionalising peace at many levels of society, can the peace movement become powerful enough to face- |